The secret to happy, productive teams: One-minute strategies for leaders

A recent study conducted by Allianz in Australia found that 41 percent of surveyed employees are likely to consider leaving their current organization in the next six-to-12 months, which equates to 1.4 million Australian workers saying they’re very likely to do so.

Why is this? One of the largest drivers is workplace mental health issues, such as stress, workplace pressure and burnout.

Workplaces, including in Australia and New Zealand, are facing diverse challenges as we continually adjust to the fast-paced globalized world around us. Below are some short and sharp strategies that can be implemented in just one minute, which can help these challenges affecting organizations, such as drastically increasing stress levels, high employee turnover rates and low morale.

In the hectic modern work environment marked with constant change, employees often feel overworked and underappreciated. As a leader, the onus is on you to create a culture with a healthy environment that not only addresses these concerns, but also fosters a workplace where employees feel engaged, appreciated and motivated.

So, how can leaders already overburdened by their responsibilities and commitments make the time to make meaningful changes?

One-minute strategies

The solution, of course. is simplicity – start with some one-minute strategies. These are quick, practical, actionable tools that can be seamlessly incorporated into the daily lives of leaders and their teams, resulting in significant improvements to happiness levels in the workplace and productivity.

These are strategies for which you need minimal time as an investment, yet can yield profound long-term benefits. By focusing on small, consistent actions, leaders can create a wonderful ripple throughout the whole organization.

The statistics from the recent 2024 Gallup ‘State of the Global Workplace’ report shows the importance for workplace happiness, highlighting the critical impact of employee wellbeing on productivity and organizational success worldwide.

Global macroeconomic loss: These are staggering figures that were reported. Employee engagement issues are estimated to cost US$8.9 trillion, which accounts for nine percent of the world gross domestic product. This matter must be addressed for any firm to cut down its losses.

For team engagement, leadership matters: A total of 70 percent variance in team engagement is attributable to managers. What this means is that a well-functioning leadership can go a long way in the process of engaging workers and increasing overall productivity.

Declining wellbeing revolution: From 35 percent last year to only 34 percent this year means that there is an urgent need to address this disturbing trend in global worker wellbeing.

The workplace happiness formula

As we have seen in the reports, employee churn, team stress and low morale are some of the significant challenges that businesses globally face today. These obstacles can be overcome by the Workplace happiness formula: Happy leaders plus happy teams equal happy customers.

The Workplace happiness formula is not merely theoretical but based on evidence, as well as real-life successes.

This formula shows that leadership creates an atmosphere that sets team dynamics and the overall culture of an organization. This increases productivity performance levels among employees while at the same time enhancing customer service delivery through proper reflection with organizational values.

Happy leaders, happy teams: In the bestselling McKinsey & Company book, CEO Excellence, based on interviews with 67 of the world’s highest-performing leaders, the authors argue how a CEO’s energy and mood can affect an entire organization. It is well put by Ken Chenault of American Express: "My leadership mantra, which I think about literally every day, is that the role of a leader is to define reality and give hope."

In this notion lies so much of a leader’s positivity and resilience shining through to their teams – reflecting that, indeed, happy leaders lead to happy teams.

Happy teams, productive outcomes: According to researchers at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, happy employees do perform better at work. Researchers found clear causal evidence that links employee happiness to productivity in a study involving 1,800 call center workers over a six-month period at the British telco BT.

The results suggest that besides working more quickly and making more calls per hour, happier employees also achieved 13 percent higher sales than less happy workers. Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Associate Professor in Economics and Strategy at the University of Oxford, summarized the findings: "We found that happier workers are more productive. They make more calls per hour worked and, importantly, convert more calls to sales."

Happy employees, satisfied customers: In 2021, Glassdoor tied its employee satisfaction data to the American Customer Satisfaction Index and conducted research on the relationship between staff member happiness and customer satisfaction.

It means that those firms striving for a ‘customer-first’ culture have to put employee satisfaction as the priority for customer satisfaction to be really high. Organizations can have happy, well-aligned employees with their mission by focusing on creating a great workplace at all levels. It would result in advanced customer service and more profitability amounts.

Employee churn: The happy leaders approach

Employee churn is a major concern worsened by stress and burnout. Organizational leaders can alleviate turnover by fostering a supportive and engaging environment that retains their best talent. The key to reducing employee churn lies in authentic leadership. Employees want to work for leaders who are genuine, transparent and trustworthy.

Authentic leadership: In terms of employee retention, leadership quality matters. According to respondents of the Australian HR Institute ‘Turnover and Retention Report’ (2018), 70 percent identified effective management and leadership as the most potent way to retain employees.

In 2019, a study was conducted that centered on the influence of transformational leadership on hospitality employees’ loyalty. From the study, it was observed that inasmuch as the employees experience feelings of trust and safety with the leaders, a desire to express a favorable reciprocation also emerges.

Therefore, a leader with high trustworthiness would significantly affect the work attitudes of the employees and consequently increase job commitment.

