You Want Your Team To Be Healthy?You’re Going To Have To Show Them How.

Serving As A Self-Care Ally

The other day I saw Google’s announcement to declare May 22nd a company-wide holiday to address pandemic burnout. I figured that, like most companies they had made allowances for their employees to take time off individually in order to reset or unplug, so why go further and declare a company-wide holiday?

I then realized that sometimes declaring a company-wide holiday, is the only way that teams are guaranteed to take time off.

There is a pattern that I have seen throughout my career: simply telling people to take care of themselves is not enough, sometimes you have to show them how, but more specifically- you have to show them that it’s okay to do so.

Peer Pressure Is A Powerful Thing

If you are a manager or a leader and taking time off amidst a very busy cycle gives you a feeling of dread in the pit of your stomach, you are not alone. Your team probably feels the same way you do.

Not only should you practice what you preach because it will be good for you, but also because it sends a powerful signal to those that you heavily influence. You are showing your team that taking care of yourself even in the middle of a busy cycle is okay. You are also coaching your future leaders into understanding that you don’t have to burn through your day in order to be a successful leader or manager.

Delivering Powerful Signals

It is not enough to simply approve of the idea of self-care, managers and leaders must be self-care allies for their teams. When you practice self-care you are sending a signal to your teams that they are in good company when they do things like have a day off to reset.

You must set the precedent for boundaries and send powerful and necessary signals such as:

• Logging off at noon for a full hour.
• Adjusting your schedule to be online between hours that best suit your home needs.
• Prominently announcing your daily breaks, anything from “Back in 20 minutes” to “Time for my daily 20-minute sanity stroll around my neighborhood”.
• Entering a cadence of reset times every week. Are Tuesdays particularly rough for you or just plain annoying? Start taking Tuesday mornings off.

Sharing Boundaries

Of equal importance is how much you are willing to share on some of your specific needs for self-care. Sharing that you are taking a walk everyday is helpful to your teams, but simply saying I’ll be back online in 20 minutes every afternoon is also perfectly fine. Keeping your team mates informed is important but no one in your team should feel as if they need to make tough decisions about their privacy in order to feel okay taking breaks. If you suspect this is an issue, show your team that it doesn’t have to be.

Self-Care Allyship

Now more than ever, we have to remember to lead by example. If you really want the people you work with to feel at ease taking charge of their self-care, you’re going to have to take the next step and do it yourself. Go through this journey for yourself and see what lessons and benefits it brings you, then share that first-hand knowledge with others.

We could all use some company in our path to a healthier state of being. Do yourself and your team a kindness and be that self-care ally today.

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