Introducing our Global Head of Wellbeing
‘I think it’s useful to think of wellbeing in terms of how you build your energy, and how you spend your energy’
Our Humans of Xero stories are all about showcasing the incredible talent we have at Xero. This month we sat down with Lucas Finch, Global Head of Wellbeing, to talk about why he moved from working with athletes to helping employees thrive, and his tips for managing wellbeing during COVID-19.
How did you get into tech?
When I was 20, I spent six months meditating in the Malaysian jungle. It was such an incredible experience, and I knew then that supporting other people’s wellbeing was what I wanted to do with my life. I spent the next 10 years studying traditional Chinese medicine and working as a practitioner in a hospital in Beijing, as well as researching Indigenous medicine. I was fascinated with the way different cultures approached wellbeing.
When I returned to Australia, I completed a Masters degree in coaching psychology at the University of Sydney. I also started my own business, running a number of health centres in Sydney that improved the performance of everyone from professional athletes to mums and dads. What I realised was that even though individual motivation to change is incredibly important, we tend to underestimate the impact that our environment has on our wellbeing — both the physical environment as well as the social networks, communities and workplaces in which we live.
So I decided to see how I could help organisations create conditions for their employees to thrive. I felt like I could take everything I learned from coaching and training and researching, and apply it on a bigger scale. And I’ve been doing that ever since. I used Xero for years as a small business owner, so I was really excited when this role came up in a company that I respected and whose values aligned with mine.
What does your role involve?
As Global Head of Wellbeing, I’m responsible for building our wellbeing strategy from the ground up, so our people (we call ourselves ‘Xeros’) can thrive. Even though the role is new, Xero has already done a huge amount of work in this space over the years, so I feel very fortunate to be joining an organisation that has so much momentum and some great practices and policies in place. We’re starting from a great baseline.
Employee wellbeing has really evolved over the years, from being all about tokenistic gestures like fruit bowls and yoga classes, to thinking about how we design work so that people can do the best work of their life, and also feel like they have something to give to friends and families and passions outside of work. There’s a huge amount of evidence-based research* around how organisations can design strategies to support, protect and promote wellbeing, so I’m excited to be in this role and embrace the opportunity.
Supporting the mental health of our people is particularly important, especially given the impact of COVID-19. While we do offer free, confidential support services, we also need to make sure we are maintaining a culture that actively reduces stigma around mental health and helps leaders identify and support people in need — understanding that people move along a mental health spectrum at different points, and that one in five of our employees are likely to benefit from this kind of support at any one time.
Another area of focus for me is understanding how to protect the wellbeing of our people as we lean into our organisational vision. These kinds of strategies are relevant to all employees no matter where they are on the mental health spectrum.
Protecting wellbeing looks at questions like: how do we accelerate the scale and growth of our platform, without hurting anyone? How do we reach for the stars, while also having our fingers on the pulse and a shared language of the key factors that are impacting how our people are doing? There’s a lot of opportunity there to not only support our people when they’re going through tough times, but also design work to protect them on a day-to-day basis**.
Finally, in addition to supporting and protecting wellbeing, there are huge opportunities to promote wellbeing. Anything that can be done to improve people’s foundational habits around nutrition, movement and sleep is incredibly valuable, as well as integrating habits and rituals to immerse ourselves in meaningful work and embrace the positive impact that it can have on our lives.
How has COVID-19 impacted wellbeing?
2020 was such a big year and I think for many people it was a year when, in the face of uncertainty, they reflected on fundamental things like health and wellbeing. Traditional ways of working were completely disrupted — and I think many of us have had a chance to re-examine our daily habits and rituals, and re-evaluate where we are investing our energy. Organisations who are able to undertake the same process may also emerge stronger as a result of this experience.
The focus on mental health was something that was already coming to the fore, but COVID-19 has matured that conversation and it’s now becoming a core competency of employers. Organisations that haven’t been down this journey before are now starting to realise that there’s an opportunity to listen and respond to the needs of their people, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it will help them hold onto good talent.
Flexibility is another hot topic that organisations are now trying to manage. So many people have felt lonely while working remotely over the last year or so. They miss those casual interactions in the office, like saying ‘hi’ to someone in a lift or having a bit of banter over lunch. I think it’s important to recognise that remote working doesn’t work for everyone all the time. So we need to think about how we give people flexibility and choice in terms of when, where and how they work.
