Turns out maintenance is a good investment.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. And in as we consider strategies for managing our own individual wellness, why not create a culture of team care at work? Because the more the merrier on the journey to wellness.
Modern Mentor is hosted by Rachel Cooke. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Have a question for Modern Mentor? Email us at modernmentor@quickanddirtytips.com.
Find Modern Mentor on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or subscribe to the newsletter to get more tips to fuel your professional success.
Modern Mentor is a part of Quick and Dirty Tips.
Links:
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/
https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/modern-mentor-newsletter
https://www.facebook.com/QDTModernMentor
https://twitter.com/QDTModernMentor
https://www.linkedin.com/company/modern-mentor-podcast/
https://www.leadabovenoise.com/
Hey, it’s Rachel Cooke, your Modern Mentor. I’m the founder of Lead Above Noise—and I’ve been working lately with a number of organizations striving to amplify the care and wellness their employees are feeling. Today’s episode is a bit of an ode to these companies.
I’ve been running my business for 9 years now. I started it from a place of uncertainty and anxiety… and today I’m tremendously proud of what I’ve built. Totally on my own. But toward the end of last year, a friend recommended I look into a community she had recently joined—one for service-based business owners. So I looked, I joined, and the game has changed completely.
This community has taught me many things. But top of the list is this: you don’t have to go it alone to be independent. You can walk proudly forward, on your own, with a team also there to support you, to offer well wishes and cheers.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. And Mental Health America has declared this year’s theme to be “Look Around, Look Within.” And to me, this is a message of care—for yourself and for those around you. Like, let’s all be in this together. Because it’s better.
Like running a business, providing care for oneself is indeed an act of independence. But the experience can be so much richer, more robust if the care runs through and across a team.
I’d love to talk today about how I think teams can demonstrate “Team care” in service of supporting everyone’s self-care.
I remember, in my first few years of adulting, when my income and expenses were essentially one and the same, I had to cut corners. Like, a lot of them. I mean… expiration dates on contact lenses and dairy products were just suggestions, right?
Same went for car maintenance. I mean, an oil change every 3 – 5,000 miles? Please. No thanks. A night out with friends ranked higher. Until, of course, that choice came around to bite me.
Turns out maintenance is a good investment. In cars, and in human spirits. Because when we ignore a thing until a problem presents, solving that problem becomes a whole lot more complicated and expensive than preventing it would have been.
When we allow ourselves to get caught up in the hustle, and only think to check in on a teammate when they’re showing signs of distress, we’ve missed the mark. Having rituals—regular, consistent, and totally normal—for checking in on each other is the most effective way to either see a problem early or even head it off altogether.
In practice, this can take any shape you like. Start every team meeting with a lightning round—have everyone hold up fingers (1-5) or drop a word in the Zoom chat to say how they’re doing. Or leaders can book increments of 10 minutes on their calendars each day to just check in briefly one-on-one with a team member.
Whatever shape your rituals take, be sure that (a) the leader sets the example by showing their own vulnerability, and (b) someone takes accountability to support and follow up with a colleague who’s feeling “below the line.”
When we ritualize, we normalize. We give people regular opportunities to ask, to share, to speak up. And this can help create the safety someone needs to be able to say “I’m not OK.”
Rituals help us open the discussion. Sometimes people just need to talk, or to connect.
But other times people need more than a conversation. They need help or support in some way.
I love the idea of having a means of exchanging asks and offers—so that those in need of help and those with the ability to help can find each other easily.
One client organization did this in what I thought was a pretty crafty way. Their head of marketing had noted some signs of burnout creeping into her team. So she created a Red/Yellow/Green system that she invited everyone in her organization to use daily.
It worked like this. She created and shared a simple Google Sheet. Throughout the day, she asked that each member of her team log in to update their status—“red” meant they were in need of some help, “yellow” meant they were doing OK, and “green” meant they were in a position to offer help.
Anyone logging a “red” indicator had to include a specific ask. Like “I could use some help editing and finalizing this client pitch” or “I really need a brainstorming partner to help me generate ideas” or “I’d love to connect with someone really expert in this program to help teach me to use it.”
Those in the green were asked to peruse the doc throughout the day and offer help when and where they could.
And it was a hit. People needing help one day were able to find it, and often those same people were in a position to offer it the next. Because this became a daily practice, no one felt ashamed of needing help. And the practice of asking and offering helped to drive camaraderie and community across the team.
While the Google Sheet doesn’t have to be your means, what can you do to create a simple system that enables help to be found?
I give this talk called “How to Keep Burnout at Bay.” And at one point, I ask people in the audience what they believe the biggest causes of burnout are. And typically I get answers like “too many meetings” or “overwork” or “lack of priorities.”
All of these are correct. But they’re also incomplete.
We’ve become conditioned, collectively, to have an eye out for excesses in the workplace—to watch for those who may be drowning in too many or too much.
But data shows that underwhelm too can trigger feelings of burnout. And leaders need to establish a practice of watching for signals of this around them.
People tend to ask for help in seasons of excess. But it’s hard to ask for help when you’re just plain bored. When you feel like your work is on repeat, you’re feeling totally unchallenged, underutilized.
As leaders and as colleagues, we should all be watching—within and around us—for indicators of gray. Are people around you showing some enthusiasm for what they’re working on, or are they just going through the motions? Do they seem curious to learn about new strategies or ideas? Or do they just want to hit the buttons and go?
Checking in with people in service of trying to find their spark is another important means of keeping team care afloat.
And finally. All this talking and helping and caring is crucial. But don’t forget the value of plain old joy. Of fun and levity and humor at work.
This doesn’t have to be silly. It’s just a commitment to sometimes stepping away from the grind—from the status updates and project plans and financial projections—and just bringing connection to the forefront.
Whether it’s talking about favorite books and TV shows, or having a team member share a talent (like cooking? Or playing an instrument?) with the team, or doing quick-fire trivia rounds—just creating space and occasion for people to connect on a human level can do wonders for keeping team care high.
Wherever you land on this, do remember that every person’s well-being matters. And the more we all engage in supporting each other, the more support each of us will receive in return. Sounds like kind of a lovely way to work, right?
Join me next week for another great episode. You can follow Modern Mentor on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Find and follow me on LinkedIn. Thanks so much for listening and have a successful week.