Active teams in Adult Services

The Adult Services and Wellbeing directorate works every day to support people with care and support needs to live the best lives they can. But supporting wellbeing isn’t just about the people we work with, it’s also about the staff who make that support possible.

As part of the wider Active Social Care project, a new focus has been placed on helping staff become more active themselves. The aim is simple: when staff experience the physical and mental benefits of movement firsthand, they’re better placed to promote and encourage it with the people they support.

Building on Success

To bring this vision to life, Adult Services & Wellbeing collaborated with Active Teams, an organisation that helps workplaces boost staff activity through team-based challenges. Following a successful pilot with the Upper Personalised Long Term Support team the previous year, the decision was made to roll the initiative out more widely across Adult Services & Wellbeing, alongside a joint launch with colleagues in the Calder and Ryburn PCN.

The project kicked off at a staff engagement event, supported by online registration sessions to make it easy for staff to get involved from day one.

The Daily Shine Challenge

Sixty staff members signed up to take part in the Daily Shine Challenge, which encouraged participants to complete at least 15 minutes of physical activity each day for a month. The activities were flexible, anything that got people moving counted, making it accessible for different lifestyles, fitness levels and working patterns.

Across Adult Services & Wellbeing and the PCN combined, participants recorded an impressive 70,829 minutes of physical activity over the course of the challenge.

More Than Just Minutes

While the numbers are impressive, the real impact has been cultural. In the short term, more staff have become active and begun to associate their workplace with a positive, supportive culture around movement and wellbeing. Conversations about staying active have increased, teams have encouraged each other, and friendly competition has added energy and fun.

Over the longer term, initiatives like this have the potential to improve staff health and wellbeing, supporting reduced absenteeism, increased presenteeism, and ultimately stronger, more resilient services.

Launching the project alongside the PCN has also helped to strengthen connections across health and social care, reinforcing a shared commitment to wellbeing across the wider system.

Staff Voices

The feedback from participants highlights the personal impact:

“I really enjoyed the challenge, and it helped me personally by motivating me to walk more when I was between gyms at the start of the challenge… My dog thanks you!”

“It made me do at least 15 minutes of something each day, even when I worked a full day at work.”

“It was a really fun challenge.”

“We were encouraging each other throughout the challenge — it made us want to get more points to stay at the top of the leaderboard.”

“Made me conscious of making time daily to get some exercise in.”

“We will try to continue keeping our small team active — we are planning a few events in the near future.”

Looking Ahead

The Daily Shine Challenge has shown how small, manageable actions can create meaningful change, not only in individual wellbeing but in team culture too. By encouraging staff to move more, Adult Services & Wellbeing is strengthening its workforce while modelling the positive behaviours it promotes every day.

When teams move together, they build healthier habits, stronger connections, and a culture that supports wellbeing from the inside out.