Last updated Sep 20, 2022
Take 15 minutes a day. Make it a habit. Be mindful of our progress and boost team productivity.
Ben Fanning shared something that seems counter-intuitive but seriously insightful: Stop working 15 minutes before you log off your computer and reflect on what you learned. Make it a daily habit. Research shows that you can boost your team productivity over 20 percent with this simple practice.
Understand the purpose
The daily habit is about reflecting on the learning and enlightenment you experienced when a working day draws to close. Besides the personal benefits of journaling, the 15-minute exercise in the team context provides a chance to translate experience into practical wisdom, codify what you’ve learned today, notice the progress and gain confidence to work smarter tomorrow. Doing so together with the team also creates healthy awareness of individual strengths, magnifies the joint learning experience and encourages positive energy.
Make it easy
While a paper-based diary system has been the historical norm for journaling, an online calendar like Teamup offers many advantages:
- Have one shared place regardless of where everyone is physically. With color-coded sub-calendars it’s easy to stay organized.
- If some members prefer using other systems or another Teamup Calendar, no problem, integrate and sync via iCalendar feeds.
- Teamup Calendar is easily accessible not only on the web but also on mobile devices via the apps. If you have a smartphone with you most of the time, make use of it.
- When pictures are more expressive than words, upload them directly to where they belong.
- It’s easy to share any specific journal entries with a wider team without cluttering the communication channels with irrelevant information.
Set up your team journal
Click here to create your team journal. Customize it with your team brand, add team members, make it accessible from your iPhone or any Android devices.
Make it a team habit
Whether you start the habit building in your next staff meeting, or set up a 15-minute recurring event in the team calendar as a reminder, make it a daily habit. Focus on one lesson a day to start with. It’s much more than marking items as done on a todo list. It’s about being mindful of our progress as individuals and as a team.