A surprisingly simple yet efficient trick to boost morale, teamwork and discipline is to implement a simple office cleaning routine that takes no more than 3 to 6 minutes to complete but at the same time encourages both synergy and teamwork. All people have to do is wipe dust off their desks altogether. All you need is paper towel and a few detergent sprayers. Depending on how many employees share the room, even one sprayer could be sufficient.
To implement this simple behaviour hack is one of the easiest steps towards improving your office workflow and teamwork as a whole.
How does it work?
It’s actually quite simple:
- Make sure paper towel and sprayers are not abundant, so people will have to actively hand over to each other..
- The key here is to encourage people to share while performing something as simple as wiping dust off.
- Encourage employees to wipe an office desk, that is not their own.
That’s it!
By having employees do this for anywhere from 3 to 6 minutes at the end of the day ALTOGETHER your company will enjoy the many benefits it comes with. You can do this once or twice a week.
The Physical and Health Impact
To implement this trick will have positive impact on the mind and body of colleagues. Basic hygiene means less dust floating in the air, fewer germs, fewer allergy reactions and a fresh environment. A fresh environment means better workflow and thus – results!.
The Psychological Aspect
One of the best ways to nourish employee morale and synergy is by bounding everybody in taking an active part in office organisation and hygiene.
Implementing this simple 3 to 6 minute cleaning routine will help employees build the solid sense of being part of the team.
Truth is, people can and many do work in cluttered and highly chaotic offices and the goal here is not to organise or fully clean the office. The simple fact that people will have to pass along sprayers and paper towel at least 3 times per person is what really counts. Also known as “social self-regulation”, such tactics encourage people to monitor, assist and help each other.
The psychological aspect of this behaviour trick is just one of the many benefits here. Even though crazy simple, this trick does come with some amazing results in the long term, not to mention the many possibilities for other creative ideas and team building routines that often emerge.
Improving Morale and Discipline
The simple office wipe and polish routine will make people both more happy and proud with their workplace and colleagues. Consider it as crazy affordable team building. Compared to other incentives like outdoor activities, games and etc. this trick affects employees on a daily basis.
Utilising the “sheep factor”, the fast wipe and polish routine is a great example of how people can function as a community. Bound to social laws, humans almost always follow the pack. Even though there will be a few employees that might feel like refusing to take part, the socium will prevail, for shame will follow. A reasonable person will never reject social responsibility in public and that’s simply the way we act as a species.
If you manage to successfully implement the clever cleaning routine, where people have to proactively hand sprayers and paper towel to each other, you will not only improve hygiene but also the precious sense of moral and discipline in the long term.
Boosting Organization and Productivity
It’s a popular fact, that employee retention correlates to the working environment. By encouraging employees to wipe their work desk, management could encourage the improval of organisation and thus productivity. The concept is not focused at cleaning itself, but rather for employees to act as a team on a daily basis.
Dmitri Kara is a part of Fantastic Cleaners London.