What are your top wellbeing tips?
I think it’s useful to think about wellbeing like a bucket. When your bucket is full, you have lots of positive energy, you’re more likely to reach out to others to connect, and you’re more likely to interpret things in a positive way. When your bucket is empty, it’s the opposite. You might feel lethargic, unmotivated, withdrawn, and are more likely to interpret things in a less favourable way.
So we need to think about how we keep our bucket full. At work, we’re usually very clear on our deliverables and how we’re performing. But we also need to consider what happens outside of work.
Try to think of your performance the way an athlete would. They focus on the race, but they also pay attention to how they rest and recharge and restore themselves, so they’re ready for the next race. What are you doing before, during and after work to help you restore your mental, physical, emotional and even spiritual energy?
Before and after work
I like to create rituals around transitioning to and from work. You can do this even if you’re working from home, or looking for work. It’s about small things that help your brain understand that it’s time to focus on a task. For example, every morning I say goodbye to my children and take a walk around the block, as kind of a commute to get my brain into work mode. Then when I sit at my home office desk, I turn on the lamp. That’s the signal that I’ve started work.
After work, I close the laptop and turn off the lamp, and that’s it — I’m done with work for the day. I also try to give myself some time to switch back into family mode. So I might go outside and pick caterpillars off the veggie garden, or do a workout or chat with a friend. The things we do can seem really small and insignificant, but they top up our wellbeing cup across each day, so we have enough energy to deliver our work and also have enough left for our family and friends and broader pursuits.
During your work day
There’s also a huge amount you can do to set up your work environment so you can get the most out of each day. I like to start by thinking about how I would design my perfect work day. To do this, think about the times when you feel most productive, creative and inspired, and try to replicate those conditions.
For me, my day includes really short, focused meetings to reduce screen time, breaks between meetings to recharge, and a workout either first thing in the morning or at lunch time.
The pace of life often means that our days can involve lots of shallow work, like responding to email, slack or messenger — our attention is like a rock skimming over the surface of water. I try to block out time where I can focus on a single task and really get into ‘flow’. For me, this means 90 minutes of deep work in the morning with no notifications or distractions — I usually have my headphones on and play some ambient beats in the background. When I prioritise this time, I do my best work and feel like I make the best kind of contribution.
I also like to build in small rituals to recharge over the course of a day. I’m a big fan of having 25 or 50-minute meetings, so there’s a five or 10-minute gap between meetings where I can reset and recharge. Sometimes I’ll go for a walk around the block, or even just take a few minutes to close my eyes and practice some deep breathing (5 counts in and 5 counts out) to calm the nervous system.
Any tips for people managing a team?
Just as we consider how we build and spend our energy as individuals, people leaders need to consider how they build and spend energy as a team.
Work naturally involves spending our energy on our mental, emotional and physical work, including the energy required to navigate change, relationship conflict, and ambiguity. So we need to consider factors that build energy to meet these demands, such as providing clear goals, role clarity, timely feedback and supportive leadership.
Dr Brock Bastian has done a lot of research on the impact of disasters on teams, and found that having conversations that aren’t about work can really strengthen social bonds and improve team cohesion. So during periods of adversity, it’s incredibly important to help people realise that this is a shared experience. Time to chat about the weekend before a meeting, or arranging virtual games or after-work drinks isn’t peripheral to work — it’s essential for supporting the team’s wellbeing.
The most important part of managing a team’s wellbeing is understanding that it’s not about skimming the surface, but having in-depth conversations where you connect with other people. It’s important to drop beneath the surface of the daily chit chat and banter, and find out more about the human in front of you.
A good way to do this is to get curious and ask a second and third question about what they are saying, to really understand how they are seeing, feeling and experiencing their world. This way you can build and maintain the social capital you need in a team, which creates environments where people feel seen and trusting so they can be themselves, float their ideas and just get on and do the best work of their lives.
Where can we learn more?
* This guide is a great overview on how to develop a workplace wellbeing strategy.
** This is the model that I’ve found most useful in informing an evidence-based approach to a workplace wellbeing strategy.
*** The work on SMART work design by Professor Sharon Parker from the Future of work Institute is an excellent approach to designing work so we can meet our core psychological needs at work.
