A sustainable approach to wellness
How is your team doing right now?
The teams I have talked to recently seem to be worried about everything, from their own health to the overall wellbeing of our planet? This is all very normal for the times we are in.
Many teams have set up fitness or health and wellbeing challenges and these have proved highly successful in bonding the team while also promoting physical and mental health.
What if there was a way to further develop this team wellness theme, while also benefiting the environment? A team sustainability challenge, which combines these complementary goals, could really help to fortify your team and give them a sense of empowerment, something we all need right now.
The goal of sustainability is to promote an environment where nature and humans can exist in harmony. How about bringing the team together to brainstorm ways to incorporate sustainable practices (personal and environmental) into their everyday lives?
One activity could be cycling as transport to work/the supermarket. It addresses a possible fitness goal along with keeping one less car on the road.
Here are some other ideas:
- Making a bird feeder for an outdoor space.
- Learning how to compost.
- Planning your meals and reducing food waste.
- Using a re-usable coffee cup on your walk to the coffee shop.
- Planting a tree in your garden while enjoying free air.
- It could be as simple as learning more about sustainability (say studying a topic and reporting back on it)
Once you agree on your priorities as a team, you can then assign points to each activity, give it some timelines and off you go. Keep in mind that incentives and prizes are always good motivators too.
This type of challenge will not only give the team a sense of working towards a common purpose but can also release them from the feeling of powerlessness in the face of climate change and Covid. It will also transport them from their (ever decreasing) spaces to feeling part of something that is bigger, more communal and that affects change.
