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Managing #MentalHealth During the #COVID19 Pandemic

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alone2Like many people, I am currently teleworking five days a week due to the COVID-19 / coronavirus crisis. As this is an unprecedented situation, folks have been checking in on each other a little more than usual. This past week, when people have asked me how I’m doing, I tell them, I’M GOOD. To be honest, except for not seeing my granddaughter, I couldn’t be happier!

My office officially started all staff teleworking last Friday. I was on leave that day, so I didn’t feel anything out of the norm. I knew something was different, though, when I didn’t feel my usual Sunday night anxiety. Every Sunday night – unless I’m on vacation – I feel a lot of anxiety and I have insomnia. It never fails. This past Sunday, that didn’t happen. Somehow my mind and body knew that the next day was going to be different. No struggling to get myself together to leave in the morning. No commute. No stress. All was well.

As a person with Major Depressive Disorder and anxiety who is also a strong introvert, self-isolation is nothing new for me. Of course I don’t usually do it because of a pandemic, but I’m definitely familiar with the concept. For better or worse, I’m built for this! As long as I have my bed, books, music, food and drinks, I think I’m going to do OK with this forced social distancing. People have asked me if it feels different because it’s not by choice. It really doesn’t feel different to me. At least not yet. Ask me again in a few weeks.

grateful-addiction-recoveryI don’t take this comfort with my alone time for granted. I know there are many other people who are feeling extremely anxious about self isolating, being socially distant or being quarantined. I also don’t take for granted that I have a job that allows me to telework. There are several people who, unfortunately, have either lost their jobs or have to go to work and risk catching the virus because they can’t afford not to. There are people who are going to feel lonely because they look forward to socializing or being around others at work. On top of all of that, fear over the virus itself and the economic impact of it are enough to make anyone angsty.

PROTECT_YOUR_MENTAL_HEALTH_RAINBOW_PNG_1200x1200While most people are taking measures to protect their physical health (and the physical health of others;) we mustn’t forget about protecting our mental health as well. This crisis has created a perfect storm for stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness, and/or paranoia. Unfortunately, being isolated or quarantined in the home may also be a catalyst for an uptick in domestic, substance and/or child abuse.  This is truly a crisis in more ways than one. If the coronavirus madness is negatively affecting your mental health, there are some tools and resources that may help. This is by no means an exhaustive list.

CONNECT WITH OTHERS:

TWITTER – Good for having real-time conversations and following hashtags for topics of interest

FACEBOOK – Good for finding and joining groups focused on certain topics. Any topic or hobby you can imagine, there’s a Facebook group for it. Groups like Therapy for Black Girls and NoStigmas Mental Health Allies can also be good support systems if you are NOT in a crisis situation.

WHATSAPP OR GOOGLE HANGOUTS – Good for catching up with family and friends via chat, phone or video chat. (You can also use FaceTime if you have yet to realize Android phones are better. 🙂 )

SLACK – Good for group communication, especially with co-workers.

*DISCLAIMER: If using social media does more harm to your mental health than good, please avoid. It is also not recommended to use social media in place of seeking professional help, especially during a crisis.

CALM YOUR MIND:

EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (EAP) – If your employer offers an employee assistance program, it can be a great source of information and resources. If you are not sure if your employer offers an EAP or do not know how to contact them, ask your Human Resources representative.

CALM is offering FREE resources for mental and emotional wellness including soothing sounds, meditations and exercises.

GROKKER is offering FREE yoga, fitness and cooking videos through April 30, 2020.

GET THERAPY:

TALKSPACE  is increasing access to licensed therapists and providing free resources for both existing users and those who haven’t yet tried the service. They are also offering numerous resources for managing anxiety COVID-19 anxiety including a Facebook group. 

OPENPATH has several therapists who are now offering online sessions.

MANAGE YOUR MENTAL HEALTH:

COVID-19 Lockdown Guide: How to Manage Anxiety and Isolation During Quarantine – ADAA

Coronavirus Resource Hub and Free Virus Assessment Survey Questions (CultureIQ)

How to Manage Your Coronavirus Anxiety (WSJ)

How to Self-Quarantine (NY Times)

6 Ways to Protect Yourself and Your Family from Anxiety About Coronavirus (Thrive Global)

Are you worried about Coronavirus? (Psychology Today)

Mental Health & Coping During COVID-19 – Manage Anxiety & Stress – CDC

Coping With Coronavirus: Managing Stress, Fear, and Anxiety – NIMH

Managing Depression and Anxiety During COVID-19

HAVE SOME FUN:

