health

REFLECTION: I’ve just returned from the 15th Annual Health Work and Wellness Conference in Toronto. Over the years, I’ve attended five of these conferences; and it’s been interesting to watch the shift in focus over time. Initially the conversation was mostly about physical wellness – helping employees become more physically fit through increased exercise, healthier eating, and addressing risk factors for diabetes and heart disease.

This year, much of the conference focused on initiatives in the area of psychological safety. This moves us firmly into the arenas of mental and emotional health. These areas are harder to measure (and tougher to talk about), but they are every bit as important to productive workplaces as an emphasis on healthy bodies.

What we’re talking about here is creating a workplace culture that is respectful and civil – one in which people are responsible not just for their contributions to profits or corporate goals, but equally accountable for the impact of their everyday behaviour on others. Metaphorical hard hats and flak vests are rarely required. Leaders don’t carelessly overload employees, burning them out in the pursuit of corporate success. Berating, browbeating and bullying are not tolerated.

ACTION: Researcher, Martin Shain, recommends organizations concentrate on three approaches to create more psychologically safe workplaces:

1. Set reasonable and clear demands. Don’t blindly delegate work and raise expectations without attending to the impact of those new directions.

2. Make it safe for employees to speak up. Develop skills throughout the organization in raising concerns, asking questions, and listening with care.

3. Be vigilant about challenging even minor acts of incivility. Create a culture of courage – one in which people stand up for themselves and defend each other in the face of disrespectful comments or actions.

How does your workplace measure up on each of these elements? How might you and your colleagues strengthen an area where your culture falls short of the ideal?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” – World Health Organization, 1948

Or  you might prefer a more succinct version from Author Unknown:  “Just because you’re not sick doesn’t mean you’re healthy.”

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK: Looking for more specific tactics on setting the tone for a mentally healthy culture? Check out this section of the Great West Life Resource Centre for Mental Health.  You’ll find suggestions for building: credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie in the workplace.

READERS WRITE: In response to a recent e-zine message on ‘Energy Issues‘ Pause reader JM writes:  I work with people on low-income who lead highly emotionally stressful lives. Frequently they have developed a lifelong habit of being consumed by their barriers, and it keeps them in a chronically hopeless, lethargic state. I have often encouraged them to consider getting involved in a volunteer activity, a new hobby, or even a new habit like walking the kids to school or walking to the grocery store, just to take a break from their ‘lives’.  I know that once they get involved in something else, they will begin to see hope and find the courage to move beyond their current situation. But many cannot even see that this is possible. Your quote for this week reminds me that I should keep encouraging them to think about it. Thanks!! (“The more you lose yourself in something bigger than yourself, the more energy you will have.” – Norman Vincent Peale )

REFLECTION: The evidence is in, and it’s decisive.

* When employees take part in corporate sponsored fitness programming absenteeism and turnover are reduced.

* Every dollar invested in wellness initiatives creates significant returns through reduced staff turnover, gains in productivity gains and a drop in medical claims.

* Informal breaks cut down on mental strain and increase feelings of well-being. Micro breaks maintain or increase productivity.

Integrating renewing, re-energizing breaks into busy workdays creates major returns on multiple fronts – not just for employee wellness and engagement but also for organizational productivity and profitability.

The business case has been well established over the last decade and continues to grow in strength. I’m attending the National Health Work and Wellness Conference this week in Toronto, and will be sharing more of the most recent findings with you in future messages.

ACTION: So what does this mean for you and your organization? (more…)

REFLECTION: How is your energy these days? Feeling bright and chipper, ready to take on the world? Dragging your backside out of bed in the morning, wondering how you’ll make it through another day? Or, maybe somewhere in between?

If you’ve explored the area of energy management, you’re probably familiar with the four categories of energy that can be drained or recharged: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. The thing is that it’s not always clear what causes an energy shortfall, and what needs attention.

For example, you can be emotionally drained by relationship issues, and experience that as physical exhaustion. You can experience fuzzy thinking and a lack of concentration, and assume it’s because you have too many things on your mind. That fuzziness may, in fact, flow from the fact that you’re feeling totally disconnected from purpose and direction. You’ve sprung a leak in your spiritual gas tank!

Crossed wires can explain why our efforts to recharge may prove futile. (more…)

REFLECTION:  There’s no shortage of advice out there on how to live a more satisfying life. I’ve even been known to dispense a word or two myself! 🙂 Sometimes, though, the source gets lost along the way.

For example, there’s an echo of advice living somewhere deep in my mind that prescribes these three pre-requisites for happiness: something to do, something to look forward to, and someone (or something) to love.

There are elements of that buried wisdom in what was my most engaging read of the summer: Martin Seligman’s latest book, Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being.

In his earlier work, Authentic Happiness, Seligman noted three essentials for happiness: Positive Emotion, Engagement, and Meaning. Positive emotion boils down to good feelings (pleasure, warmth, comfort, etc.) Engagement is about using your best strengths and talents to be in flow – deeply absorbed by the activity at hand. Meaning relates to being in the service of something larger than yourself.

