The first spotlight is on Marjaana Halsas, Competence Area Director, who has promoted movement in her own work community.
How has movement become part of the everyday life of the Languages and Internationality team, and what have you done in practice?
For a long time, the team has had its own channel dedicated to well-being in Teams, where Marjaana and the team members share tips for everyday well-being and movement. The principle of the channel has been to encourage and maintain the themes, without forcing anyone to do anything. The emphasis is on movement and well-being, not on craving exercise.
– As a team, we made movement a concrete part of everyday life last spring when we joined the Haaga-Helia Moves project's movement promise campaign. I wanted movement not to remain just talk, so we introduced movement moments and break badges in all meetings. Movement is now a normal part of meeting practices, both remotely and on-site, Marjaana says.
What kind of impact has movement had?
– I have noticed that team members are more energetic and relaxed in meetings after movement moments. Physical movement also gets your thinking moving, despite the fact that team meetings are in the afternoons. Movement really relaxes – after a potentially difficult day and its situations, everyone can breathe a sigh of relief through movement.
– The idea that humans were created to move speaks to me. When a person is kept physically inactive too much, they are unable to use their full capacity. In my role, it is important to create visibility and continuity for my team to promote movement. Let's not leave movement at the "tick box" level but come up with new ways to promote movement and keep the spirit of doing things together. The active members of our team play an important role in this, as they keep movement themes visible and encourage others to join in.
Give us a tip on how to add movement.
– There is always time to move: a few seconds are enough. Let’s do things together and use the stairs on campus!
The UAS Moves project promotes an operating culture in which movement supports learning, well-being and a sense of community. Read more about the project and Haaga-Helia's activity etiquette and movement-centred learning.
