Daniella Lang tells a lovely story about how prioritising staff happiness in her school led to so many positive effects.

In short, her school had not being doing that well and there was room for improvement.  A decision to start a staff wellbeing team was supported by volunteers from the teaching staff who helped to set it up and make it happen.

The results have spoken for themselves – an Ofsted grade improvement, and now in the top 20% for progress in reading and maths – two very tangible outcomes.

Here’s what struck me about Daniella’s scheme and its impact:

• Staff say they’re much happier
• The school now has a family feel to it
• The leader might be part of the problem … and they can also be part of the solution
• Encourage open discussions about issues – be honest with each other
• Start small: motivational posters; mugs filled with treats, sweets or stationery; book and DVD swap
• Create a wellbeing board … and on it, put information about nights out, positive feedback
• Prioritise and run training sessions; encourage your senior leaders to lead them
• Give feedback verbally when you can
• Hold regular staff/team meetings … talk about how to manage workloads, how to relax
• Share resources across teams
• Introduce mindfulness
• Ensure leaders have an open-door policy
• And leaders . . . be approachable, please!

Does that sound doable in your workplace?