Mental Health in the workplace is top of mind, especially these days. With all that’s going on in the world, Covid continuing to upend plans, and burnout running rampant through organizations, leaders need practical, tactical solutions to helping their people (and themselves!) deal with mental health challenges. So on this final day of Mental Health Awareness month, Erica moderates a mental health roundtable discussion featuring leading experts in the diversity, inclusion, and belonging space. On this episode we have Daisy Auger-Dominguez, chief people officer at VICE media, Leonora Zilkha Williamson, human capital strategy and executive coach, and Nicholas Griggs-Drane, director of diversity and inclusion at Endeavor. In this episode, the panelists discuss how to recognize mental health matters in the workplace, how leaders and employees alike need to feel psychologically safe in order to be honest and vulnerable (and how to model that from the top), how different generations and geographical regions process mental health matters differently, why having mental health benefits are table stakes now in the recruiting process, and why it’s so important to give people time to unplug and rest in order to combat burnout.
Thanks to Terawatt for presenting this panel—“Because everyone deserves a good coach.”
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Quotes:
Leonora:
“We absolutely need to understand the state of your mental wellness in order to build what’s going to come next for you.”
“Gen Z is not going to stand for having mental health be something that’s shoved under the rug and looked down upon. For them—and I see this in my classroom at Vanderbilt—it is no different to tell a professor that you’re not coming to class because you’re having a mental health breakdown than it is to say, ‘I have Covid.’ Those are equally valid reasons to bow out for the day.”
Daisy:
“The work of diversity, equity, and inclusion is about creating a wholeness, a connectedness, a belonging in the workplace, and it’s really hard to feel connected and a sense of belonging in the workplace when you can’t share what is happening in your life.”
“Awareness is nice, but awareness without action doesn’t get you anywhere…The action comes from your managers…How do you encourage the conversations with your employees so that they feel comfortable coming to you, they feel a sense of trust coming to you, that even if you don’t have all the answers, you’re showing that evidence of care.”
Nicholas:
“The industry is moving toward a goal of diversifying our spaces, but when you have someone from an underrepresented group in a space where they may not feel welcome, there’s additional burdens they’re experiencing.”
“Mental health and mental wellness are directly attached to your experience and how you experience your day to day and how you experience yourself when you show up to work and how all those then connect.”
Links to Websites or Resources, text numbers email signups
Daisy’s book, Inclusion Revolution
Leonora’s website, Platinum Rule Advisors
Order Erica’s book, Rituals Roadmap
Order Erica’s book, Bring Your Human to Work
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