Welcome to our first newsletter of 2020!
We are having a cracker of a January and it’s our busiest delivery month since we set up in 2011. We’re also celebrating that our senior four coaches all are now PCC. This is the gold standard for coaching and means that they have achieved a certain knowledge standard and experience (500+ hours of coaching).
For those of you that have been following us for a while, you know that we always have a theme of the year. In 2018 it was Neurodiversity. Last year it was Mental Health. This year it is LEADERSHIP. We believe the world is crying out for more courageous and more inclusive leadership and we will be doing everything we can to create conversations and action around it.
Today is frequently called “Blue Monday” – the day where allegedly we feel most depressed with our lot. What do you think? Are you feeling dissatisfied and disillusioned today or do you think this is ‘pseudo-scientific marketing bobbins of the highest order’ (with thanks to @ballantine70)?
On the one hand… stress and ill mental health remain very real issues in all workplaces across the country. It is also true that for many this time of year comes with mixed emotions. January is that time of the year when we reflect on the past and ponder our life's journey in the coming year. Then reality hits us. It’s back to work, the cold is kicking in and why is pay day so far away?! For many, dissatisfaction and disillusionment with our careers and lives also seems to peak at this time. Despite our best intentions, perhaps our resolutions and high hopes seem like they are far away. We’re certainly not going to turn down the opportunity to have a conversation about mental health and well-being when it’s still clearly so needed.
And yet… I’m uncomfortable for three reasons. One is that this so-called significant day is used to artificially create a need in the population to buy worthless stuff to make themselves feel worthy. Secondly, the conversation about well-being needs to be happening all year, not just one day in January. And finally, and this I think is the crux of it, we cannot treat the symptoms of struggle in the workplace without looking at the factors that are messing with our well-being in the first place.
And the biggest myth that we’re propagating is that productivity = success.
As I said, we’re crazy busy this month at THC. It’s so easy for us (internally and externally) to turn that into a badge of honour. To use it to underline our worth as individuals. (I’m busy therefore I am smashing it at life). Don’t get me wrong - we’re thrilled that we’re having courageous conversations with so many new clients and it seals our confidence in what we are doing. But it is also dangerous to start linking exhaustion, ‘busy-ness’ and stress to our self worth. And there are work cultures out there that are peddling that myth, creating systems in which burn-out is the norm and offering resilience training as a way to paper over the cracks.
Here at THC, I know that we’re not being as respectful to each other as we usually are and that doesn’t feel good. At least two of the team have been working on days that they wouldn’t usually work so as to stay on top of stuff. They don’t usually work on those days because they value their balance, seeing their family and friends and care about their well-being. That also feels pretty shitty to me. Alongside ensuring they have the tools to recognise and respond to their overwhelm, I need to create a resource system that can handle the amount of work that is within the system.
As ever I learn that talking about this stuff is easy. Actually implementing it in your own organisation is difficult. It requires leadership which in turn requires support.
My ask of leaders this so-called Blue Monday is:
• Yes, let’s reject using poor mental health as a way of selling stuff
• Let’s not just talk about how people are on one Monday of the year
• Look beyond our productivity and our status to define who we are (as individuals and companies). If not our busy-ness, then what?
• Consider the impact of any statements about how busy you are that you make in public forums (IRL and on social media). What meaning sits behind that statement for yourself? What message are you sending to others?
• Support your team members to learn more about stress and mental health, alongside considering how you can make scalable change in your systems so that people aren’t burnt out?
Our open Resilience and Mental Health in the workplace training is filled with practical tools and techniques to help boost mental, emotional and spiritual health along with how to reduce and prevent stress. Our first open one of the year is on Thursday 6th February, 2pm - 4.30pm in London, or we can come in to your company. Tickets for the event can be purchased here and cost £175+VAT per person.
Feel free to get in touch with derek@thehobbsconsultancy.com if you have any questions about the Resilience training or want to know how else we can support your talent.
If you’re reading this and you would like to make changes in your own life, get in contact with emma@thehobbsconsultancy.com to discuss a 6-session programme of private coaching with YourSelf.
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Key THC dates for your diary:
Wednesday, 22 January
Diversity & Inclusion Lunch and Learn (Dublin)
Wednesday, 26 & 27 February
Brene Brown’s Dare To Lead™ (2 Day Leadership course)