Emerging Wellbeing Practices & Technologies Connects 2022 Session 2

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we are as a community university of  washington's communication leadership   master's program our program very much explores  topic in communication and leadership practices   within the us and around the globe with a  particular emphasis on trying to understand   emerging trends and issues and how to respond to  them using tools at our disposal in communication   and leadership practices uh connects which is the  event you're joining hopefully for the duration of   the next uh three days is our public event every  year that we put together you will be joined by   students of our graduate students of our program  alumni and faculty as well as professionals from   all around the u.s and around the globe who join  us to explore the topic we identify each year   and just to give you a sense of how we identify  these topics we see this annual learning event as   a platform for us to explore a pressing issue of  our time and to hear from those who are tackling   with the issue directly to learn from them we want  to make them public these conversations so that   these really emerging and important topics are  accessible to all wherever you may be and we have   a chance again to learn collaborate understand  and respond together we see this as a part of the   public mission of our graduate program and we're  again very thankful for all of you making time   to learn with us in terms of the format of today  i will give you an overview in just a few minutes   about the agenda but i just want to uh share with  you that we designed this event very much as we do   our classes in our graduate program so some of you  may be in those classes or have taken classes with   us but some of you are just meeting with us today  just uh sit back and get ready for a engaging   critical and thoughtful learning environment  as you would um in a graduate program and be   again very much structured it to be interactive  and uh filled with information both practical   as well as that will situate us around the topic  and give us some introduction to it as well   uh i am a kenya shin i am the director of the  communication leadership program i teach classes   around leadership as well as around communication  issues and responsive classes that prepare our   students to tackle our world as it changes in  our in front of our eyes at any given moment   um i'm particularly interested in this topic as  someone who led an organization and who navigated   this particular crisis with the pandemic or and  many crisis before that as well uh with the really   thoughtful community that wants to understand that  wants to build practice not just for the moment   but for the future as well but like many of you  too this has been a challenging moment for myself   as well uh we've been navigating at this moment  not only understanding the novelties that were   put forth for us for us to understand for us to  respond to but to do that in a moment where we   actually didn't have a lot of time to structure  our work and to create time many of us are   actually doing multiple responsibilities and this  has been a very interesting moment for for us and   for me personally uh to think about how to create  next generation practices in a graduate program   and with organizations that we partner with at  our program around well-being but as well as also   communication around health as well which will  be a topic also will be start exploring today   and continue exploring uh tomorrow before i dive  into uh today's topic and give you an overview of   today's learning i wanna uh also uh introduce  uh my colleague and my alex hi there i'm alex   stonehill um i'm communication leadership's head  of creative strategy and i'll be uh supporting   akin today and then um leading the conversation  tomorrow about uh communication and leadership   during a health crisis um part of my work is to  develop applied learning opportunities for our   students with partners and i've spent the camp  the pandemic working closely with student teams   on public health campaigns with partners like the  department of health i'm also married to a newly   minted licensed mental health counselor so i have  a newfound and growing enthusiasm for thinking   about uh the intersection between mental and  physical health and well-being in the workplace as   well so i'm very excited for today's conversation  and now that ken and i have introduced ourselves   we'd love to encourage everybody who's joined to  introduce yourself in the chat um you can put your   name where you're joining us from uh anything  about what you do for work if you'd like to   and then um a real short micro prompt just uh tell  us a little bit about one word that comes to mind   when you think about the idea of well-being  at work um so it could be communication or   coffee or i think for me it would probably  be frequent naps but any word that that comes   to mind when you think about communication uh  sorry when you think about well-being at work um   and as you're doing that i'll pass it back to  akin to tell us a little bit more about what we'll   be talking about today so let me overview uh the  agenda for today for all of you so uh we can get a   sense of it and i'll be doing that uh throughout  too uh so um today uh we are going to involve   uh the conversation with very important speakers  who are doing really interesting work in uh   well-being as it relates to their sectors and  uh you will get to hear from them um uh so we're   going to start with our speaker presentations  and you're seeing the overview on your screen now   i'll also introduce each of these questions just  as in terms of the logic each of our speakers   are addressing a portion of our conversation  with a key question and a key topic and i will   involve them in a conversation to explore that so  that we have a breadth of information covered as   it relates to emerging well-being practices and  technologies uh emits us our non-profit leaders   emerging the tech company founders advocates of  uh wellbeing practices at work as well as faculty   of our program as well um after you hear from the  speakers uh we are going to have a short q a and   then after that we have a breakout room discussion  where you can you have a chance optional of course   if you have the time to connect with those who are  joining you at this event as audience and reflect   on today's learning and also identify particular  ways maybe you can apply today's learning to your   places of work i want to encourage you all and  i'll do that throughout the conversation as well   that as i'm speaking and having a conversation  with the speakers please feel free to use the   chat as a platform to react to what you're hearing  so this could be your thoughts as well as sharing   your questions i will try to integrate  some of your questions so if you want to   me to clarify something or ask something more  to the speakers you can share it at chat but if   we are not able to get your questions during the  speaker part we'll also incorporate them to you   during the audience q a portion as well so i just  hope that you can all be engaged during the chat   with your