Plan a fun but productive in-service day

I feel like I’ve planned hundreds of in-service days but the truth is that it never gets any easier. It only gets harder every time especially if it’s with the same team. I don’t want them to be bored so I need to make sure that every time I plan one, it is going to add value to their work, their careers or their lives.

Let’s take a step back. What do I even mean by an in-service day? This could mean a lot of things. When I talk about an in-service day, I’m referring to a day set aside at least a few times per year where a team gets together, preferably off-site (not at work), to reflect, reenergize and strategize. There are so many reasons why having in-service days is so important:

  1. It’s time to do team building, for us to get to know each other better and for us to work better together.
  2. It’s time to recharge and get excited about our work again, or maybe more excited than we were before.
  3. It’s time to engage in some reflection, remember why we do what we do (mission and vision) and get refocused on our core values.
  4. It’s time to plan for the future (strategy) without interruptions from our day-to-day work in the office.
  5. It’s time to learn and grow as individuals and as a team, to gain new knowledge and skills and to make improvements to products, services or processes.
  6. It’s a time to clarify expectations and get everyone on the same page.

So, how do I plan a fun and productive in-service day? It’s just like planning any event. It takes committing time to it and depending on the goal, some resources.

Venue and Food

It’s important to pick a venue away from work. If an organization has a big budget, these in-service days could be more extravagant but it can also be done for a very low cost. I plan most of mine at free venues like the local library, park district or village hall.

Be sure to serve breakfast, lunch and snacks. Depending on the agenda, these days can feel very long. If budget is tight, do it potluck style and have everyone bring in their favorite things to share.

Agenda and Presenters

Prepare an agenda and communicate it ahead of time. Determine estimated times for each topic as well as presenters or facilitators. Give the presenters and facilitators ample time to prepare their content and return it to be organized appropriately.

Be sure the agenda includes a good mix of fun activities and productive discussions and that these are alternating on the agenda throughout the day. If all the fun happens in the morning, the audience will be bored by lunch time.

Technology

Of course, ensure that all technology works appropriately. Confirm that a laptop, projector and all cords are available for use.

Be sure to incorporate technology into the day too, when possible. This can be in the form of polls, quizzes or games on a mobile phone, videos or interactive iPad activities. Don’t set “no cell phone” rules, please! It’s almost 2017! Use their phones to your advantage to engage them!

Learning and Activities

Plan learning opportunities and activities into the day. There should always be some sort of professional development to help the team gain new insights, knowledge, skills or experiences.

Be sure that learning opportunities are interactive, not one-way. Don’t lecture!

Celebrate

Don’t forget to celebrate! Not only is it a long day but if it is productive as planned, the team deserves some down time. Take them out for a happy hour. Informal team building is just as good as formal team building!

Be sure to thank the team for their participation and engagement throughout the day.

It’s planning time! Dive in and plan a first or next in-service day to increase employee engagement and team building.

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Work-life balance is so last year!

OK, so I’m exaggerating a little with that title but it’s only because I want people to really get it that work-life balance was just a fad that didn’t last too long. For a few years, HR professionals were trying to figure out why employees were so unhappy with their jobs and why they were getting so burned out. So, they came up with “work-life balance,” the idea that employees will be more productive at work if we can create a better balance and distinction between their work time and their personal time.

Many companies, now, are finding out that their employee’s productivity and engagement still are not improving. But, why? Is it actually because work-life balance was a bad idea? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe the world of technology and work just grew faster than companies and HR departments could keep up with. Maybe before we had all this technology and ways of multi-tasking and working more efficiently, things in work and life just took a lot more time and effort. Thus, it was important to differentiate and allocate specific time to our professional lives and our personal lives.

Now, we can actually engage in work and personal time simultaneously, which is why work-life balance is so last year. The new trend? Work-life integration. It might seem like it’s only a matter of semantics but I think it’s a little more than that. Whereas work-life balance focuses on how we can make sure that our employees are getting an appropriate portion of both everyday, work-life integration places a greater importance on how we can find ways to blend work and personal time so that both come together (rather than stay distinct) to create a more meaningful and whole life.

Work-life integration also forces our HR professionals to think about how to make work more enjoyable so that employees want it to become part of their being, their every day, their every second. The idea is that our work should somehow merge with our personal lives so that we can get the job done and still be able to live our lives as we please.

What does this look like in the real world? Gone are the days of no cell phones at work, no social media at work and no internet at work. Gone are the days of 9-5 shifts, work-life balance/distinction and dare I say, those ridiculous attendance policies. That’s right, employees are no longer being measured by whether or not they “show up” for work. Innovative companies are moving towards measuring performance based on results. This solves the problem of presenteeism, the concept of employees who are present at work but do not actually get work done.

With laptops, ipads, smartphones and smart gear (watches, fitbits, glasses, etc.), we can get work done anywhere, anytime. We can multitask too, performing personal and work-related tasks at the same time. For example, I can send a tweet out from my iPhone while I wait for my work computer to start-up or send a group text reminder about my dinner party to friends while I’m waiting for a meeting to start. For many people, technology has become such a norm for them that it is the only way they know how to focus (versus the idea that technology is a distraction). Technology is no longer a distraction for everyone.

Clearly, everyone works differently and for some people, keeping life and work separate may still be a preference. That’s why it’s important for HR departments and business leaders to offer more flexibility and more choice in the workplace. If we let people work however it is that they work best, we’ll see more results, productivity and engagement.

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