A Well(ness) Workover for the Darkest Day
If you live north of the Equator, you'll experience the shortest, darkest day of the year today.
If you follow The Energy Detox, you probably expect some friendly reminders and/or bad puns about how the oil and gas industry helps figuratively and literally brighten the world.
If you follow workforce trends, you've undoubtedly seen headlines about rampant burnout, exhaustion, and figurative darkness permeating many organizations.
And if you tune into this live episode of "The Daily Detox," you'll answer 3 questions that will help you address employee engagement, morale, and well-being issues plaguing today’s energy industry:
💡 (G)ROW: What is ONE way you can you better connect with ONE employee TODAY?
💡 (P)ROTECT: Are you unwittingly widening fractures between corporate "wellness programs" and company culture?
💡 (S)USTAIN: How much time, money, and energy are you wasting on outside "fixes" to workplace burnout, anxiety, & disengagement?
Related Content:
Episode 7: Does the "Law of Capture" Apply When Someone Drains Your Figurative Energy?
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Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
Hello and welcome to the energy detox a petroleum based blend of leadership conversations guaranteed to boost your professional and personal output by flushing away the hidden and often toxic barriers to peak performance. I'm your host, Joe Sinnott, a chemical engineer, executive coach, and 15 year energy industry veteran helping you tap into the same resources fueling today's most successful and sustainable leaders. And today, we're going to talk about how those leaders are able to write in their company cultures, without resorting to quick fixes and gimmicks and tricks that are quite frankly, not sustainable. And to drive today's conversation, we're going to turn to the fact that today is the winter solstice, which means it is the shortest day of the year, it is the darkest day of the year. And of course, it's a day when you can find no shortage of headlines talking about helping people through depression and helping people through what will be the next three months of winter helping people through what is often a very stressful time of year. And compounding all of the normal stresses of winter and darkness. And, and again, the holiday season is the fact that again, we are of course in a global pandemic. And we're still dealing with all of the various workforce related items that are continuing to push employees to induce anxiety and to really make a mess in many ways of many companies, particularly in the oil and gas industry. So today, we're going to take the excuse of this winter solstice, we're going to take the excuse of all of these energy industry headlines related to people in the workforce. And we're going to weave them into a message that is focused on you and in particular, your employees and the ways that you're working with them to help make the next three months a little bit better, a little bit smoother and a little bit more productive for you for your organization. And again, for those who are working for you and with you. And while typically here on these daily iterations of the energy detox, we've been bringing in specific energy headlines. I'm not going to do that today. Because again, the focus is pretty straightforward. And quite frankly, it's pretty universal. Because we're talking about people, we're talking about their desire, in many cases to have more autonomy, their desire to reduce anxiety, their desire to not be burned out, so that they can contribute better to their families from a personal standpoint, and outside of work hours, which of course, have been increasingly blurred as we continue this work from home experiment for many companies. So with that being said, today, we are going to step through as we have been doing three discrete questions to help you make better decisions to help you think more critically and consciously about your relationship with your employees. And of course, even though we're not going to focus on one particular energy industry headline today, we will of course, weave in themes from the energy industry, in particular themes related to flaring. And the fact that flaring is basically wasted energy. And it's it's wasted money in many cases, and it's wasted, you know, reserves and molecules that can be used for good purposes, much like companies like yours are, in many cases, wasting energy, wasting time wasting money on efforts that, quite frankly, are useless. We'll also weave in the theme of the energy industry and its impact to brighten the world figuratively, and literally how the energy industry and its production of again, clean, plentiful, affordable hydrocarbons, helps bring people out of poverty and helps people of course, right in their homes, and lead more successful, healthier lives because of that. And again, we're going to take all those themes together and bring it back to you as a leader, regardless of what your role is, regardless of whether you have a formal management role, regardless of whether you're in human resources, regardless of whether you're a senior leader, or quite frankly, even if you're just in transition, and you're looking for a new role, these questions I promise will help you in both your professional and personal life. And the first of those questions today is what is one way you can better connect with one employee today. Because again, this time of year, it can become very overwhelming. I know at least in our family, and you know, you're you're trying to figure out gifts and shopping and we got two birthdays in the mix two of our kids. So there's a lot of logistics and you're trying to deal with lots of different people we're writing thank yous to these people. And you're figuring out which gives her for these people, which ones go to this secret Santa and all these various things that are going on. But if you can slow things down and focus on one person today, particularly if again, you're in a leadership position, one person that works for you or with you, and what's one thing that you can do for them today to better connect with them. Not necessarily gift them anything not necessarily, you know, make them like you're more not necessarily make them more productive in this season of reduced productivity for many people in many companies. But what's one thing you can do? And again, it's an open ended question and as you can ponder that. I'll give you one example. And this is something we've talked about before in the energy detox. But I think it's really, quite frankly, it's really beneficial for the people that I know that I've worked with that have employed it. And that is to ask one person today, how are you doing today? How are you doing today?