questions thoughts and comments uh as  you're part of this learning experience as well   um during the breakout room sessions i said  we'll reflect and uh we will reflect because   upon completion of this learning experience for  the next two days and of course you're all welcome   also to our keynote event while we focus on uh  listening uh practices particularly at this moment   um you will get to receive a uw badge so i'll turn  it over to alex to tell us a little bit about uh   the badge possibility that you can get  with this event yeah fantastic so this   is our second year offering a badge as part  of connects um and it's a fantastic way to   um you know go beyond just the learnings  that you get out of attending the event to   sharing that with the world um so by attending  today's session and tomorrow session and then   completing a very short reflection on the things  that you learned in those two sessions and how   you might apply them to your future work you'll  be able to earn a uw-branded badge in health and   wellness communication that we've put together in  partnership with uw continuum college and badger   so we'll be sharing more details  about that throughout the session   and especially when we go into breakout  rooms later so that you can really use that   as preparation to make that reflection kind of as  smooth as easy as possible after the fact um as we   can mention that the session is being recorded um  so you can always go back to that for for notes or   revisit it later or hopefully share it with other  folks who weren't able to join um i also wanted   to mention that the event is being live captioned  so uh please do take advantage of the captioning   services if that is helpful to you um and i'm  seeing some really fantastic introductions thank   you all for introducing yourself and uh for your  um free association with uh well-being at work   or seeing some fantastic things uh mindfulness  um a lot of emphasis on breaks being important   which is fantastic because we'll be talking about  specific intentional tools to facilitate uh work   breaks um and a lot of the the very relational  elements that we think about in in our program   connection community human-centered um these  are great thank you all for joining and um   i think we're ready to get started with  our first speaker right again anything   you want yeah exactly so i think very much  what you're sharing uh you know i i saw also   uh our speakers uh sharing their thoughts about  how the one word that comes to mind i know a   grant shared much needed uh when thinking about  this topic when we're talking about well-being   as well as movement and uh from melissa and we'll  hear and uh think with them throughout the day   so uh we have a fantastic line of a  lineup of speakers you're seeing them   on your screen right now um and i will introduce  them all individually as we're engaging with them   but i want to thank all of them again for joining  us uh today we're going to learn from them both   definitions and as well as applied practices um  they're all very much advocates of four well-being   at work uh across their spectrums and across  their work um so i want to start with our first   speaker today um lara bradshaw and lara  bradshaw is a faculty of uh our program   and uh she is uh going to be talking to us about  a little bit about what well-being and wellness   means and and share the history behind the ideas  well i wanted to really engage today as we were   curating speakers for today laura because her  class in our program around wellness narratives   very much situates what we're talking about in  this moment across a long uh media history of   how we understand and approach the core topic uh  we are exploring today and i particularly want to   ask uh lara today and ask laura to help us define  start our session with maybe common definitions   as well as maybe situating this moment on  a broader history and maybe collectively   also i have a chance to identify what comes next  particularly acknowledging the pandemic as well   so hello lara uh good to have you here today hi  i'm i'm really happy to be here and excited for   to hear the other panelists as well uh and yeah  to start to answer your question uh or a series   of questions uh you know i we taught i taught  a course uh in the fall right about wellness   wellness narratives and i think one of the main  you know one of the kind of the roots for the   course was really adding more context to wellness  uh because i think right to a ken's point that   wellness actually has it has a long history the  course itself was more centered more u.s specific   and we you know we explored wellness more i  would say in the last 120 years or so and one   of the kind of roots we used a number of texts  to explore it in authors to look at that but one   of the key i would say components to wellness we  were looking at a historian named tj jackson lears   and he right he writes about wellness or at least  this time period and the turn of the 20th century   as the therapeutic ethos and you know what  what's interesting about that is that basically   he was looking at this intersection that was  happening between basically advertising religion   business and basically how there was a  consumer turn towards how we think about   how we relate to products and so you know suddenly  you saw this language around you know soap or um   you know food like different sorts of foods or you  know different sorts of technologies right where   you know if you used to write a particular soap it  would help beautify your skin um but it was this   kind of this narrative right that was emerging  around consumer objects and products basically   helping you kind of achieve this full realization  of the self and you know it's an important point   because it we see this right if we look especially  from a u.s perspective and there's a there's a  

global perspective to this as well but if you  look at it from a u.s perspective this narrative   is very much embedded in a lot a lot of our  products and a lot of our i think conscience   and unconscious thinking around wellness but you  know to get at definitions you know there are   you know depending on who you speak to and point  which point of view you're going with for wellness   you know there's there's different definitions um  you know with a world health organization right   in 1948 as part of their definition of health  they actually used well-being as as part of   the terminology even defining health uh and you  know you could look at the cdc as well right they   actually you know they look more at well-being uh  you know especially from a public health policy   lens right and really trying to understand the  social connections right and and housing and   all these different impacts right to well-being  you also could look right at uh you know there's   a i think it was in 2014 there's a the global  uh global wellness institute has and they're a   non-profit right that has different definitions  that they work with but they look at it more   holistically right as preventative but also um  very uh inner interconnected right looking at   mental emotional physical uh basically all these  different areas spiritual areas of wellness and   