Over the last decade, further research has extended Seligman’s thinking and theory. (more…)

REFLECTION & ACTION: As I waited for my medical-test results, my mind led me down some amazing trails-most of them predicting disastrous outcomes. Within minutes, it took me from ill, to seriously ill, to languishing on my deathbed, to planning my funeral.

On what were these stories based? Nada. Zip. Nothing. No information at all! In the absence of information, my mind seemed determined to manufacture its own.

An African tribe that teaches its children how to calm themselves in anxious situations offers a wonderful strategy to handle the pressure of the unknown. Little ones who start imagining the worst (man-eating tigers lurking at the edge of the path) spin their yarns based only on fear. They are told to watch for a pattern. Once they notice the pattern, they stop and label their flights of fancy as hurting stories-stories that don’t have to be written.

As adults, we spin scary yarns about negative outcomes based on nothing but fear. This project is doomed. The market will dry up. My business will fail. Our relationship is dust.

Pay close attention to the churning of your mind. When you find yourself getting bent out of shape, particularly when evidence is lacking, pause. See if you can identify the pattern and the hurting story. (more…)

REFLECTION & ACTION: Will you? Would you? Can you? Could you? On those short questions hang the hooks of overcommitment. Will you take on this project? Would you look after the kids for the weekend? Could you chair this committee?

The trap lies in believing there’s only a yes or no answer to each question.

Say “yes” and when you realize you don’t have time for the task or that it’s not a fit with your interests or priorities, you reward yourself with resentment. Say “no” and when you suffer second thoughts about the wisdom of your decision or its possible effect on your relationships or future, you reward yourself with guilt.

People often overlook the possibility of middle ground. (more…)

Here are a few excerpts from reader replies to the recent Pause Blog Posting:  It’s All Good – Or Is It ? The message generated some strong feelings and thoughtful responses.

MS writes: ‘It’s all good’, I found that thought provoking. I do use that term but not at the times you describe. I find I use it when things in my life are busy but overall good. I find when things are stressful that the words I say to myself and others to get through is “this too shall pass”. This reminds me that although things are stressful now, they will get better and they will improve. I need this reminder to be patient, to try not to worry too much and to keep positive.

PJ writes:  I’m  glad you brought up this phrase “It’s all good”.  When people say this, they are either trying to present a brave front or they are just avoiding being real. For me, this phrase has become far too common, and has progressed to the category of irritant. It’s not even sincere, because, let’s face it:  it’s NOT all good. Life has its difficult moments. If people want to share the realities of their life with me, I would far rather hear them say something like,  “I’ve been going through a rough patch, but doing my best to handle things.”  –  rather than toss off some glib little catch phrase. It’s a bit of a pet peeve for me. And you are right in advising people to examine what’s really going on when they use this line as a constant mantra. (more…)

REFLECTION: I bumped into a friend the other day, asked her how she was, and watched her promptly burst into tears. She’d hit the wall, overwhelmed by a series of business growth challenges heaped on her plate. As she outlined each challenge in turn, she punctuated each description with the phrase, “But, it’s all good!” Working through the current stresses may well generate significant future returns. Still, I couldn’t help but note – and worry – that each restatement of the phrase, “It’s All Good”, was accompanied by an uber-pained look resembling someone passing a serious gall stone.

Just a few days later, I listened to another friend describe the serious health challenges being faced by several members of her family. She, too, punctuated the litany of tough situations with the phrase, “But, it’s all good.”

And, in an online update, yet a third friend, referenced a  business disappointment and ended her posting with the phrase, “But, it’s all good!”

They’re not alone, of course. I’ve said those words myself in the face of some very tough situations. Maybe you have, too.

Now, it could well be that all of these situations are minor glitches, temporary overloads, and short term challenges  – something to be endured and embraced in the service of growth or another valued purpose. And, it’s true that a positive, optimistic spirit is a helpful mindset to hold – and even occasionally our ONLY good choice.

Still, a part of me can’t help but wonder if sometimes  ‘It’s All Good!” isn’t more a statement of faith than a statement of fact. And, might continually repeating the mantra distance us from taking a closer look at the reality of our situation. (more…)

REFLECTION: I love it when seminar and conference participants share their stories and struggles with balance. It helps ease the pressure for us to hear of each other’s challenges and to know we’re not alone in our wacky responses to life’s stresses.

At a recent conference, I shared a few examples of the crazymaking things people do in their attempts to speed their way through the overloaded demands of the day. (If you’d like a refresher on this, check out my ‘Crazymaking World’ video clip on the Pauseworks website. )

During the morning break it was attendee Carol’s turn to make me laugh. She told me that when she wants to give something a half a minute in the microwave she punches in 33 seconds. She swears it’s faster to punch the same digit twice than to waste time looking for the 3 and the 0! I’m pretty sure 33 would be slightly faster. But the real question of importance is: “Does it make life slightly better?”

Carol also responded to a vignette I’d relayed of a busy parent screaming through the front door at day’s end – kicking backpacks and jackets out of the way and shouting out homework and supper instructions to the kids. Apparently this had been her style of re-entry, too, until the day her teenager asked, “Mom, do you walk through the door yelling even when there’s no one home?”

It was one of those ‘hold the mirror’, ‘dagger to the heart’ moments that caused Carol to stop and take a closer look at herself through the eyes of those who matter most. (more…)