7 Things To Do While Self Isolating Without Self Sabotaging

19 Things to Do When You’re Stuck at Home During the Coronavirus Isolation Period 

7 Things To Do While In Self Isolation

Top 10 Things To Do While You Self-Isolate

**IF YOU’RE EXPERIENCING A CRISIS**

If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, feeling unsafe, or feel like you are in danger of breaking your sobriety, please contact a professional.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)  National Helpline – 1−800−799−7233

National Domestic Violence Hotline– 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline –  1-800-273-TALK (8255)

National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Helpline – 1 (800) 950 – 6264

ChildHelp National Child Abuse Hotline – 1 (800) 422 – 4453

Crisis Text Line – Text SHARE to 741741

Stay Safe. Stay Healthy. Wash Your Hands. Keep Your Distance. Rest. Be.

Image result for mental health is wealth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Give me an ‘S’! … #SHRM18 Blog Squad

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cheerleading-clip-art-13As you may know by now, I have been selected to be a member of the SHRM18 Blogger Team. Members of the team will be sharing information and content about the SHRM 2018 Annual Conference on social media (blogs, Twitter, etc.) before and during the conference. We are basically cheerleaders for the conference, without the matching uniforms and acrobatic stunts. Maybe we should get pom poms though. Because why not?

This is my first year being a member of the blogger team and I’m super excited about it. I even posted a video about it on Instagram which, if you know me, was major. LOL. One of my fellow team members, Michael Vandevort, is doing an interview series for his podcast, DriveThru HR. The point of the series is to get to know each of us a bit as well as discuss the conference and what we’re looking forward to about it. The episode featuring me is below (click image.) Check it out. While you’re at it, check out the other blogger team episodes too. We are one great group of inspired and inspiring HR professionals! When you see us at the conference, be sure to say hello.

See you in Chicago!

drivethruhr

 

Everything You Need to Know About Managing People: Q & A with Karlyn Borysenko #SHRM18

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SHRM18 is right around the corner! Of course by around the corner I mean three months away. But it’s never to soon to start checking out the agenda and trying to plan at least half of the sessions you want to attend. I recommend planning but also allowing room for flexibility because stuff happens.

karlynI have the honor of being a member of the SHRM18 Blogger Team. Yay, me! As such I have the opportunity to select a few speakers to interview and give you a “behind the scenes” take on their sessions. First up is Karlyn Borysenko, PhD, Principal at Zen Workplace. I chose to interview Karlyn because she is an organizational psychologist which I find to be super interesting. I’m intrigued by all things dealing with the mind. Karlyn works with individuals and organizations to create better work experiences that lead to bottom line results and greater career success. Karlyn will be a busy bee at SHRM18. She’s conducting a Preconference Workshop, a Mega Session and appearing on the Smart Stage! I interviewed Karlyn about her Preconference Workshop, Everything You Need to Know about Managing People. (Statements I find particularly poignant are in bold.)

TR: Why is it said that people leave managers, not organizations?

KB: Managers dictate that daily experience that any employee has with their organization. If you have a great boss, you’ll have a great experience. If you don’t, then the organization might be an amazing place to work for people who have different reporting lines, but your experience won’t be so great. No amount of cultural or employee engagement investments can make up for when a person has a boss that doesn’t empower or support them.

On the flip side of this, however, is that you can have organizations that are pretty toxic from the leadership level…but if you have a great boss who makes their team the priority regardless of the example they are getting from above, you will have a better experience than others and probably be less likely to leave, all other things being equal. So, it works both ways.

This is why it’s so critical for managers at all levels to take responsibility for the experiences of their team members. Being promoted into a manager role is not just a more powerful version of being an individual contributor. You are, in a very real way, responsible for people’s lives. Unfortunately, very few organizations ever teach people how to be a great boss on a psychological level. They may teach you how to administer an annual performance review, the process for hiring and firing, but that’s just process. To be a great manager, you need to know how to engage and motivate a team based on how their brain works. That’s why a workshop like this is so important – we’ll look at the topic from the inside out to help you get the most out of your team members while creating an experience that will drive engagement and productivity.

TR: What skills are most needed to be an effective people manager and why?

KB: I believe the most important skill to develop is a service mindset. You may be in a position of technical power over the people who report to you (for example, you can make the case to fire them if you want to), but authoritarian power just gets people to be compliant. It doesn’t help them to embrace being empowered, go the extra mile when it comes to communication, or bring creativity and innovation to the table. To get there, you have to serve your team members, and that involves putting the ego aside and individually giving them what they need to achieve their best work. When they are successful, you will be successful.