they see it as something you know that's connected  to the individual right the person right can make   individual changes but it's preventative as well  and there is a policy component so there's i i   think to say that wellness and well-being can  become very interchangeable and it's a it can be   kind of a slippery term but you know i i think  especially in this kind of modern moment that   we're in i again it depends who you talk to but i  think from a popular culture lens right you might   there's a tendency to think of wellness  uh in a particular light right as more   but maybe potentially consumer oriented right have  a very i think in the class what immediately came   to mind was like goop or you know like um drinking  green smoothies or you know doing yoga and not to   dismiss those things but right that there's  a certain connotation right that emerges when   people talk about wellness and maybe to expand  on that exactly right the wellness and well-being   you mentioned they can be used interchangeably uh  could be contextual because we have a particular   imagination and maybe we can start with that uh  and where that comes from you started talking   a little bit about group and uh smoothies and  uh those types of things media representation   and how we talk about things very much structure  our expectations and our imagination um but one   of the things that i've been exploring is um and  i've been thinking about is the kind of lack of   shared uh terms around well-being but but perhaps  an origin of that is in media representation so   can you share with us very quickly a little  bit about before we move on to wellness and   well-being maybe in the work context about the  types of kind of consistent representations   that gave us an idea of what we should  expect from wellness and well-being   across medium yeah that's such an important point  in question you know and i think again when we   talk about wellness right it's it and and coming  from like a media communications kind of angle   it's the representation piece and technology piece  is so critical uh you know i think you know one   of the points that we you know in the course  that we talked about right we looked at turn   of the century 20th century as far as you know  understanding these intersections with advertising   and image like image representation of health um  you know another important point if we're gonna   look especially if we go more to you know if we  get into mid-century right invention of television   um especially as we kind of get into you  know the 1970s 80s 90s right there you see   this interesting emergence with television and  wellness um and i think specifically through   like the talk show format and then later on  right more 90s to early 2000s reality tv uh   and as a part of i think a really important point  to consider with wellness and the way we we talk   about it now it's become so ubiquitous in our  culture and and kind of the narrative is thinking   about you know with the talk show format it really  introduced audiences to a therapeutic language   right how to talk about the self how how to talk  about trauma how you know and you think about   you know if you watch older you know oprah winfrey  you know oprah shows and from the her early days   and even later on too right it the the guests  right that they were featured very much centered   on kind of this domestic right this inner domestic  conflict that suddenly became right opened up to a   much larger audience millions of people um where  there was a more of a shared understanding of uh   different family problems and complexities around  you know childhood uh and so there was this   language that emerged and and you you see that  with you know the talk show format in particular   becoming a way to address it and a way for  audiences to maybe if they couldn't seek therapy   right themselves they could watch it right they  could participate in that sort of way uh you think   about it with reality tv as well right and there's  so many shows that have that have really emerged   um and it you know it's one of those things when  when i worked with the students within this class   you know i think there's a tendency not to  really think of reality tv as like a you   know as influencing our lives right because it's  uh you know lots of people watch it you know and   it's just you know and sometimes it's often  thought of this thing that's on in the background   right it's like junk or you know but you think  about the wellness narrative right and how much   it's proliferated and kind of is in underneath the  surface of so much of our thinking and culture uh   you know you there's you know just about you know  for a while anyways just about every other reality   tv show have felt like it was right trying to  solve some sort of problem around mental physical   emotional health right rather that was survivor  right and you are not survivored by them the   biggest loser survivor too but the biggest loser  in particular right where you know you're actually   trying to basically change your body size and  right and the whole point was it's a competition   show but the whole point right was to kind of  reach a different self a better self right through   the loss of this excess body weight and you could  say that also about you know various shows about   you know clutter in the home right getting rid of  these objects that were in the you know they were   an obstacle in the way of living your best life  and we still see that now with um you know the   magic of tidying up and and these narratives  still proliferate but this i would say more   generally and what you know other researchers and  scholars have talked about with the makeover trope   it's so ingrained and how we think through this  kind of re like coming to the other side of things   right becoming better uh and so i i think from a  media representation lens that's that's something   really critical to think about and as we're  evolving into it i want to bring in also the   lengths of the wellness and wellbeing practices  at work i i would love to hear your perspective   because you're talking a little bit about kind of  like our personal lives and this history around   you know um maybe attaining a better life or some  ideal type of life being represented and people   are thinking about that as a way of kind of a  goal an achievement etc across again different   types of media but what about well-being and  wellness as we understand it as it relates to   this history at work how is that understood and  how does that kind of play in in this history   yeah that's a great question you know and i  i'm excited to hear the other panelists take   on this because i you know the the question i  mean the obvious one right the elephant in the   room around burnout right uh is a big big piece  to to thinking about wellness in the workplace   and of course burnout was with us way you know  much before the pandemic started uh but i think   you know it we look at the time that we're  in right um especially with you know you have   you have this culture narrative that's emerging  around burnout right every basically every other   media headline uh is highlighting this and you  know and and rightfully so too i