Hot Topic Friday: July 10

Happy Friday! Here are my July 10 Hot Topics and how they relate to advancing culture or leadership.

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Hot Topic 1: Fighting Anxiety in Work and Life.

What It’s About: The author writes about her life long struggle with anxiety, and after years of trying all kinds of interventions, has settled on an approach that works for her. She describes the feelings: “As a young adult, I would bite my nails down to the quick as I worried over a financial situation or replayed a conversation in my head in the middle of the night. I’ve been to more therapists than I can remember, read books on anxiety and filled out scores of work sheets trying to identify my ‘cognitive distortions’ and change them so that I could begin to think rationally. The problem is, I never did begin to think very rationally. Anxiety is inherently irrational — it deals in what-ifs and worst-case scenarios — and so, for me, it didn’t respond to training my mind.”

So What?: This is a huge workplace matter. As people become more open and willing to discuss mental illness as they do with any other physical health issue, anxiety disorder is flagged as a major health concern. As stated in the article: “We live in a time when anxiety is a mental health issue of epic proportion. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America estimates that each year, 40 million adults deal with an anxiety disorder, yet only about 37 percent of them receive treatment of any kind. That means that there are millions of adults living with anxiety in America — and why shouldn’t there be?... Even those who haven’t been formally diagnosed with anxiety may find themselves suddenly afraid, a cloud of fear following them around.”

Now What?: The author found a very helpful process called ACT, with the help of a therapist. “ACT, which was developed in the 1980s and has since gained broad acceptance, isn’t opposed to cognitive or behavioral interventions — in fact, those are very important components of it. But it doesn’t suggest that we need to change the thoughts that bubble up and cause us pain. Instead, it says, negative feelings are an inevitable part of life, and we can best deal with them by accepting them, learning from them, and then acting in accordance with our larger life goals…

My anxiety certainly isn’t gone, but its hold on me has significantly loosened since I discovered the idea of acceptance. It’s so counterintuitive to allow in the thing that wounds me, but it turns out that befriending my fear has actually caused its voice to soften.”

The fact is that millions of us need outside support to help us navigate our anxiety disorders. It may be the ACT process, or some other method? The first step is accepting that we do have an anxiety disorder, and the courage to seek help. Yes it feels vulnerable, even scary. That’s the point.

One Millennial Response: Especially in today’s world of memes, you have tons of anxiety humor out there. “Sunday Scaries” is a brand, as well as an extremely popular term. Of course, I also personally know people who have anxiety so bad that they occasionally can’t physically enter their place of work. I think we know a whole lot less about it and its various effects on every individual than any meme could accurately portray for all affected, but it’s so mainstream that when people mention they’re “feeling anxiety,” no one even blinks an eye. That should tell you how accepted it is, and how seeking help is welcomed and available.

Hot Topic 2: Belonging Gets Businesses Booming.

Source: Harvard Business Review.

What It’s About?: “U.S. businesses spend nearly 8 billion dollars each year on diversity and inclusion (D&I) trainings that miss the mark because they neglect our need to feel included.” The authors made this observation in an HBR article from 2019. And with our current environment, the investment in D and I will likely skyrocket. However, we may continue to miss the point that social belonging is a fundamental human need, hardwired into our DNA. When this article was published, 40 percent of people said that they felt isolated at work, and the result has been lower organizational commitment and engagement. Checking off or conducting D and I training as it has been delivered to date, probably will do little to change these numbers.

So What?: Note: “BetterUp conducted research to investigate the role of belonging at work and the outsized consequences of its absence. For this project, defining belonging became our first, and in some ways, trickiest, task. Our data showed that belonging is a close cousin to many related experiences: mattering, identification, and social connection. The unifying thread across these themes is that they all revolve around the sense of being accepted and included by those around you. We set out to study how that develops — or doesn’t — in the workplace, what it means for employees and organizations, and whether it’s possible to turn a bad situation around… Here’s what we found:

Belonging is good for business.

If workers feel like they belong, companies reap substantial bottom-line benefits. High belonging was linked to a whopping 56% increase in job performance, a 50% drop in turnover risk, and a 75% reduction in sick days. For a 10,000-person company, this would result in annual savings of more than $52M.

Employees with higher workplace belonging also showed a 167% increase in their employer promoter score (their willingness to recommend their company to others). They also received double the raises, and 18 times more promotions.

Exclusion leads to team (and self-) sabotage.

Our survey findings reveal workplace exclusion as a systemic issue that generates hefty financial losses and heavy loss to team performance.”

Now What?: People who follow me have heard my prediction that BELONGING will be the most important workplace theme this decade. It is more than Diversity and Inclusion. And it is vital if you want a great culture. It is also paradoxical as we expect more worker flexibility, including asking people to step aside from that which we’ve invited them to BELONG. Therefore, both leaders and followers will need to act differently to move towards meaningful belonging at work. Stay tuned for strategies our team will introduce. We do know that BELONGING is good for everyone’s business at both the bottom line and personal level.

One Millennial Response: One main deterrent for some, is belonging might accidentally suggest that everyone should be the same. Meaning you have to think exactly the same, have the same opinions, look the same, behave the same, etc. Belonging is the opposite, it’s being your true self and feeling that your co-workers, regardless how different, can appreciate that you all belong working together towards a shared goal. And that’s what matters.

My Weekly Wine Recommendation.

Bogle Phantom 2016

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[Ed Note: Find it at your local wine shops.]

And finally! Here’s Cecil’s Bleat of the Week!

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“People are good or half good or a quarter good, and it changes all the time- but even on the best day nobody's perfect.”- Colum McCann.

Bye for now!

— Lorne Rubis

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Happy Friday! Here are my July 10 Hot Topics and how they relate to advancing culture or leadership.

Hot Topic 1: Fighting Anxiety in Work and Life.

Hot Topic 2: Belonging Gets Businesses Booming.

Source: Harvard Business Review.

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