Out of an effort to eradicate Friday pizza lunches, and reinvent what it means to come together as a team, came an incredible idea (cough *humble brag* cough). What if we brought people together, for a ‘mini university of sorts on how to declutter their space, provided tools to execute the learnings, and then gave the gift of time – a couple of hours to actually complete the task at hand? To sweeten the deal, we’d recommend, and facilitate donating all of the unwanted items to surrounding organizations in need.
Naturally, we needed experts to join us, that would be our decluttering sherpas.
Enter Emilio and Samantha from KW Professional Organizers. Truly two of the kindest people we’ve worked with. Following our client’s “Make Space” program, we asked them a few questions about getting set up for success, trends in leaders who care, and what it means to have a clear space.
Firstly, Samantha and Emilio shared some crucial tips on what elements are required for great group learning. The list includes:
- A comfortable setting: both physically, but also with spoken boundaries (examples: respectful dialogue, definitions, etc)
- Appropriate timing: when is the team most apt to learn — not normally first thing on Monday morning
- Applied exercises: in every talk there is the opportunity for participants to apply their learning through action, visualization, or worksheet
- Fuel: whether it’s coffee or kombucha — a mindful snack is mostly always welcomed
- Feedback: people love the opportunity to voice their opinion on how it went — crucial for determining the success of the event and also how to do better for the next
Having alignment on all these things clears the path for the message to be optimally received.
Having a leader that recognizes not only that we need to diversify our team events, but that is also connected to the team well enough to know what will go over well, is imperative.
Across the board from large tech companies, universities, and municipalities the leaders we identify as being strong were those who were in touch with their teams. We often are working with the people who are in charge of wellbeing and culture in the workplace, and a clear giveaway of strong leadership is their connectedness to understanding what’s desired from their employees.
Strong leaders listen to their team and validate responses with action.
The leaders who succeed the most with their initiatives are the ones who truly know what’s going on with their team – they’re connected and are in touch with their people. We cannot preach this message loud enough.
Finally – we have to address what Samatha and Emilio are true experts in; cleaning and clearing spaces. In the work from home model, this becomes particularly interesting. There are no night cleaners helping us take out our waste bins – there is no office dishwasher schedule to share the load, and there are no social norms that prompt us to keep our spaces clutter-free. Much of our space mentally can be lifted by having an organized space. Even if you’re a maximalist, being organized is helpful when you’re about to start a meeting.
By giving your employees time to learn and develop skills like organization, time management, and self-care, you are creating more whole humans. The skills we mentioned are not innate at birth, they need time and education to be developed, but it’s a compounding return on investment. When people learn how to save time, keep things tidy, and generally feel great about their environments they develop a stronger sense of resilience and wellness.
Our education offerings such as Decluttering & Organizing, Bullet Journaling, Decluttering the Mind with Selfcare, and Meal Planning have provided workplaces with holistic approaches for improving their wellness events.
We enjoyed our time with KW Professional Organizers so much.
Encourage your leaders and managers to think about how to modernize team events. It is amazing how much humming stress you can eliminate by making your bed in the morning.
You can start that ritual…tomorrow.
To learn more about Samantha and Emilio, please visit: https://kwprofessionalorganizers.com/