mean i think   there's there's a lot to think through with it um  but also you know you have a discussion around the   great resignation right or you know what was it  in december it was like 4.3 million people left   their jobs or it was something right pretty pretty  high as far as numbers but i think you know that   you have you have these elements that are emerging  right in which people there's a shift happening in   the way people view work and how they want to  live their lives uh and then you know the last   couple years especially have made more clear or at  least i think depending right and there's there's   disproportionate impact right on different  communities but it's made clear right that uh   what how you know how work has impacted us and how  uh it might not necessarily be balanced but it's   more you know you we've seen you know the number  of women having to leave the workforce right for   child care responsibilities or how it falls right  on on to a lot of a lot of women and men too   but you you suddenly see right this uh larger  conversation happening around caretaking right   which which is part of wellness but doesn't  necessarily get thought as part of wellness   uh and and health as well uh where you know  you have you have people really trying to   better answer uh you know how how do i live a  life in which work isn't everything uh which   you know i'm not spending you know and so many of  the earlier narratives around work you know you   think about in the 1980s and 90s in particular  especially in the us like more of a you know   i i think about like working you know 80 hours a  week right like or this narrative around overwork   busyness uh and how right that's attached to being  better right it's being seen as better or at least   for a while uh and i think what we're what we're  seeing now is this challenge to this narrative   right that and it actually people are exhausted  and it's hard you know and i think burnout becomes   a tricky term too because it's you know it it  it's not exactly a medical term but it's it's   recognized right as occupational um and but  yet people have a number of of medical related   conditions you know connected to this and you  see the rise of mental health discussions and   and physical ailments but i think you know it's  a larger collective drive to reassess these older   narratives around overwork and not in and really  balance and and and values too in which those that   narrative around more culture is changing  and people are really wanting it to change   exactly and we'll we'll be exploring also today  as we move forward too kind of types of systemic   change needed across organizations to make that  happen and as we're in this moment navigating with   uh the pandemic um particularly rethinking  as you're saying you know rethinking work   and what's acceptable how are we responding to  this moment the disproportionate impact that has   based on who you are what you have to do um  we also are correct me if i'm wrong seeing   a proliferation again of consumer products uh and  also uh technologies that try to remedy uh this uh   new moment um so i would love to hear a little  bit about your thoughts around uh technology   technological responses uh to kind of uh try to  remedy again where you know we started with tv   we're at a moment of big dock social media and a  variety of emerging technology tools that directly   uh try to have solutions for wellness and  well-being problems so i would love to hear   your thoughts on this moment and how it relates  to those yeah yeah that's a great great question   too you know and i think we're we're in the midst  of it trying to figure it out right um and that's   that's what makes this moment so fascinating you  know on many many levels we you know we have this   technological emerging tech kind of expansion  happening right as as we go through a pandemic   as we write as we have confront kind of these  changing narratives around work and our lives   i think that the technological question is  really really important and you know we and it   hasn't been that long right as far as you know you  think about just social media how that's impacted   us and that's really only been in the last you  know 20 years or less then where there's been   this shift in in the way that we think about  connecting with people the way we make friends   what we consider community uh you know  and and how to reflect that and show that   um i i think you know it's interesting to consider  you know with i think about with the crash in   2008 right and uh basically after that you had  like pinterest or you had different you know   companies emerging right we're very much centered  on really trying to create you know basically have   a a way for people to kind of curate their lives  uh and you know i think there's this narrative   right around curating your life and showing it  in the best possible light right which you could   argue right this is very much centered  in the narrative around instagram and   and other social media right but i do think  there's you know the the the conversation around   around technology and how it's impacting us uh  it's very much you know i think people are finding   ways in which there's a necessity in using  the technology right to stay connected and   form communities and to your point about you know  i think if you look especially on instagram and   tick tock too there's uh just a pl like there's so  many wellness narratives and and curators and and   and really content producers that are engaging  with the platform and often there's a number of   you know a number of people who are challenging  right who have accounts that are challenging   the way we think about wellness and technology  even using these platforms but you know the   bigger questions you know around you know how  how do we uh continue on especially in light of   you know i think the fatigue around um you  know around apps and productivity uh you know   the conversations around zoom fatigue right and  the studies that came out from stanford about   how it you know hurts your eyes and and here we're  on it but but then right but it's become part of   we've have to grapple with this uh and and i i  there isn't exactly i think we're figuring out   the science and we're figuring out what you know  what going forward makes sense for as far as how   how technology impacts us and how we how we engage  with it uh and how we really form community as   well exactly i mean from the way you're describing  it we're defining what that better life or that   ideal life is at the moment and uh and we've had  a lot of certain things less of other things uh   i'm thinking about a lot of zoom in the past year  and less social interaction and that's ebbing and   flowing both at work and in our personal lives  too so we perhaps ourselves don't have a clear   description of what we exactly need or how how we  can balance that as well um i want to pause there   for a minute because again i want to encourage you  all to share your again thoughts and i'm seeing   some of them pop up as well as your questions  uh but um we'll again incorporate them some   at the end but i want to turn over to alex to see  if you want to share a question or if you