Updated April 21, 2023
Introduction to a Healthy Work Environment
In this Topic, we will learn about a Healthy Work Environment. The work environment is a pervasiveness of labor, competition, emotion, regression, aggression, motivation, success, and whatever adjectives you roll in. And we, the workers, merely roll ourselves in this place, cutting through these tangles to reach our goals. A maximum of corporate entities are an amalgamation of these feelings. Still, when the same turn corrosive and negativity starts filling the air, you feel like you are close to the work and running away. But as it is said, face the problems, but do not run away from them. You have to choose whether you would like to contribute towards negativity or generate a positive feeling. With the help of others, you can make improvements in the work environment.
Find out the ways to start a healthy work environment
Below are mentioned some ways to a healthy environment :
1. Try to align with the others in the group
In a particular situation or a phase of our life, we must have worked with a person who is negative in his thinking, outlook, and personality. He always thinks negatively about everything and shows negativity in each situation. How good his idea is, he would always find something or other wrongs with it and reflect the tendency to devise reasons that won’t work and seems to cherish the controversy.
It is said that there are pros and cons in every action; in every action, there is always a positive and opposite reaction, as in corporate organizations. Remember that whatever you take action, and wherever you go, is followed by the opposite reaction. So whatever you say or convey to others will get back to you only in one form. It is also best to concentrate on a particular area or an aspect where there is an agreement and to handle disagreements. It is important to fix up a meeting with your colleague and discuss it to meet the shared goals. Approaching workplace discussions will open many venues for you, create a positive outlook toward life, and make you feel more productive.
When you try to connect with the team members, you develop a caring attitude towards them, which will stand you in good stead, and you are then automatically an architect of higher esteem.
2. Be a Motivator
Everybody likes to get cheers and greetings and feel appreciated for the contributions they have made and the efforts they have put in. To receive and give positive feedback is an audacious way to motivate others and for overall mental strength. However, today’s workplace is sadly lacking in this area, but you can be an initiator. Shower praise to others in whatever way you can and motivate others by enthusing in them the value of hard work and dedication. You can do so by displaying good motivational quotes from famous personalities on the board. Your encouraging words can stimulate others to put on their best socks. As long as you are sincere and by heart recognizing the other’s work would generate an atmosphere of positivity, which would also get you an appreciation of your hard labor and employment.
3. Develop trust
Trust is the most beautiful part of emotion that makes people safe. Trust your colleagues, especially your subordinates, and regard their capabilities. Then you will see whatever work you assign them, they will do, and they will surely come up to your expectations, and you will see your trust blossom. When you help to incorporate trust among our colleagues, you will generate a healthy work environment for everybody. But if it is missing, you could encounter an environment of fear and nervousness.
You should also suggest when meetings should occur, analyze the roadblocks, and communicate the same to the group.
If you sense something negative is picking up, invite others for discussion and then act and see how the majority think and act.
4. Create a bond with your colleagues.
In a corporate environment, we tend to spend most of our time with the people we work with. This creates a personal bonding. We continue to know about them at a personal level too. This increases the level of understanding of trust, confidence, and motivation, and then you can share concerns more comfortably. Here a mantra is looking for common points between you and your workers.
5. Brighten your operation area.
The physical environment is equally important as the mental and social environment can seriously impact the workplace. If you are not a part of management but a part of a team and an employee of a company, you can create a healthy work environment. You can do everything in your control. Open windows to get in light and fresh air, décor the room with plants and photographs, and switch off fluorescent light bulbs. Do anything to make the space more pleasing and friendly. Working in a dark and chaotic workstation can make you feel drowned. The best way is to fix things nicely, like files, magazines, and all those items, and make them clutter-free in a healthy work environment.
The performance combines personal skills, motivation, and opportunity. But all these qualities in an employee are also derived in a workplace that’s so beautiful and conducive.
As per Judith Heerwagen, productivity and the workplace are in sync in three different ways:
- A beautifully designed and ambient surrounding of a building can positively impact the employee’s productivity. Suitable adjustments in the workplace increase cooperation and team spirit and reduce health and safety risks. Remove the things that cause a distraction, are harmful, and are hazardous.