05:17
And that last word, which again, was, you know, inserted in this question by design is very important. Because it's one thing to try to make small talk, it's one thing to ask how things are going, it's one thing to shoot an email or a text or something like that. But if you have the opportunity to talk with someone either face to face, or even just over the phone, and maybe to a lesser extent, over zoom, or teams or whatever, asking them, how are you doing? today? It's very different question for most of the small talk that you you know, you unconsciously engage in all the time, right? How are you doing today? When you ask how you're doing, again, what most people say, I'm fine. Or perhaps if they've gone through something stressful, or they're going through something stressful? You know, overall, they're not fine. They're not doing well. And whether they see that or not, that's what's gonna pop into their head. But just getting very specific, and again, focusing on one individual, one person and one day, and saying, How are you doing today is a very different question. Because odds are, they're going to focus on something that's going on that day at that moment, and they're much more inclined to give you something back in return that something more meaningful, that's something more insightful, that allows you again, to hear what they're saying, and to better connect with that individual so that you can help them along so that you can be on guard so that you can look for patterns. And I'll say that the you know, the impetus for this question came from an article I read about, Gosh, four, four and a half years ago. And it was about Sheryl Sandberg, who is the CEO of Facebook now, Mehta, and she was talking about how in the time following her husband's death, that, you know, hearing people say, Well, how are you doing? Again? It was it was not a very good question. It was a question that she had asked again, for decades prior. But again, it just, it just wasn't a good question. It was devoid of any real meaning. And she said, the thing that kind of shifted for her is when she started asking other people, especially people, she knew that were going through tough times, like she had been following the death of her husband saying, How are you doing? today? It's a very different question. And it's very focused again, on you know, the, you know, the here and now and not the, the bigger picture, which, again, you know, people kind of go through life, and they probably have a decent picture or a decent feel for, you know, what the big picture is, in some cases, it stinks, it's horrible, it's dark. So try to brighten people's day by getting into, you know, some specifics, asking not just how they're doing from a vague standpoint, not just saying, Hey, what are you working on, not just these open ended questions, but getting into what it is that's going through their mind at that very moment when you're connecting with them, so that you might actually extract something of value that's front and center in their brains, and not this general malaise, because it's easy to attack specific things, right. It's easy to attack a finite challenge or issue, it's very challenging, it's much more challenging, of course, to try to address something wider and vaguer, like somebody who again, is going through something that is maybe bordering on depression, or that is stemming from, you know, loss of a loved one, or just, again, the malaise and the the difficulties that can come this time of year. So again, ask yourself, what is one thing you can do for one individual today? But if you're looking for some help, or if you're looking for a way to approach someone, the normal conversation that you have with individuals gravitate towards this one question that says, How are you doing today? Moving on to the next question for today. And that is, are you unwittingly widening fractures between corporate wellness programs, and company culture? Because many organizations, especially large organizations, spend lots of time money and energy on wellness programs, wellness initiatives, trying to help people's wellness, their well being whether it's their physical health or mental health, and it's all good stuff, right? It's not bad, I've taken advantage of it. And in my years, you know, having worked for corporations that yeah, you know, what, they're willing to spend a couple dollars, I'm willing to take advantage of it. And, you know, by and large, it's a good thing. Are they getting their bang for their buck, if you will? I don't know. But it's not a bad thing. However, in many cases, a lot of the things that are being pushed from a wellness standpoint, from a from a well being standpoint, are at odds with the company culture. And again, this is something you know, certainly if you're in the world of human resources, or organizational psychology or things like that, clearly, one of the things that you are intently aware of are the gaps or the fractures, if you will, between company culture, the unwritten rules, the things that kind of really drive people and really drive managers and really drive the company forward. And the more formal written programs, initiatives, undertakings, if
09:51
