Seth’s point here is one many workers would do well to remember:
“It’s easy to use our indispensability as fuel. Fuel to speak up and contribute. That’s important. But it’s also possible for that same instinct to backfire, and for us to believe that if we don’t do it, it won’t get done right.
That’s unlikely.”
We’ve been talking about making the workplace “safe” for a number of years now. First, there were the obvious, physical safety issues, and then the focus on sexual harassment, then on to bullying, and diversity. It’s important. You simply don’t get the best results from employees who don’t feel safe.
And yet, in a time when there is an increasing number of employees dealing with mental health issues, we also need to consider what we do to make sure they feel safe as well, for the same reasons. People who don’t feel safe, will not speak up, will not bring their best work to the table, and might just be looking for a safer work environment.
Dr. Morris makes an important point about the necessity for security as we continue to move into a world where the information in an app will decide whether we can enter a stadium, or board a plane. How secure is that information?
This thing is, I think all that noise will end up taking us back somewhere we’ve been before, and maybe shouldn’t have left, when a website with a blog wasn’t “content” but represented the thoughts and opinions of real people, who you could get to know and interact with. After all, the best way to get authentic information is to get it from authentic people, right?
You do see the problem here, right? As an employee, great that there’s a webinar planned on stress management, but if I now have to work an hour later that day in order to attend the webinar, it’s not helping. Lots of HR departments are making tools available, but managers are still expecting the same amount of work, with the same crazy deadlines and expectations, from a likely short-staffed team, so who has time to use them?
So they don’t help. Not because they aren’t helpful, but because you’ve made self-care and wellbeing yet another thing for your employees to do.
Employee burnout does not exist solely because your employees haven’t figured out how to meditate. It’s systemic to our way of doing business. Unless that changes, we’re just rearranging deck chairs.
That’s what Charlie Watts meant to me, the reminder that no matter how much flash you’ve got, someone needs to play the drums and be the steady backbeat that keeps the song going. Without it, you’re just making noise. We’d do well to remember that.
Rest in Peace Charlie.