Flint Brenton Of Syntellis Performance Solutions On 5 Ways That Businesses Can Help Promote The Mental Wellness Of Their Employees

An Interview With David Liu

We provide employees with the option to take mental wellness days at their own discretion. We trust them to understand when they need a day to reset. We’re also making updates to our vacation and sick day allocations to allow employees to focus even more on their wellness.

As a part of my series about the “5 Ways That Businesses Can Help Promote The Mental Wellness Of Their Employees” I had the pleasure of interviewing Flint Brenton.

Flint Brenton is CEO of Syntellis Performance Solutions, where he leads the company’s strategy and vision to deliver on the promise of elevating customers’ financial performance. Flint has 20+ years of experience as CEO of high-growth companies, including Centrify, CollabNet VersionOne, AccelOps and Tidal Software. He has also directed engineering teams at leading technology companies, is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Management Accountant (CMA), and Certified Scrum Master, and sits on the Board of Trustees at the University of Mount Union and University of Nevada Business School.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive into our discussion, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the backstory about what brought you to your specific career path?

I started my career as a financial person. I’ve always liked things that are very technical, so I was a very technical financial person early in my career. I loved accounting and financial planning and was interested in working for an investment bank or corporate finance. So, I enrolled in a master’s program at Rice University and in conversations with the president, he saw my passion and encouraged me to pursue technology. I started speaking to tech companies that visited campus, one of which was IBM, where I was offered a job as an engineer without ever having taken an engineering class. It was not the career trajectory I expected, but my passion for it grew and I eventually led software development teams, building software for multiple companies that had great exits. Almost by accident, I became a bona fide product engineering guy, which was a great fit because I love to work with great teams to build great products. Now I get to lead Syntellis in not only making a great product, but a product that makes life better for professionals across the healthcare, higher education, and financial services industries.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

The most difficult situation I’ve been in from a career standpoint was at one of the earlier companies where I served as CEO. After three weeks at that company, something didn’t feel right. It didn’t take long to identify some pretty glaring fraud and falsified sales in the financial statements. Unsure of what to do, I went to a close friend who I assumed would tell me to get out as quickly as I could. But he wisely pointed out that if I quit, the company would fail, many people would lose their jobs and investors would lose their money — and he encouraged me to stay and fix the mess I inherited. We brought in an auditor, we brought in a new team, and we changed our strategy. It required a change in how our product was built and in how we went to market over the course of two years, but by the time I left that company it was growing at over 100% a year.

What advice would you suggest to your colleagues in your industry to thrive and avoid burnout?

During this pandemic, the way we all manage our lives has changed. It requires some adjustment to how we take care of our mental, physical, and emotional health. The key, I think, is to always have a plan for each of these aspects of wellness. You’re more likely to execute that plan if you make it public — accountability is key. With consistent, intentional work to execute the plan, you can make a big impact on your overall wellness.

What advice would you give to other leaders about how to create a fantastic work culture?

People who love what they do believe in the mission of the company and have coworkers they enjoy working with, so they want to stay and succeed. Those three components are the foundation of a great company culture. Leaders should communicate frequently with their teams and listen for ways to better meet these core needs. Great cultures don’t just happen — you have to be very deliberate about building them. Constant feedback and openness to adjusting what needs to be tweaked are essentials.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

Warren Buffet: “If you are investing in your education and you are learning, you should do that as early as you possibly can, because then it will have time to compound over the longest period.”

I am a lifelong learner and this quote, along with learning that Warren Buffet reads for six hours every day, has really emphasized how education can elevate your life. I take classes all the time and encourage my team to do the same. We’re investing a lot of money to allow our team to educate themselves so they can pursue their passions.

As you know, the collective mental health of our country is facing extreme pressure. In recent years many companies have begun offering mental health programs for their employees. For the sake of inspiring others, we would love to hear about five steps or initiatives that you have taken to help improve or optimize employees’ mental wellness. Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. We make sure that people understand that they are the priority at our company. It is good business to focus on the wellness of employees. When we go to make a decision about a customer or a product, the most important asset we consider is how it will impact employees. One recent example of how we did this was after rolling out a new company strategy, we also realigned our structure to ensure everyone would have the proper supports in place to execute the strategy. Changes were carefully explained and communicated individually. All decisions are made through the lens of what is best for people.