TR: What is employee engagement and what role does it play in the success (or lack thereof) of a team/organization?

KB: There are about 1,000 definitions of employee engagement. Last year when I visited the SHRM exhibit hall, I couldn’t go more than a few booths without a company selling a tool proportion to solve your employee engagement problems. I asked many of them what they mean by “employee engagement” and almost every one of them gave me a different answer!

Now, that’s not to say they don’t have some great tools that could help, but fundamentally I don’t see employee engagement as a technological question. I see it as a human problem. That’s why my definition of employee engagement is all about intrinsic motivation: Employee engagement is when your team comes in primed to give it their all, no matter what their role is. They are intrinsically motivated to do their best work. 

It’s the intrinsic motivation piece that trips a lot of people up. Engagement is not about a paycheck or a raise or a promotion…no one is going to turn those things down, but it’s not the psychological driver of long-term high performance (it gives a nice short-term boost but that only lasts about two weeks). People need to feel listened to, they need to feel valued, they need to know that their manager sees the effort they are putting in and positively responds to it. And when they’re trying to improve areas of their performance, they need to hear from their manager that they see the effort and the improvement to keep up their momentum.

engaged

Don’t Be Like THIS Manager.

Now, here’s the thing: A piece of technology like all those vendors sell seems like a quick solution to say that you’re “working on” or “fixing” employee engagement. Connecting on a human level is much harder, and much more uncomfortable for many managers, but it is truly the best way to drive the long-term results you’re looking for.

TR: What does it mean to manage “from a human perspective?” Why is this important?

KB: There’s not a single person that goes to work and leaves their humanity at the door, yet most people try to deny that aspect of themselves when they enter the office. We build up these walls and tell ourselves “it’s not personal…it’s just business.” You’re talking about people’s livelihoods here – their mortgages, their car payments, putting their kids through school. It couldn’t be more personal!

No matter how you try to frame it, you can’t get around how our brain is hardwired to work. Most of our decisions are driven from the subconscious emotional part of our brain, and then we use logic and reason to justify what we’ve already decided to do emotionally. What that means for managers is that you have to appeal to people on an emotional level to get them to do their best work. There’s no getting around it…it’s science.

kumbayaNow, I’m not suggesting that you all need to be sitting around the fireplace singing kumbaya, but you do need to be very mindful of how your employees perceive their experience. Do they think you really listen to them, or do you just wait to talk in meetings (or, worse yet, take notes on your laptop)? Do you give them significantly more positive recognition than critical feedback? Do you take the time to coach and professionally develop them? Do you allow for failure as a natural part of progress, or do you make them believe that any misstep will have consequences on their career? These are all issues we’ll address in the workshop, and how to do them really well to appeal to that human element.

TR: What is the biggest takeaway you want attendees to get from your session?

KB: This workshop will be a crash course in the top four things I think managers need to do to drive productivity and engagement on a psychological level – adapt, communicate, empower, and support. We’ll go high level, and dig down to some very specific, actionable tactics. However, the takeaways that I want people to leave the room with is the responsibility that comes with being in a manager position and developing that service mindset I mentioned earlier. Management is not about process. It’s about people.

TR: Any additional comments?

KB: For those managers thinking about attending, understand that you have a responsibility to provide a great working experience for your team, even if your boss is not doing it for you. So often, I hear from managers, especially at the mid-management level, “my boss isn’t doing this stuff so why do I have to?” I’ll be blunt: You do it because it’s the right thing to do, not only from a work perspective but as a human being. Is it fair that your boss might not put the effort in for you but I’m asking you to do it for you team? No. But change has to start somewhere. You can choose to be the person that opts out and uses your boss as an excuse….or you could be the person that says “I’m doing this regardless, because I know it’s what’s best for my team.”

Connect with Dr. Karlyn Borysenko.
If you’ve ever seen my posts on Twitter or LinkedIn, or had a conversation with me, you can see from Karlyn’s responses why this session is right up my alley. Everything she’s saying is everything I stand for. Humanity in the workplace. Positive employee experience. Managers taking responsibility for their people. The tagline on my site is “Life. Human Resources. It’s All About the People.” Because it is. Full stop.

Your Real Job in Life… 

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This may seem corny, but my office is covered in motivational sayings and images. I put them up for myself but also for my colleagues. I figure we can all use a little motivation at any given moment. I know I can! People often say to me some variation of “I like coming in your office. It’s always so positive/uplifting/cozy. ” I’m glad.

