Julie Forsythe Of Auvik On 5 Ways That Businesses Can Help Promote The Mental Wellness Of Their Employees

An Interview With David Liu

Utilizing one on one conversations — I remember the days of being in the employee’s shoes and being asked by my leader that basic question of, “how are you?”. But if I reflect on those memories, I realize that I was never asked about how I was doing physically and mentally. I find leaders tend to get so wrapped up in their work that they end up managing their teams just to make sure business deliverables are completed. But, if your team is suffering mentally and physically, those deliverables are never coming, or they are not done to the teams’ best abilities. As a leader today, I make sure to ask my employees during our one-on-ones, “how is your physical and mental health?” and leave it wide open for the employee to answer. This has resulted in a whole new level of conversation with employees.

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 Julie Forsythe.

With over two decades in IT, Julie Forsythe gained experience in transformational leadership at both large and mid-sized organizations resulting in a love for strategic planning that addresses process, technology, and human elements. Leading teams and enabling skilled professionals to reach their highest potential is a big passion of hers as she understands the importance happiness plays in producing quality work, delivering reliable results, and retaining staff. Julie is currently the VP of engineering at Auvik, where she works in collaboration with the engineering team to deliver software solutions to help MSPs better manage their networks.

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

I thought I would be a software developer for my whole career but then I fell into leadership. Quickly, I realized I could make a big impact but in order to do that, I would need to know more about what kind of leader I wanted to be — i.e., business or tech. So, I began taking on different roles in each field. For example, I took a role managing a technology team where I didn’t even know the technology, just to see if I could do it. I also led a business team to find out if I could expand my manager abilities in other fields, hoping to discover I was able to lead anything and everything. As I took on more and more managerial roles, I eventually learned that I could lead whatever team I was presented with.

Something interesting that happened since I started my career is not so much a story, but more so a newly discovered mantra to live by — show up and show out. You can’t have one without the other because showing up simply is not enough. Leaders need to also contribute to making something bigger and more meaningful. One way to do that is to try and be as good as you can at building relationships with your peers.

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

Be kind to yourself. We are living in such unprecedented times and it’s more important than ever to demonstrate care and compassion in the leadership space. It’s no surprise to anyone that the pandemic severely impacted employees’ mental health. I truly believe that an organization cannot be successful without the involvement of amazing people, so it’s in every company’s best interest to create mental health channels so people can share stories and collaborate.

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

I cannot stress enough just how critical it is to establish a work culture that is rooted in being open and genuine with one another because when both ideals are present, we get the best work environments and work culture. 2022 is the year we need to modernize the golden rule of saying “treat others the way you want to be treated” because that assumes that other people want to be treated the same way you want to be treated. It’s more so about creating an exchange with an employee that is appropriate for that specific person. We here at Auvik have prioritized creating an environment of “psychological safety”. What this means is empowering employees to show up as their unedited selves, because doing this creates a sense of belonging and allows employees to show up as their most confident selves. As a leader, having your employees show up to your community as they are establishes a safe space for them to be themselves, which ultimately leads to happier and mentally healthier teams.

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

My favorite life lesson quote is from F. Scott Fitzgerald: “For what it’s worth… it’s never too late, or in my case too early, to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same. There are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you’ve never felt before. I hope you meet people who have a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of, and if you’re not, I hope you have the courage to start over again.”

I have this quote framed on my bedroom wall and walk by it every day when I get out of bed. Reading this quote for the first time prompted some deep, personal reflection. Since then, I have been much, much kinder to myself, I lean into uncertainty, and I do my best to enjoy the journey.

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. 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 companies have taken to help improve or optimize their employees’ mental wellness. Can you please share a story or example for each?

