Five tips to build a strong team immune system

I love autumn in Melbourne; cooler mornings and evenings with lovely sunshine during the day (OK it’s raining today!).

The change of seasons often brings a change in health and it’s a good time to think about how to support your immune system to keep you fit and healthy.

Monitoring the health of your team is just as important. Invest time to keep your team fit to weather the constant demands placed on it by the rapid change and adaptability required to survive.

1. Monitor your vital signs: MYOB CEO Tim Reed in his article ‘Building Your ‘A’ Team’  talks about Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as a place to monitor your team’s vital signs. Go back to your KPIs to check how your team is progressing. Where are you succeeding? Where are you failing?

2. Identify the top three stressors: Stress is a part of our environment. With your team, identify the top three stress factors that the team is experiencing – this will open the way for managing them. Discuss what’s out of your control, in your sphere of influence and in your control then discuss how you will manage these and what the accountabilities are.

3. Build resilience: Support team members in their challenges to create and build emotional resilience. Discuss challenges, empathise, be patient and ask what support you can give them. This creates a culture of support which positively impacts the team’s resilience. 

4. Adopt healthy team habits: Look at the current team habits. Are they supporting a healthy system or hindering it. Read Eve Ash’s article, ‘Five Steps to Creating Healthy Team Habits’.

5. Get enough rest:Individuals cannot survive long term without sufficient rest to replenish. What is the culture of working in your team? Is this supporting a healthy team system?

Taking a team approach and asking what the team needs will keep your team healthy through the changing seasons.

Pollyanna Lenkic is the founder of Perspectives Coaching, an Australian-based coaching and training company.