This month I have the pleasure of being the featured staff member for Community LIFE's Supportive Services Newsletter. I've been working with our staff to educate them about and give them opportunities to practice self-care during this time of living and working through COVID-19. It wasn't until listening to an episode of Brene Brown's dare to lead podcast that I was reminded of the importance of also caring for our Teammates. Here is the article that I wrote for the newsletter focusing on caring for our Team.
Connecting with and Caring for Your Team
“The cure for burnout isn’t and can’t be self-care. It has to be all of us caring for each other.”
~ Emily & Amelia Nagoski ~
dare to lead podcast with Brene Brown
I have spent a lot of time over the past several months talking about self-care – taking care of you so that you can take care of others. In my mind, I defined others as our families and Participants. However, I now realize that there is another group that needs to be included – our co-workers.
I am reminded of a time several years ago when the East End Social Work department was going through a time of great transition. I was extremely stressed. My blood pressure was up. I was not sleeping. I even began breaking out into hives. I was struggling. Obviously, I made it through, but I honestly don’t think I would have without one thing . . . my Team.
I would come back to the office to find treats on my desk. Notes of encouragement showed up in my mailbox and tucked in my windshield wiper. Team members would remind me to eat and fill my water bottle. Hugs were limitless. I felt uplifted. I felt strengthened. My Team carried me through that difficult time.
We have been physically separated from our co-workers for most of the past year. Companies are starting to see the impact that this separation is having on peer relationships within the workplace which in turn is impacting job satisfaction and performance.
As we enter this second year of life with COVID, we continue to live in a time of uncertainty. We expect things to be changing on a regular basis yet change seems to happen unexpectedly. Life at work . . . life at home . . . there is no escaping the madness. Look around you. Do you see co-workers who are feeling stressed? Worn out? Disconnected?
We expect things to be changing on a regular basis
yet change seems to happen unexpectedly.
Rather than looking the other way, I encourage you to pause and think of what you can do to connect with your co-workers. Need some ideas? Here are four simple and safe ways that we can show each other that we care:
1. Leave a note – Whether it’s a post-it note stuck to a desk phone for a specific person to find or stuck to the coffee pot in the break room for everyone to see, write an inspirational quote or friendly greeting to brighten someone’s day.
2. Invite someone to lunch – Schedule a Teams call and eat lunch together. Or pack a lunch and make plans to meet in a park or outside of the Center.
3. Embrace Spontaneous Contact – Team members are constantly coming and going from apartment buildings, homes and Centers. Instead of waving and moving on, pause and ask your co-worker how she is doing. If you are one of the first ones on a Teams’ meeting, start a conversation with your colleagues rather than hitting mute until the meeting starts. Embrace those moments of being together when you have a little time to take the focus off work.
4. Send a Gratitude email –Let your co-workers know that you appreciate them. What a great e-mail that would be to find amongst the hundred you get in a day!
Connecting with a co-worker builds a caring work community. A caring work community is a happier place to work for all of us.