1. Enabling Inclusivity in All Realms- Having a company whose efforts focus on being inclusive to all is absolutely critical when optimizing employee mental wellness. One initiative we started at Auvik as part of our two-year action plan on DEI is celebrating differences by launching various topics and events monthly to increase our sense of belonging and give a voice to everyone. For example, we recently kicked off our inclusive language guide that helps educate our employees on languages that include everyone. I feel strongly that every person deserves to show up unedited and using inclusive language and leaning into the unknown allows for community building. Another initiative example is after conducting interviews with employees who experience mental health concerns, we here at Auvik are developing a guide for how to hold more inclusive meetings. Additionally, we created a mental well-being resource center and slack channel where anyone in the company can join. In this channel, there are posts of encouragement and posts from employees sharing their challenges, all in an effort for everyone to feel safe to share their struggles, triumphs, etc.
2. Encouraging mental health days — I fully know when I need to take a mental health day. I can not only feel it mentally but at times, physically. So, if I as a leader know when I need to take a step back and reset for a day, why should my employees not do the same? I realized over the years that employees tend to mimic leaders’ behavior, so it is important for leaders to set the standards of taking care of their mental health. For example, I will publicly post in my channel that I’m taking a mental health day and unless anything urgent is needed, I ask for no unnecessary communication to destress and reboot.
3. Utilizing one on one conversations — I remember the days of being in the employee’s shoes and being asked by my leader that basic question of, “how are you?”. But if I reflect on those memories, I realize that I was never asked about how I was doing physically and mentally. I find leaders tend to get so wrapped up in their work that they end up managing their teams just to make sure business deliverables are completed. But, if your team is suffering mentally and physically, those deliverables are never coming, or they are not done to the teams’ best abilities. As a leader today, I make sure to ask my employees during our one-on-ones, “how is your physical and mental health?” and leave it wide open for the employee to answer. This has resulted in a whole new level of conversation with employees.
4. “Pull A Card” — My mentor and I have a system where we check in with one another by sending a “card” color. The colors range from green, yellow, and red. As you can imagine, green means I am feeling great, yellow means I’m a little rocky, and red means I am not doing okay at all. These cards allow my mentor to see where I currently stand mentally and from there, we can assess how to get me back on track. I truly believe this initiative is an easy way for employees to share with their leaders where they stand mentally.
5. Establishing healthy relationships with everyone — The relationships we have with those around us are really important. I believe establishing a healthy relationship with your leader or even with your employee is critical when trying to gain trust. One way to establish trust is through shared vulnerability. If leaders right from the top of the organization can demonstrate vulnerability, we slowly build a safe environment for employees to express any thoughts. This takes time and doesn’t happen overnight, but it can lead to more openness, feelings of comfort, and a positive impact on mental health.

These ideas are wonderful, but sadly they are not yet commonplace. What strategies would you suggest to raise awareness about the importance of supporting the mental wellness of employees?

Raising awareness around employee mental health starts with the company’s recognition that leadership is a privilege. If a company keeps filling its walls with leaders who do not have the capability to honor the human aspect of leadership, the surrounding employees will suffer. I suggest companies have incredibly high standards when it comes to their leaders and level up expectations immediately since they are the ones that set the tone across the board. Having high human leadership standards and hiring people with emotional intelligence, employee mental wellness will be genuinely cared for and supported appropriately. This is also a differentiator in a very competitive hiring market! Happy employees are more productive and stay at companies longer.

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?

Every interaction you have with a person in your day-to-day life is an opportunity to be kind. As a society, we need to ask those around us how they are doing more often. If we all could just be a little kinder and more genuine, I truly believe the world’s mental health would benefit. People also tend to forget that we as individuals need to be kind to ourselves too. It’s that old saying mentioned on airplanes that you must put your oxygen mask on first before helping others, and it couldn’t be more true. I know I am at my best when I have taken care of myself first, then that allows me to help others more presently.

This might seem intuitive to you, but it will be helpful to spell it out. Can you help articulate a few ways how workplaces will benefit when they pay attention to an employee’s mental health?

One of my favorite statistics is, 54% of employees say a strong sense of community (great coworkers, celebrating milestones, a common mission) kept them at a company longer than was in their best interest. Basically, it all comes down to the employee knowing that they are being done right by their leader, a.k.a the leader showing genuine concern about the employee’s mental health. While currently facing a global crisis on mental health, now is the time for companies to remove any of the negative stigmas that come with those who suffer. These companies should be making choices that support one’s journey to better health, like providing employees with benefits plans. By paying attention to employees’ mental health, a business will see increased employee productivity, increased retention, less churn, more productivity, higher team longevity, and healthier teams overall.

Do you use any meditation, breathing or mind-calming practices that promote your mental wellbeing? We’d love to hear about all of them. How have they impacted your own life?

As someone that has a very loud and busy mind, I must find something that keeps me mentally solid. Sadly, it isn’t meditation. What I have found that works is moving my body. I like to work out and do any sort of physical activity, especially if it’s outdoors. I live in Canada, so this is especially true if I see any hint of sunlight. I think taking in a deep breath of fresh air while being aware of your surroundings allows a person to be present at that moment…while hopefully feeling the sunshine!

I work in the communications industry, so I’m particularly interested in this question. 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?

With the unlimited amount of communication tools we have accessible today, it’s extremely important to not just use them but use them intentionally. Teams today are made up of many different people who have totally different needs, but if you are able to make communication tools accessible to as many people as possible and in as many ways that are inclusive to all, that’s what counts.

You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

If I could start a movement — — As it relates to mental health, I wouldn’t start one, but I would put my energy behind things like Bell Lets Talk Day initiative, to further remove the stigma of mental health. I would also like to see mental health education and support widely available and affordable, for everyone.

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

My LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julieforsythe/?originalSubdomain=ca

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