I was scrolling through Twitter during my commute to work and this quote really spoke to me. I’m going to add it to the collection. We tend to focus so much on the work we’re paid to do and not enough on the work we’re meant to do – unless you’re lucky enough (or have been able to design your life in such a way) that they are one and the same.
I encourage everyone to focus on discovering your life’s purpose. Perhaps more importantly, do not assume that what you are currently doing to pay the bills is it.

 

Your (HR) Voice Matters

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This post is inspired by a Twitter conversation – as so many things are. I have an awesome Twitter tribe of HR professionals (#TwitterHR) that I interact with on a regular basis and many of them also have blogs (#HRBloggers.) Some are seasoned bloggers, others are newbies and others, like myself, fall somewhere in between. I’ve been blogging for YEARS in various iterations on various topics, but this blog is relatively new.

So I’m checking the timeline earlier and I see a tweet from Steve Browne asking us to share the HR blogs we’ve been reading. As tends to happen when Steve makes a request, the responses were fast and furious. I’m honored that this blog was mentioned by some along with others I knew about and others I haven’t yet had the pleasure of reading. This got me thinking – Wow. There really are A LOT of HR bloggers out there. It’s overwhelming. Then one of my HR tweeps (Twitter peeps) mentioned she wants to write a blog about everyday HR practitioner struggles as opposed to strategic HR and the other typical HR blog fare. I’m of a similar mindset but I often struggle with thinking “who really wants to read this?“

sayitWhen I wrote a lifestyle blog there was less pressure to “inform.” I was just sharing my world and it was fun. However, in the realm of “professional blogs” I find myself wondering “Do I really need to add my voice to this? How many HR voices are too many? Nobody has time to read ALL the blogs; why would they read mine? Is it OK to sometimes just talk, not teach?” Yet when my friend said she wanted to write an HR blog just to vent, I told her every blog is different and everyone has a different point of view worth sharing. I realized I was talking to myself as much as I was talking to her.

ginsberg

I have so many posts in draft status because I convince myself that it’s not important enough or timely enough or it’s been written about already, etc. I’m writing this post as a reminder to myself as well as to anyone else who may have the same struggle that it’s fine to just do you. Not everyone is going to be a HUGE blogging star. Not everyone even wants to be (though a lot of people probably do. LOL.) It’s SO easy to get caught up in followers and retweets and building your personal brand and trying to be seen as a “thought leader” or “subject matter expert.” Don’t get me wrong, those things ARE important to a degree. But sometimes you just want/need to get the thoughts out of your head and there’s nothing wrong with that. Sure, you could keep them to yourself, but what fun is that?

So my message to you (and to myself) is YOUR HR VOICE MATTERS. They say there’s a lid for every pot, so there must also be a reader for every blog too, right? You won’t get every one but you’ll get the right ones i.e. the ones who find something special/interesting/inspiring about your voice and point of view. Let’s do this!

 

Life Lesson: Do What You’re Doing While You’re Doing It

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I think at some point in time we’ve all read a quote, watched a YouTube video, seen a tweet or Facebook post and thought “Wow, this really speaks to me. I needed to see/hear that today.” It’s as if the universe knew what you needed right at the moment and gave it to you. Well, this HuffBlackVoices video with Tracee Ellis Ross was that thing for me today. Continue reading →

Twitter Transparency: I’m Gonna Be Me

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Twitter is by far one of my favorite social media platforms. I use it for news, socializing, entertainment, career information and more. It really is one of the greatest things ever (in a  “provided all of your basic needs have been met already” type of way.) Continue reading →

SHRM #nextchat: Workplace Wellness

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I’m a day late on this but better late than never, as they say. As usual, yesterday’s SHRM #nextchat was super interesting and informative. The topic was Does Workplace Wellness Need a Checkup? We do not have a formal wellness program at my current employer so I was interested in learning how other organizations, particularly smaller nonprofits, implement effective programs.  Continue reading →

SHRM #nextchat: Org. Size & HR Metrics

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Today’s SHRM #nextchat topic was How Organizational Size Affects HR And Metrics. This topic is of particular interest to me because I am tasked with compiling data on  Quality of Hire, Cost to Hire, Exit Interviews, etc. I develop quarterly reports and executive summaries and then *crickets.* Nothing happens. So I was interested in learning not only what other organizations measure but also what happens with the data HR collects and presents to leadership. It was a highly informative chat, as usual.