you will, again, very different worlds that in many cases are not addressed, address those and you might actually see some momentum you actually I see some consistency, you might actually see less burnout, less disengagement, and less of a hit to your company's morale, because it's those gaps. It's those fractures between the unwritten rules and the company culture, and all of these wellness initiatives. But the problem that I see again, I've seen it firsthand, and I see it now working with individuals is that in many cases, companies double down on the initiatives and the programs and the, you know, the fancy or in some cases, not so fancy, you know, videos and publications and, and polished messages from upper management about taking care of yourself this time of year, and being safe, and being on guard and taking time for yourself and doing all of these various things that sound good. But quite frankly, many cases piss people off, because they know that it's completely at odds with the culture. And it's completely at odds with what their leader and what their manager is actually expecting of them, and telling them to do, you know, in, you know, unwritten and some cases, you know, unsaid way. So ask yourself, again, are you unwittingly widening fractures between what your company is saying publicly, and these great rah rah things that are telling people to take care of themselves. And the reality, which is your company culture, which is obviously, more impactful, it's more present than it's the thing that people feel. So identify where those gaps are, and more importantly, identify the ways in which you might be widening those gaps, regardless of whether you are in a formal leadership position, regardless of whether you are an individual contributor. Or, of course, if you're at the very top of a company, and you know, you see yourself as maybe somewhat removed, and you're being told that, hey, your company's doing all these things, and they're filtering down. But in reality, what are you doing to contribute to the widening gap between company culture and company initiatives? Which brings us to the third and final question today, which is how much time money and energy are you wasting on outside fixes, to burnout, to anxiety and to disengagement. And as we said at the outset, in many ways, the things that many companies are doing is much like flaring, right? It's a waste, it's a waste of energy, it's a waste of money. And quite frankly, it's a it's a detriment, it's, it's a black eye, if you will, on an industry that is doing so much for the environment, and so much to do, again, what's right, from an ESG standpoint, that when there's unnecessary flaring, again, it kind of brings everything down. And in many cases, you as a leader might be spending time, energy and money on things that are well intentioned, you know, this time of year, you go and you're going out and you're mindlessly buying gifts for people, I mean, 80% of which aren't needed, and you know, aren't necessary and, you know, wind up getting donated to Goodwill, by the time next Christmas rolls around. But are you doing the same thing? From a corporate standpoint? Are you investing again, in these some of these initiatives and programs that we talked about in the prior question? And are you doing that at the expense of your people, quite frankly, at the expense of your bottom line. And instead of looking for quick fixes and programs and looking to outsiders to help, you know, influence your company and come up with a new game plan and, and help boost employee morale and engagement, and hire better people and retain talent and attract talent, and all these things that can add up to a very, very large bill, at the end of the day? Are there things you can be doing internally, to empower yourself and quite frankly, to empower your managers and your leaders? To do the small things, to ask the small questions to identify the gaps that we talked about in the previous question, to ask the questions that we talked about in the first question. Are you? Are you taking advantage of internal resources? Are you taking advantage of the opportunity for people to actually just pick up the phone and communicate with their employees to actually have employee sit downs outside of the formal, you know, annual appraisal process or biannual appraisal process? Or whatever you have in place? Are you taking advantage of those small things instead of leaning on quick fixes, expensive fixes, outside fixes that in many cases don't work? Or if they do work? It's short term, it's not sustainable. So ask yourself, again, where you're bleeding money, where you're unnecessarily flaring, gas and energy, if you will, ask yourself, in what ways you're contributing to a culture that relies too heavily upon these quick fixes these outside resources, these outside influences, when in reality, if you just put your foot down and say, Look, we're going to quit all these gimmicks. And we're going to focus on treating people as individuals, listening to them, asking what it is that's, you know, challenging them, and then asking if there is a practical way to address them. And by practical in many cases, I mean, free. I mean, simple. I mean, sustainable. I don't mean, exotic, long term, 24 month programs. So that's the challenge for you today. That's
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the question for you today is how can you find ways to better connect with your employees at a time when again, there's a lot of darkness there's a lot of little Darkness today. In fact, in the northern hemisphere, more darkness than any other data of the year, there's a lot of figurative darkness out there that I don't need to step through. Of course, you can look at any headline any news aggregating site, and you can see no shortage of darkness out there. So how can you brighten your employees? I can you write your culture, quite frankly, I can write in yourself. And it starts by asking some basic questions. It starts by setting aside all of the demands that you feel you have upon you to to check all these boxes and to say certain things that quite frankly, are falling on deaf ears. And it starts with you again, asking the questions that we asked today. So with that being said, I appreciate you tuning in and helping to answer those questions for yourself. I hope you have an excellent Winter Solstice and I hope you enjoy tomorrow which of course kicks off the next, what six months of data is getting longer and longer. So with that being said, thanks again for tuning in and have a great day.