have a   question uh for lara at this point yeah i'm seeing  some great uh folks chiming in and referencing   what you're um what you're saying about there  being more wellness narratives you know through   these technology tools that we sometimes think of  as being detrimental to mental health and wellness   um so we could see that the culture shifting  there and that's certainly something that   uh came up for a lot of people um yeah and i'm  curious uh because i know that you mentioned the   great resignation and that is definitely on a  lot of people's minds but both as as workers or   or non-workers and um for for employees and for  companies um and and i'm wondering do you think   that that is a symptom of people being more aware  of well-being um and valuing their well-being more   and kind of understanding more you know what  what is good for them or not um or do you think   of it as more as um you know the conditions of  people's work perhaps becoming worse or maybe   maybe it's both how do you think about that i i  absolutely think it's both you know i do think   there is a much there is a lot more awareness now  as far as work culture as far as you know i think   there's a there's been and it's very recent too  but i i think there is a shifting narrative around   you know what people value right and and and  conversations more publicly happening around   around systems and institutions and you know i  think you know not necessarily dismantling certain   certain ones but i think it's a conversation  around is this working like the way our you   know our in the us anyways right is the way our  health care system is set up is this working   like the where the way our caretaking system is  set up is this really working and this gets part   of the conversation it has to become part of the  conversation on wellness right because i think   again this is how people are thinking through how  it impacts their lives uh but also to the point of   working conditions right we're seeing a lot more  uh in general like with the pandemic again it made   very clear at least you know for frontline workers  and right and people really uh having to uh really   you know be be on the front lines as far as you  know the last couple years um really managing   uh the workload and public interface uh you know  it's brought to light as far as you know what   you know what is fairness right now as far as  working conditions and how do people navigate that   uh but i i do think they're it's a it's a  really good conversation to have because i   i think both conversations  are going on as we speak thank you lara i mean that's such a thoughtful  overview and i thank you again for introducing   us to this topic again uh for those of you i am  still also seeing a lot of reactions in the chat   lara we'll come back to you at the end in  the q a and we'll gather more questions again   feel free to share your questions at any time they  could be directed to one of our guest speakers   or all of them as they're kind of navigating  intersecting topics too and at this point uh i   want to transition to our next guest speaker who  very much actually ties into where we just left   off with lara and talking about systemic kind  of changes uh that we need in order to ensure   that the types of practices that we adopt  can be shared across types of organizations   so victoria santos will talk to us a little bit  about um kind of this notion of systemic change   around practices and how to adopt them  uh across organizations as well and i uh   actually particularly thought of uh victoria's  work because and just as a side note we've uh   chatted with a number of our community members in  our program in our graduate program but across the   industry as well about inspiring figures who are  trying to change systems and do really uh cutting   edge work in this and victoria's name immediately  came up her work at uh bypoc executive directors   coalition of washington uh is very much a a kind  of a call to action around wellness and wellness   practices um and just as a side note uh uh  the bipark executive directors coalition of   uh washington brings together uh a variety of  bipark leaders um over 200 if i'm not mistaken   non-profits in washington area to talk  collectively and to find solutions collectively   and to create an agenda and advocacy around  this very topic uh around not only how we ensure   well-being and wellness for different constituents  but how to create it in a systemic and sustainable   way so i want to welcome you victoria  thank you very much uh for joining us today   thank you so much and thank you for inviting  me to um to be part of this uh conversation um   as you mentioned i'm here representing the bypakid  coalition of washington state and i just want to   tell you a little bit how that started because  it's really so much rooted in this conversation   and i want to thank laura also for highlighting  some of the things that she spoke on and i want to   expand on some of those things because um  you know we're we're the moment has been so   perfect to to launch um the bai [ __ ] coalition  we before the pandemic happened and before a lot   of the killings of our black and brown folks  and particularly george floyd and others um   before that happened we've already seen that a  lot of executive directors and senior leaders   in the nonprofit sectors were just leaving  the sector and when we started asking   and sharing with our colleagues like why is  this happening we were finding that a lot   of the the directors were um overwhelmed burned  out um you know doing substances to try to like   you know manage um that their families were  falling apart a lot of you know breakups and   we were just really getting concerned uh for  our sector so a group of us came together and   said let's let's have a meeting let's call  people together let's have this conversation   and we were just getting ready to launch a  retreat um with washington nonprofit support   and what ended up happening was that the pandemic  hit and then also all the killings were happening   and we said okay we can't wait we need to call an  emergency meeting and when we call the emergency   committee over 150 uh leaders responded and that's  when we then came together and we did it on zoom   and we asked you know what are the priorities what  do you want us to um to advocate for collectively   and there were two primary issues that came up  one is the under resource of bipolar you know and   not having the resources that they need in  order to continue to deal with the pervasive um   and structural racism and dealing with all  of the issues that we were dealing that would   continue to be dealing with right that was one so  advocate for more resources to come to bipocaly   nonprofits and then the second piece was to really  look at the issues of wellness and well-being   and looking at how the this whole um  leadership structure in the non-profit   well in general it's across the board right  because the way that the leadership structures   have been functioning is still very much from a  single person as the the charismatic leader right   and then that takes all the glory and all the  bonus i mean when you have a leader that's getting   and this is not