Leading by Design
Issue No. 6
Creating Environments of Well-being
Hey Reader,
The US Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy, M.D., M.B.A. has published a framework and call to action for companies to take more care and proactivity in supporting their employees total wellbeing.
Here’s some stats at a glance from the report:
17%
increase in reported mental health concerns over the past two years
84%
said their workplace conditions had contributed to at least one mental health challenge.
81%
of workers reported that they will be looking for workplaces that support mental health in the future.
I’m left with a hopeful yet hesitant anticipation of the year ahead, especially with U.S. elections looming. How will this impact us as both leaders… and as humans as we look to the new year? How can we navigate our own wellbeing needs, along with those of our team members? Will there be dramatic shifts in company benefits or leadership training that improves and regenerates employee wellbeing? I hope so. I may even create that training!
What can we do?
Pretty sure anyone receiving this newsletter wants to be a part of the solution. For their own wellbeing, and the health of the teams they are part of leading. Today I’m going to share 3 immediately implementable ways for leaders to spark and hold these spaces with their team to improve culture and promote well-being. Both of which can make work suck a wee bit less for all. If you want to dive deeper, I wrote about this on my site here.
1. Say “No”
Immediately, try to stem the amount of workload hitting your team through radical prioritization – especially if your team has shrunk. If you are in the position where you are being asked to do more with less right now, carve out a day to focus on solving THAT problem, instead of drinking from the fire hose.
It is not your problem as a human, to absorb the impact of company decisions at the detriment to your health. If you absorb the problem, the problem becomes invisible to the executives who made the decisions in the first place. Push the problem back up, with your solutions and cost of not solving included.
More on setting healthy workplace boundaries on my blog here. I also spend time on this and assertive communication in my Leadership Accelerator if you want to hone this ability!
2. Connect to Shared Purpose
Holding space for yourself and your team to re-establish purpose inside of the workplace system that you exist within is critical to envision a path forward from the stress teams are experiencing. Giving folks something to look forward to that they can see themselves as a part of helps them heal and progress following difficult changes.
you are inviting them to experiment with you on a first step forward to a new team reality that ya’ll create continuously together.
Shared purpose is a collective sense of working toward a common goal. This assigns further meaning to work, generates pride, and fuels motivation all while reducing stress. Grab my facilitation guide and prompts for a team workshop on purpose here. Or reach out if you want to outsource facilitation. 💕
3. Take care of Yourself Proactively
Start yesterday! Seriously! Ensure you are productively and proactively caring for your own well-being on all fronts. The more you can maintain the consistency and stability in how you lead, the better off your team will be. Consider nervous system work, exercise, down-regulatory yoga (yin, nidra, slow flow) and meditation… the list is endless, the most important thing is that it actually works for you. There is a pitfall in “self-care” that typical activities are not productively replenishing your energy. I love a pedicure, but is that regenerating my energy? A coffee and walk with a friend does though. (call me maybe? ☕️)
Ensure boundaries you set for yourself do not negatively impact your team members. Your boundaries need to encompass the downstream affects where possible – don’t roll the 💩 downhill.
Moar Resources!
I’m not affiliated with the below in any fashion, so truly tools I use myself and would recommend:
- Headspace – loads of styles of meditation, training, sleepcasts
- How 20m a week devoted to culture improves team mental health: Listen here to Morra Aarons-Mele’s Anxious Achiever podcast 🎧
- Full report from the US Surgeon General on why workplace wellbeing is a priority for societal health here.
Thanks for reading and being with me on this journey to make work suck a wee bit less. 🤩
Alison
Curator & Community Coach
Alison Gretz, ACC
Executive Coach, future of work & Leadership Development thought leader, Mum to 2 small humans, prior leader to teams of hundreds.
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