Taking action

Since trust is at the heart of employee relationships, it’s important to consider different ways you can strengthen connections. At your next team meeting, share a short personal story or experience that helps you connect with your employees on a deeper level.

Daily check-ins: The bottom line is that an organization is only as strong as its work culture. As stated in Gallup’s ‘Empowering Workplace Culture Through Recognition’ report (2023), the S&P 500 Index stems from the talent, capabilities, experience, diligence and wellbeing of its workers.

One of the best means to motivate and energize workers is through recognition. Employees who receive great recognition are 20 times as likely to be engaged as employees who receive poor recognition. Of those employees who have great recognition experiences, 72 percent say performance on the ‘little things’ is commonly recognized at their organization.

What you can do right now: Schedule in brief daily or weekly check-ins to address concerns and offer support to your team.

Investment in employees: A healthy workforce is the right thing to do; it’s just good business. A 2022 study by Avalere Health, commissioned by the United States Chamber of Commerce, says programs for employee health and wellbeing return a significant return on investment.

On the other side, this research estimated that employer-sponsored health insurance and programs return, on average, a return on investment of 47 percent, meaning that for every dollar an employer spends on their employees’ health, they gain US$1.47 in financial benefits.

What you can do right now: Brainstorm one new wellbeing opportunity or training that could be offered to your team in the next quarter.

Team stress and burnout: Creating happy teams

Team stress and burnout both have negative effects on productivity and job satisfaction. It’s important to create an environment where members can manage stress effectively. The Gallup 2024 Report highlights that global employee wellbeing has declined, with only 34 percent of employees reporting a sense of wellbeing, down from 35 percent the previous year.

The report also showed 20 percent of global employees experience daily loneliness, a factor that exacerbates stress and decreases morale. This is especially true for fully remote workers, who report a 25 percent loneliness rate compared to 16 percent among on-site workers.

Breathing breaks: Short, mindful breathing practices can help reduce workplace stress and anxiety. Burnout is something we know all too well, and it’s common for adults to feel burned out from their jobs. The use of mindful breathing has reduced cases of burnout, cynicism, emotional exhaustion and anxiety in adulthood.

Before starting each meeting with your team, bring in a one-minute breath exercise proven to reduce stress, such as box breathing or ‘4-7-8 breathing’.

Micro-tasks for clarity: Micro-productivity, or cutting work down into smaller, manageable bits, is changing the face of white-collar work. It increases productivity while reducing the cases of burnout.

According to Microsoft research, doing so increases overall productivity by 15 percent and significantly brings down burnout. According to Shamsi Iqbal’s podcast, Making the Most of
Micro-Moments, utilizing micro-moments has helped people to work better by enhancing their concentration, smoothing workflows of complex projects and giving them greater job satisfaction.

What you can do right now: Break down big projects into small, attainable tasks and divide them among your team members with explicit deadlines.

Time to be thankful: Gratitude practices have been known to improve morale when integrated into the workplace. Former President and CEO of Campbell Soup Douglas Conant wrote more than 30,000 handwritten thank you notes to staffers and clients during his time in the position.

These notes helped a great deal in establishing a culture of thankfulness company wide. The bottom line is obvious: being thankful can inspire your team to work harder, and most leaders aren’t showing enough of it. Journalist Janice Kaplan shared this technique from her book The Gratitude Diaries; she pointed out how other CEOs and executives use similar tactics to be more thankful.

What you can do right now: Commence your next group meeting with members sharing one thing that has gone well for them, or something they are grateful for.

Leaders and teams together

Effective collaboration between leaders and teams positively impacts customer satisfaction. A happy, engaged team delivers better service and fosters stronger client relationships.

Positive affirmations count: Positive affirmations make up a great tool in the workplace. Some of the benefits to individuals and organizations include reducing stress and enhancing the level of self-esteem at work. Repetition of the affirmation enables the employee to reorganize negative thoughts that most often create a gloomy working environment.

This enhances, therefore, the morale of employees and builds on the aspects of resilience and activeness when faced with challenges.

What you can do right now: Start introducing daily positive affirmation practices to your team. Encourage your team to use affirmations before contacting customers.

Building resilience: Resilience at work is invaluable for maintaining productivity as a vital element of wellness. According to eLearning Industry, the highly resilient worker is 30 percent more likely to be engaged and committed in any type of stress.

It builds capacity for teams to adjust to changes, recover from frustrations and perform over time. Training in resilience can improve retention and raise overall job satisfaction.

What you can do right now: Incorporate brief exercises that enhance resilience, like mindfulness or stress management techniques, into the regular routines of your team

To counter employee churn, high-stress levels and low morale in your team, incorporate one-minute strategies and create happy leaders, happy teams and happy customers.

When leaders prioritize the wellbeing of their employees and foster a culture of positivity, they can unlock the full potential of their teams, where employees are engaged, motivated and sustaining peak performance. This, in turn, leads to improved productivity, higher levels of customer satisfaction and, ultimately, business success.

In a world where time is the most valuable asset, these one-minute strategies provide you with powerful and effective tools to make a lasting impact.