moral boosting/team building

[blufoxtrot]

I am working on improving the moral in our department as well as improving the relationship between day shift and night shift. (wish me luck on the second one) Anyway. I am trying to think of ideas to help our dept. We have food day a couple times per month. I have started to gather recipes for a dept. cookbook too. I am trying to plan activities for ER nurses day in October. Any ideas or fun things you do in your department would be grrrrrreat. Thanks

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

We often find that after a night out always works for us. Planning nights out also gets people interested and involved. We often organise lunch and shopping trips.

Meals either in restaurant or take turns at each others houses.

BBQ's

Trips to theatres

Bowling

A few drinks and dancing ( this is kinda popular in UK dont know if it is the same in US)

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

Please,, if you do organize meals out, outings and such try to remember some are working and think about rotational scheduling. It doesnt do anything for moral of a unit if things are always planned/organized on the same dates/day of week so that only certain ones ever get to attend.

Some tried this on our unit but lost sight of the fact that not everyone was off the same evenings they were. They never once tried to change the dates or evenings so a different group could possibly attend. Didnt make for any cohesion in the unit at all, it just drove a wedge farther in between some. And at times their "night out" became a unit joke.

I think offering to help when needed and maybe even when they obviously dont need it, showing true intrest in your co-workers and their families can do as much to help moral on a unit. If people you work with feel they are valued and people have genuine concern for each other it helps a much as anything.

Sometimes just approaching someone and asking if they are doing ok, do they need help with anything is enough. One person starting the trend usually takes on a life of its own and people will be working together easily before long. It does take a little while of offering for sceptical people to see it works,, but they come around too.

[bobnurse]

We had this problem, and the thing that worked the best was saying "Thanks".

We started giving out thank you cards with little gifts, like candy or mugs. Recognizing birthdays. We give out cards...We have everyone sign them. We also give out cards to new employees welcoming them to the department. We have a little form anyone can fill out called "Above and Beyond" that someone can thank someone and it goes into our monthly newsletter. We also do dinners and lunches...But what has made a major swing in the morale was simply saying "Thank You," and recognizing the nurses that work extra and work hard.

[madwife2002, BSN, RN]

I agree with the above absolutly nothing compares with appreciation and recognition of hard work. :)