Imagine your team becoming actually giddy and excited to start working and ready to crush goals on a Monday. Everything seems so perfect – except that this isn’t always the case.
For most people, Mondays usually look like a stressful day filled with jobs to be done Everyone feels tired and sluggish, especially if they didn’t finish their work on Friday. This phenomenon is the infamous Monday blues.
In this blog, you are going to learn effective ways for you and your team to combat Monday blues and achieve more results by the end of the week. But first, let’s understand why they are called the blues.
Monday blues are a set of pessimistic emotions that many people get at the beginning of the workweek. Out of all the days of the week, many workers feel that Monday is the worst.
More hanging workloads on Fridays mean piled-up work for Monday. Just thinking about facing another dreaded day to work on the backlogs is already kind of daunting. As a result, people are less motivated to work and most feel like they need more weekends to recover from a busy week. If you resonate with these feelings, you’re not alone.
But the week isn’t complete without a Monday and you can definitely beat the Monday blues! Here are six essential ways to knock off those Monday blues so your team can start a productive week.
Look for the problem
Like a keen investigator, think of the problems (both big and small) that make your team finish less work on a Friday. Identifying the problem is always the first step to creating solutions.
Fridays are exciting since they’re a doorway into the weekend. If that’s a problem, here’s a tip. Don’t let your team have the mindset of “Oh, it’s Friday. I have to leave work as soon as possible for the weekend.” Instead, be sure to push them to finish things up on Fridays. It’ll produce not only a great weekend for them but also less work when Monday comes. Remind them that they also have the whole week for doing their tasks, duh!.. They need to learn not to let their weekly workload get piled up onto Friday.
Let your team open up a discussion about this with everyone on the team. A group that shares problems with one another can create more effective solutions. With that in mind, they can encourage one another to become productive throughout the week, especially Mondays. They can do that on a break, or you can make creative events (like an open forum) for them.
Excite your team for the upcoming week
Team members often look at Mondays and think of the tough stuff ahead. But whether a stressful or “happy-go-lucky” week comes, help your team be excited about it.
Have your remote team create a list they’re excited about. For instance, on Sunday evenings they could make a list of three things they look forward to at work that week. They can share it in the extra minutes of your meetings. That way you’ll know what will help them get excited about Mondays at work.
Think about how to motivate children. Now realize that we all function in the same ways, motivated by rewards. Remember that you’re like a family in your remote workplace. Give rewards to those people who finish tasks quickly, as long as their work is also of good quality. The rewards you give them depend on you. You can pat them on the back, give them more break time, or anything else that is rewarding. That way, the remaining tasks that your remote team is working on won’t pile up. It’s also rewarding to workers to finish jobs as soon as possible so they can check them off their list. I’m confident they will completely forget about Mondays being the most difficult, hell-day of the week.
Create themed Monday virtual meetings
A lively place for a meeting makes it fun for your workers. Add some spice to your Monday virtual meetings!
Monday meetings shouldn’t be a suffocating time for your remote team. The goal is to get them to a point where they look forward to Monday meetings. You want them to them feel like it’s always a special day of work (this is part of getting them excited for the upcoming week). Add themes to Monday meetings. Themes you add to your virtual workspace should depend on the client(s) or result(s) that you want to achieve. For example, if your team works on a project for IT purposes, you can use “The Matrix” theme. If you’re working for a vacation type of niche, a Hawaiian-themed meeting can be of use. Add a plan to prepare food and drinks according to your theme (don’t forget the outfits!). These ideas can help your team think, “Mondays are the best!” Of course, limit things that would be counter-productive in your meeting.
You can choose many fantastic themes from any virtual software you use. Make sure to use them! If you missed some of our blogs about adding themes to your virtual workplace, it’s here (the fourth tip).
Plan for team-building activities
Your team is your family. Creating a bond with them is an excellent safeguard against Monday blues. A sense of belonging in a team can help each one sharpen the others. It helps them defeat stress and increase productivity.
Create a group chat where everyone joins and enjoys chatting outside of work. You can schedule the activities with your remote team using this chat.
Make and schedule activities that involve sharpening skills while having genuine fun with them. Delight your remote team with experiences of different types according to the season. These activities can either solve an existing problem at work or uplift everyone’s mood. Some examples are plays on words scribbl.io (charades using drawing), or exercises in line with your work’s niche. You can also let them decide (by voting) on upcoming activities. Don’t stress yourself if you run out of ideas. Remember the first sentence of this section: your team is your family.
The feeling of being a team is a foundation on which your team can build when problems come. Monday blues is one of those. Producing plans for team-building activities ensure that your remote team is more excited to go online and work, seeing their family again. Wouldn’t that be fantastic?
Bring smiles throughout the week (especially on Mondays)
Remind your team to smile! You, as their leader, should do that too. Imagine giving them the advice to smile, and then you have that severely-serious face (that’d be so funny, LOL). Smiles create a more relaxed environment.
Start doing it yourself as a team leader. Dish out smiles on Mondays. It’s a good bet that plenty of positivity is going to come back your way (and to your remote team). Make the first day of their workweek better – just by putting on a happy face.
You can do that in your virtual meetings or whenever you greet them through your group chat. Emojis are free, you know. Be funny with your team, be humorous and kind to them. When piled-up work is due, just ask them if they need some help while smiling (strange, but you have to do it). It can become contagious, which is great for a stressful day like Mondays. Contagious smiles will help make your remote team feel a lot better. Happy faces signal approachability and warmth a lot more strongly than disgusted faces keep people at bay (A 2019 study says).
Make your team members feel special
People work a lot because they’re hoping for the rewards afterward. They put a great deal of effort resulting in the success of the company they’re working for. Sometimes they think a lot about work and forget about themselves. So make your team feel special, before, during, and/ or after work (especially Mondays).
Since we’re talking about Monday blues here, make their Monday rewarding. Here’s a list of how you could show appreciation to them:
- Thank each and everyone for their presence and tell them that they’re needed.
- Be thankful for what they did last past week
- Thank them for and value their respect and opinion
- Commend and give a reward to each of them
And so much more. In your virtual meetings, make sure that you always do these things. Each team member has feelings (we’ve said this repeatedly in our past blogs). Delight your team, and I’m confident they’ll be more excited to work on Mondays. They’ll think more positively about it instead of overthinking and stressing themselves out.
CONCLUSION
It’s a hassle dealing with stress at work, especially for your remote team. Mondays can be full of either excitement or anxiety. It depends on what your team has to start working on. Monday blues are often the result of anxiety But don’t let this lower your team’s productivity!
These are my six tips for your team to fight off the Monday blues. I hope they help! If you want more information about helping your remote team be productive, check out more on our blog posts. We’ve got lots of great content waiting for you there. We help ensure that your team will be more productive when you read and apply everything that we write for you!