2. We believe in the power of helping someone else. When you help others, you immediately get a boost to your own mood because you feel like you’re doing something constructive. In December 2021, employees had an opportunity to select a cause they were passionate about and share its story with the company. Syntellis gave each employee $100 to divide among the 17 employee-nominated causes and ended up donating over $30,000. It was incredible to see the passion our employees had for organizations in their regions. We constantly look for ways to help our employees get more involved in the community and have opportunities to help others.

3. We provide employees with the option to take mental wellness days at their own discretion. We trust them to understand when they need a day to reset. We’re also making updates to our vacation and sick day allocations to allow employees to focus even more on their wellness.

4. We empower employees to take care of themselves in every way. We reviewed our benefits and offer enhancements that address mental and physical wellness, and we are always looking at how we can have more robust offerings. And because we believe lifelong learning is incredibly powerful for all of us as individuals and as a company, we encourage team members to grow and learn with access to unlimited professional and personal development courses through LinkedIn Learning.

5. It’s so important to connect with others, and the virtual nature of work today has made it difficult to build deep relationships with colleagues. Over the past year, we offered a number of different opportunities for employees to connect virtually — revolving around happy hours, coffee breaks, games, and wellness activities — and in-person, including regional holiday parties and service opportunities for those employees who felt comfortable gathering. We’re investing in employee relationships because it’s beneficial for all of us.

What strategies would you suggest to raise awareness about the importance of supporting the mental wellness of employees?

The key to raising awareness is simply talking about it more. Mental health is still stigmatized, but the more we discuss it and center it in decision-making, the more normal it will become. I personally lead with wellness in most conversations with employees and customers. I also think gathering — whether in person or virtually for the time being — will help to build connections in the workforce that will naturally lend themselves to checking in with each other in terms of wellness.

From your experience or research, what are different steps that each of us as individuals, as a community and as a society, can take to effectively offer support to those around us who are feeling stressed, depressed, anxious or having other mental health issues? Can you explain?

Over the course of the pandemic, my wife and I have become highly involved in a local food pantry. From those efforts, I’ve noticed that the human connection and feeling of being cared for is just as important as the food being provided to those who come in. The key is approaching wellness on an individual basis — figuring out each person’s unique needs and how you can help meet them. One size doesn’t fit all when it comes to wellness.

Can you help articulate a few ways how workplaces will benefit when they pay attention to an employee’s mental health?

When overall morale goes up, productivity goes up. Investing in the mental health of your employees is the rising tide that lifts all ships.

Do you use any meditation, breathing or mind-calming practices that promote your mental wellbeing? How have they impacted your own life?

I am a big fan of yoga. I also like outdoors activities with loved ones. The combination of being outside, moving my body, and connecting with other people has made a positive impact on my own wellness.

As you know, there are a variety of communication tools such as video conferencing, phone, text, and push-to-talk. What changes or improvements would you suggest for these technologies to help foster better mental health?

The more you can make remote communication personalized and interactive, the better it will be for building relationships. For example, for a team celebration we had recently, we gathered on Zoom while also ordering Uber Eats to each team member’s house. The combination of having the verbal interaction on camera and the physical interaction with the food adds more depth to the event and makes it feel “real” and meaningful.

If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I would promote a set of guidelines designed to eliminate or dramatically reduce depression because depression is an even more prevalent pandemic than COVID-19. These guidelines would encompass a lot of different factors — from diet and exercise to therapy and medication. But I think a massive movement to minimize depression across the population would be world-changing.

What is the best way our readers can further follow your work online?

You can keep up with how we are putting people first at Syntellis by following us on LinkedIn and Twitter @Syntellis, and read more of my thoughts on leadership topics on my Forbes Tech Council profile. I am also reachable on Twitter at @Flint_Brenton.

Thank you for the time you spent sharing these fantastic insights. We wish you continued success in your great work!