Smiling is contagious; if the people who form part of a team smile and have a positive attitude, this will rapidly create a relaxed and convivial atmosphere dominated by trust and good spirits. This, of course, will have an impact on reducing stress and increasing motivation and commitment. Would you like to have happy workers in your company?
How to keep your team happy
Ensuring a good working environment is a task that should be encouraged and worked on each day. We know that smiling is essential, but by this we mean a true smile, the famous Duchenne smile that stems from the warmth of the heart. It was this French doctor who discovered that such a smile raises the corners of the mouth, contracts the cheeks and creates wrinkles around the eyes, because it is an emotional expression linked to our brain that uses the whole face.
These are some basic keys to achieving a team with a positive attitude at work:
- Respect your employees’ personal time by introducing flexibility within the company by avoiding meetings at the end of the afternoon and so on.
- Encourage creativity and teamwork without being afraid of making mistakes.
- Create moments or spaces where employees can smile at work: an informal place for breakfast, murals with expressions to make them smile, sporting events, corporate holidays and so on.
- Monitor your employees’ state of well-being; find out whether the measures implemented to maintain a positive attitude towards life are effective, listen to their suggestions, etc.
- Be aware of where you are, who’s around you and what you’re doing, and express your thanks with a smile.
- Spend one minute each day giving a smile to the rest of the team so it becomes infectious.
- Spend a little informal time each day with your colleagues; take a stroll, rest, listen to music, relax and enjoy what you do.
- Do something you really like and something a colleague really likes at one moment during the day.
The benefits of smiling at work
In addition to reducing stress and raising the level of commitment, a smile generates trust among the people who form part of the same team and increases their motivation and, as a consequence it also increases customer satisfaction. According to some studies, optimism is also a key factor in working more effectively.
A smile is a small gesture that can bring many benefits to your team, and these are just some tips to enable you to promote smiling at work. How about putting them into practice?
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