in the nonprofit sector but  in the corporate world when they're getting   millions and millions of dollars for bonuses and  then you have you know someone that's working at   like making the actual product that's getting  you know arguing whether they should get even   fifteen dollars an hour you know that's that's  what we're talking about right so for them you   say okay let's advocate for more resources  and then there's also advocate for wellness   and well-being and and to that end that's what  we've been doing for the past two years is really   bringing bringing the community together having  those conversations bringing in consultants   doing workshops and really trying to figure  out how we're going to change the narrative   because we need to change the narrative  and this is where communication is so   key because you know it helps to shape how people  perceive their work and how people perceive   their you know their role in it right so we  have to change the narrative and then we all   we have to create a movement around this and  that's what we've been doing and it's such an   impactful movement that's not only trying to again  create the conditions for these leaders but also   as you were just saying change the conversation  a little bit as well so um i just to highlight   a little bit um and i want to then uh maybe focus  a little bit of the programs that you're igniting   at your organization as well that are i think  applicable across sector uh too because they're   trying to solve systemic problems is um can  you talk a little bit about i mean i i really   appreciated you kind of situating this work  and this is really important for all of us to   understand that the types of kind of well-being  concerns and wellness concerns for communities   across but particularly for communities of color  preceded the pandemic heightened there has been   a lot of trauma and a lot of wrong going on in  our world uh in in terms of kind of creating an   equitable and a system that acknowledges this  uh kind of uh this diversity of experience that   and that's not the same for everyone um so i  really appreciate that but can you talk a little   bit about i know you've dived deep in with these  leaders and you started talking a little bit about   kind of the uh systemic shortcomings that stand  stood in the way of their wellness and well-being   uh can you elaborate a little bit for us um what  those were you know uh what type of things were   missing or what type of kind of systemic short  comings there are now uh that they're navigating well you know laura touched a little bit on on  this piece around for instance rest being earned   right not deserved right so there's this this  this piece of like oh i have to work i mean even   the way we have um vacation time i mean the amount  of vacation that most people get in the nonprofit   sector is so little right that this doesn't give  you enough time to even get there get some rest   or if you're going to go somewhere if you're not  going to do a steak vacation get somewhere by the   time you get there you spend a little bit of time  and then you have to go right back and it's very   little you don't have enough time to decompress  right so and then the other piece is that   if you you have to work really really hard in  order to prove yourself like there isn't this   there isn't this and this that continues directly  to burnout right it's like constantly being   surveillance constantly being watched constantly  being um rated in a way that's not about how we're   gonna improve your uh your work how can we bring  you tools and resources so that you can thrive   in in in the work that you want to do but  it's more about like penalizing right say   still taking a penalistic approach in terms of  rather rather than having an assessment that's   actually working for both the organization and the  individual it's also um not caring about families right it's like really it's about the bottom  line the bottom line of the organization rather   than thinking about oh you have to take care  of your grandmother or you have to take care   of your mother or you are the sole caregiver for  your family or you have you just had two children   we have had this this battle around family  leave in this country because it's not taking   care of the family it's it's has actually helps to  disintegrate the family so then we ask about like   oh why do we have such a high level of divorce  for those people who who tend to get married   you know not me but uh or or um you know why do  we have people is so many people hospitalized   how much why do we have so many people suffering  from high blood pressure why do we have so many   people suffering from alcoholism all of these  are symptoms of a society that is not valuing   family children elders right so this is extremely  impactful for black and brown folks and people   who are you know abide by communities because we  tend to be you know very family oriented not that   everybody isn't but we are very family oriented  you know and and in the stressor continues not   just from the individual but it continues on to  the family right so we're trying to deal with that   we're trying to help people not realize that  and by changing the narratives i mean like   realize that actually to be in a family unit  and into value family and to really help to keep   work in proportion as something that you do not  something that you are right because a lot of   time what we tend to do is that we fuse our  identity with the work and therefore then the   work becomes everything and then when we lose like  in this pandemic how many people lost their jobs   when we lose the job then we become our mental  health issues increases because we see ourselves   as a function of that work rather than as an  individual that's here to fulfill a particular   role of a particular purpose in life right i don't  want to get too deviated from that but that's some   of the things that we're trying to um to work  through to have people think in way of wellness   also not from an extractive capitalist way i mean  like yeah goop i hear is a great product right   but let's talk about what are some of the products  and some of the things that we actually created   from our own it's our own heritage our  own family background our own experience   that doesn't take you know fifty dollars for a  little container of eight ounce or something right   so so let's let's talk about like maybe not  living in an extractive society how can we grow   i personally come from a family of people who  are healers and herbalists you know where did i   you know i'm i'm trying to recoup that the  history right can we what plans can i grow   and actually um alexander you mentioned that you  know reagan jackson from uh young women empowered   you know and um young women in power is amazing in  the in what they're trying to do with young people   in that they're they're growing they're growing  food in a farm they're teaching young people how   to grow food they're teaching them also how to  grow herbs because we can grow a lot of herbs and   things ourselves to be able to use that for our  own health and well-being so we're trying to say   okay we don't need to be extractive let's not talk  