- The perfect building also builds motivation by providing a situation that can create an ideal mood to work and perform, leading to engagement and personal control. Moods also, in turn, build a healthy work environment of thought processes and behaviors that are directly related to motivation.
- Beautiful buildings can also produce opportunity by providing equal access to conditions that reduce health and safety risks and create a space for equal access to all the amenities and design options.
Generally, the bond developed between humans and other living beings is often known as biophilia, which cannot be replicated in interior environments. People generally want to be around nature, which could give them a sensory change. It is also very important for people to spend their few moments outside, even though it is for a limited period. The daylight also helps people regulate their circadian rhythms, which are their daily waking and sleeping cycles. When they find their rhythms are upset, people feel stressed. If the employees are exposed to the trees and scattered shrubs and squirrel running up the tree or if there is a lake or a pond nearby, employees feel fresh and highly rejuvenated. When they are energized, it automatically creates a healthy work environment.
6. Create a Healthy work environment.
A light, healthy work environment is highly motivating. While working, if you feel everyone is serious, tell them a small joke, and you will feel laughter in the environment. But the humor should not be at the cost of disturbance. You should make sure you are not disturbing anybody else while working. Adding healthiness in the workplace is a healthy work environment that eases the tense work environment and creates a cool atmosphere.
A light touch of health in a serious environment can act as a medicine, reduces tension, open the scope for new opportunities and prospects, and improve relationships. And we can see examples of healthy work environments around us where healthiness has benefited the people. But for humor to succeed, we must find the right words. Make sure that no comment goes against the reputation of the company or disgraces or hurts employees’ reputation or integrity.
Naturally, the fun occurs when people feel connected to each other as a team and are invited to open communication and acceptance. When all the team members work well together, it becomes very easy for them to feel free and confident to talk and have fun- Be it after a Football party or a project launch or you have a brief pause in the afternoon. Have a good laugh at unrelatable things unrelated to work and then see how the whole environment turns into a healthy work environment.
7. Make your goals very clear.
One of the pertinent things that must be plaguing you is a lack of direction or a clear goal which has many negative effects, from declining motivation level to un-satisfaction and unhappiness. As a team member or leader, make a plan and create a set of goals to achieve success, which should become your guiding principle. There are many targets that you have to meet. Set the target rate and move on that path to meet your objective.
Follow these best rules for setting your goal:
The goals that are manageable and can be attained
Handling a task that is impossible to complete or if you cannot complete it by the deadline is very disheartening. Often this can cause a personal reaction with a defeating attitude before they even start their project. Creating goals that can pose a challenge and encourage colleagues will keep the boredom away. The objective is to set goals that are stimulating, and the same that do not make you feel or your subordinates feel let down. Also, you need to take care that the goals are manageable.
Be Clear with Your Goals
No doubt should be left in any phase of the project plan or designated goal. Make sure that the goal which is set can be easily comprehended. For instance, while directing employees in a meeting, take some time for discussions, as miscommunication can cause confusion. Ensure that the staff knows what needs to be accomplished and what must be done to reach the goals.
Be very resourceful
Use all the resources provided very carefully to reach the set target. Misuse, lack, or overuse of any material can be considered a wastage and can cause heavy financial loss to the company. Give some time to draft a plan so that each factor is considered and there is optimum utilization of the resources at your discretion.
Listen to the other ideas too.
Give a good ear to the other viewpoint. Your team might have better ideas than you. Listen to them and analyze how these ideas can be useful for your project. Listening is better than speaking, as what you have got through listening can prove as a millennium idea for you. Listening to others also means displaying genuine trust and respect for your colleagues, which could stand you in high stead. By listening, too, you are creating a space for others to express themselves and speak up for their mind and what is right. So make a policy to listen to the ideas; you will soon see the magic happening.
So get going! The above are just a few simple ways to attain the title of a healthy work environment architect. But there are many other ways too. You must ask yourself, “What is my contribution to the company? Is my contribution going beyond my current portfolio, and am I doing something that would be of any value to the company? If not, start today and be on the good books of the employers and all your colleagues, teammates, and everyone in the company. Always remember that a good-natured person is always in remembrance. Being an architect means people will always remember you, even if you had to leave a job at some stage.
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