The 4Rs of Organizational Self-Care
The 4Rs of Organizational Self-Care
The past 19 months have provided an abrupt recognition to many people about the importance of personal self-care. It’s been a wake-up call for individuals to make decisions that support their mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health needs. And while many organizations have adopted new policies and practices to support this, the whole topic of organizational self-care is an opportunity to strategically plan how leaders can support their current and prospective team members to provide an environment where they can thrive.
The reasons for its importance should be clear by now. With attrition rates rising (The Great Resignation), reports on increasingly aggressive behavior in public places (airplanes, stores, and schools to name a few), and a general unease in the workplace (as reported by a variety of leaders with whom I’ve spoken), we have to approach work differently in the future. Worker shortages along with high unemployment, are evidence of a great reset on the number of people available and interested in the types of jobs that are open. The proof of that is our recognition of the difficulty in finding a salesperson in a store, a server in a restaurant, and a delivery date for a desired item; along with employers dealing with increased time-to-hire. (more…)
The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about a young man named Liam McCoy.1 Liam was born with albinism, a diagnosis characterized by lack of the pigment melanin in his hair, eyes, and skin. His eyes were overly sensitive to bright light, they moved involuntarily to the point that he was unable to make them look at any specific object, and he was extremely nearsighted. He could only see something in a field three inches from his nose and had a visual acuity of 20/2000. Though he had sight, his visual perception was extremely poor, and he learned to experience and understand his environment using cues that were different from those born with normal vision. 
“Belief in what someone can do is more powerful than knowledge of what they can do.”
Imagine that you’ve just been promoted to lead your first team. Some of you will have to reach back in your memory bank to think about this. Others are looking forward to that moment, with a mixture of anticipation and trepidation. Because until you sit in that chair, you don’t quite know what it’s going to be like.
Imagine you’re walking along the beach. In the distance you see storm clouds gathering, the sky darkening. The sun slowly becomes unrecognizable behind the thick cover overhead. The waves rushing onto shore become increasingly more powerful, as they push further into the sand, washing away the designs and formations made by beachgoers earlier in the day. The lifeguards beckon swimmers out of the water because they know the undercurrent is stronger and the sea is dangerous. Umbrellas and beach chairs are stacked up and tied down. Meanwhile the sand is pushed in and out by the waves, back and forth in unpredictable patterns.
The sound of her watch alarm abruptly awakened Carol from a deep sleep. It was January 2nd and she was already focused on how she would address her leadership team when they returned to work in a few days. Thoughts had been swirling in her mind over the two-week holiday break. 
Even though most of us haven’t been flying much in the past eight months, we’re all familiar with the safety guidelines shared by flight attendants before an airplane takes off. In the event of an emergency where supplemental oxygen is needed, a mask will drop from the overhead cabin. You should put on your own mask before helping children, the disabled, or anyone needing assistance. And know that the oxygen is flowing, even if the plastic bag doesn’t inflate.