about uh rest being earned risk anyone can have   rest so we give grants small grants called respite  grants for people to take time off and i'm going   to talk later more about what we're doing with our  sabbatical program we um overwork is not a virtue   and we're um talking about taking care of families  so those are some of the ways that we're trying to   disrupt the system and it's so much about  the system right i mean paid family leave   is a is a thing missing in the u.s systemically  it's based on who employs you whereas uh globally   actually there are different versions of how  it's approached that can be used as examples of   how to approach and how to put families first  or how to kind of prioritize that that's not   that's not contingent on where you work right  and i think that's also an important thing to   acknowledge now to the equity piece if it's  not systemic you're very much at the mercy   of the organization you work for or who you work  for and who you who you work for impact there's   not a common shared experience around kind of  say family paid leave or other practices around   rest and well-being some places of work may be  good for that and we every year see kind of top 15   20 places to work but majority of the people don't  work for those organizations and it really depends   what they do at that organization in terms of what  they have access to as well so thank you very much   for you know highlighting uh this at this high  level um but i actually you started gesturing   towards it and i really want to give this example  because uh the programs that you're creating are   very much about again pushing for some systemic  change but also creating changing the narrative   as well i know about the respite and rest program  you mentioned it quickly um so i would love to   hear a little bit about what you're doing in the  respite and rest program as well as your ongoing   work on sabbaticals uh and advocacy around that  as well could you share a little bit more with us   sure um let me contextualize those two things in  terms of our partnership with the philanthropic   sectors um what's happened when we you know after  we put in the call um to the the bypass we also   put in wrote a letter and had um you know calling  on the philanthropic sector to actually release   the amount of money funding that they give from  five percent to ten percent five percent is the   legal uh requirements that most foundations have  in terms of what they can give to non-profits so   we ask for them to increase that to 10 then  we also say rather than just giving like   year funding please make a multi-year funding  and so you know anything from three to five-year   funding for nonprofits and uh and then we said  you know and make it operational general operation   rather than just um uh you know specific things so  to that end we've had several partners that have   signed a letter we have about 11 partners that  have signed a letter and we have these meetings   with these funders to talk about how to get other  people in other foundations to sign on to this   call this open letter in addition to that we said  you know let's start making head waves to give   funding to people to just take some time off to  take a rest they don't have to go through major   hoop jumping they don't have to like write major  reports you need it we'll give it to you so the   sadderberg foundation stepped up and gave us uh  gave us some money and we opened it up to the   bypades and immediately people responded  like i can use this and it was so quick   that we actually had to like close down the the  applications and uh and and then just just put put   things on a holding pattern because there was just  such a need and what people were saying was just   it it just makes me want to cry a little bit  because it wasn't a lot of money we were just   giving two thousand dollars okay but what people  were saying they were going to do with this just   like blew my mind like this is one of the eds who  um who started an organization to help women who   are dealing with breast cancer because she herself  had breast cancer she was going to take a vacation   she was going to take a vacation and go and visit  her family that she hadn't seen in like two years   right because of the pandemic there was other  people who like just saying i'm just going to   stay home and write i feel like i need to write  a story that's inside of me that needs to come   out i'm just going to take some time and write  that story and it was everything from like that   from you know one end to the other so we saw  that that can make a tremendous difference   at the same time we knew that a week was  not enough right a week is not enough   so we decided to um to start a sabbatical  program and the sabbatical program is basically   um it's in a pilot year right now we're  raising 1.2 million dollars and that   1.2 million dollars is going to be divvied up  into 20 organization each of them will receive   60 000 and the 60 thousand dollars is to provide  three months completely place about pay sabbatical   for either a senior leader or an executive  director to take some time and and take a break   we say you know ideally it's through  between three months and six months but   we did the research and three  months sometimes it's too much and   at that point the person is like you know i  think it's time to go somewhere else you know and by that point the team is so functioning  probably well without them it's okay right and   if that's what happened that's what happened right  that's that's a good thing but um for three months   it's enough time for the person to decompress to  stop checking their email to stop trying to call   people to try trying to find like go through  the whole thing away they can do it without   me you know feeling and then be able to settle  into themselves and then let things emerge let   their creativity come back because actually what  we found is that sabbaticals are really healthy   not just for the individual it's actually also  really healthy for the organizations there's a lot   of leaders that have had that their inspiration  is kind of like gone because they're just   in crisis survival mode you know so you give them  some time their creativity comes back and then   they're ready to come back refresh and continue  to work on the organization but what we're also   found is that the sabbatical is actually really  healthy for the organization because if we do it   right if we get a consultant in there to work with  the the staff the the roles and responsibility of   that senior leader gets distributed to the other  staff members okay and that's other than if you   give some put some money in there for the staff  members to get some support and get a stipend   and maybe get some coaching when that person  comes back they don't come back into the same role   they come back and they look to see what people  like of the roles that the new roles they assume   what they don't like what comes back to them  what stays away and there is a different empower   sharing that happens in the organization so if  we could use sabbatical as a way of helping to   redistribute the roles and as a way of  increasing capacity in the organization   is actually a win-win for everyone exactly i mean  this is really important i really appreciate you   doing this work and sharing this work because  this is such an important model i think rest   relaxation you mean sometimes creativity without  systemic structures in place uh is a luxury   uh so so being able to do kind of take the time  to reflect even thinking about what's next but   also finding yourself in a situation where rest is  appreciated not frowned upon i mean go going back   to uh lara's early conversation or your fantastic  examples one question i want to leave with for now   because we'll come back to that the final q a uh  is um we're getting a lot of questions about kind   of thinking about this work that you're doing with  so many organizations and how we can encourage   this type of work in our own workplaces no  matter where it might be we have guests from   all around the world and also all around the us  and across sector as well so a question for you   i mean based on your experience and your ongoing  work how do we encourage our own workplaces to   implement these kind of programs that you're  talking about so that it's shared across the board   you know we actually i'm going to be um holding  some conversations with some like individuals like   the director from one america roxanna and also  with jody from um the director from community rice   and both of them dirty took a sabbatical that  was actually paid by a foundation called xenomere   and rosanna took a sabbatical as part of her  transition into her executive director role um   from one america and they have implemented a  sabbatical program within the organization in that   every staff member after five years of work can be  can can be eligible for a sabbatical and so we're   going to be creating a toolkit of how to implement  sabbaticals within your organizations and we're   going to have it on our website and i'll actually  um let's see i can drop the link to our website   uh actually i don't here we go he's in the chat  that people can use but the main thing i would   say also actually one more thing and that  is that we are encouraging the foundations   to actually give money to their nonprofit uh you  know organization that they support for health   and wellness programs and also for sabbaticals so  the thing is to do is to really and when i was um   on the uh co-executive director of young women  empowered what we did was i was ready i was like   okay it was i was going into my 10-year 10th year  and i was like okay i need a sabbatical i need to   step away i need a break and we started thinking  that through and so we had a conversation with   our board members and we institutionalized it  in our policies and our organizational policies   and basically i think you know with that if  there's the will to really support your employees   well-being and their families and we know now  especially as i think laura was mentioning   the the great resignation that part of that  is really a re-evaluation of our priorities   you know and and and so if we value our employees  we need to take care of them and that goes from   anyone we're focusing on the on senior leaders and  directors because we have to start somewhere but   i would say that that goes for everyone in the  organization so if you can create policies that   have a certain amount of time that people have  worked there they can have a sabbatical and just   include it as part of your budget and when you do  your annual budget it will able you you can make   it happen it can happen thank you so much victoria  and again i want to encourage everyone uh we will   have victoria again at the q a portion at the  end of the session as well to continue with   your comments and questions that you're sharing  in chat uh and we'll come back victoria to the   conversation at the end with all our guests uh  so at this point i wanna kind of take us to an   another direction i'm so um you know inspired by  victoria's work in the organization's work too   and invite one of our other speakers who's going  to tell us a little bit about kind of the ongoing   work around uh altering how we aspect how we  approach our work and creating technologies and   tools that allow us to kind of reimagine our our  work cycles as well as our general cycles as well   um so uh melissa painter is the founder of  breakthrough uh and breakthrough is a particular   technology that you're going to all actually get  to experience right now uh so melissa before we   dive into the conversation and talk a little bit  about what breakthrough is um which is again um   we'll discuss in the conversation uh melissa  is sharing a a link for the breakthrough and   we want to invite you all to take two minutes to  take a micro break using breakthrough um so that   as we're talking about uh what breakthrough is and  where it comes from you can have an experiential   uh uh knowledge point for it as well  as you can take a micro break now   so i'm going to ask all of you just to take  those of you participating as well as our   guests who want to do that as well to just  take two minutes and we'll wait for everyone   uh so until we'll take from now until two past  or so three past i used again we'll repeat the   link again in the chat just click on it's  a it will allow you to take a moment-based   micro break uh as we've now spent an hour thinking  so i know this is part of the thinking as well   melissa so let's just pause and i'll pause myself  too and mute myself and reconvene with melissa   after you experience what it means to  kind of give me micro breaks with movement   uh to your work interior in this case to your  learning um so again uh the link is in the chat i think everyone had a chance uh for a micro  break at this point and uh that's part of   our conversation today too we wanted to include  the perspective of uh those who are building tools   and technologies uh that gives us a sense of uh  kind of an altered sense of well-being and also   try to reimagine how we approach our work uh  so i'm joined by melissa painter founder of   breakthrough hi melissa thank you for joining us  today so happy to be here um and thank you all for   play testing breakthrough um it's amazing to hear  what victoria was just talking about about taking   breaks and and what that can gift us in terms  of our thinking our creativity our worldview   we also deeply believe in that but obviously we've  been focused on something of a different scale   so breakthrough was born out of an insight that  collectively we've gotten really bad at taking   small breaks during our work day this is a global  problem it's been brought on by our relationship   with technology but it's particularly particularly  acute in the united states for all the reasons   victoria was just describing and it's acute up and  down and across all different kinds of sectors so   when we work on breakthrough and we talk with a  lot of different organizations and companies about   what's causing burnout what are the rhythms of  the days that people have etc we're confronting   enormous burnout in very purpose-driven  organizations like non-profits where people are   sustained by their sense of purpose and

2022-03-03

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