Get Well Soon

“I hope you are doing well ?” is a common greeting, and most of us expect (and prefer) a positive response, but the reality often differs.? As others have observed, the world has become so VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) and seems to be in a state of “perma-crisis” that many of us (and our teams) are struggling to “be well.”?? At TRIUMPH, we are spending time and energy to help people anticipate, recognize, and overcome the factors that undermine wellness in their personal and professional lives so they can be more productive both at work and at home and achieve their potential as well as the company’s.?

One does not have to look far to find the sources of stress in our lives – global conflicts, political polarity, fear of crime, inflation, bombardment of emails and robo-calls, and incivility to name a few.? Having some stress in our lives is a good thing – too little and we become lazy and unproductive.? Too much and fear of negative outcomes (real or imagined) can overwhelm us.? Removing fear from the workplace was one of W. Edwards Deming’s mandates for leaders.? The question remains – How can leaders create the right environment for employee and organizational wellness ??

If we think about wellness in the three pillars of physical, mental, and financial health, there are countermeasures we can take to life’s stressors and create the best conditions for success.? At TRIUMPH, we are adopting a shift from consumption-based health care to preventative care with a focus on the widespread problems of depression, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and anxiety, all of which feed on each other.? We encourage employees to use the resources available from our health care providers to treat symptoms early before they lead to more serious illness.?

There are on-line questionnaires where you can answer a series of questions and get an actuary-based estimate of how long you are predicted to live.? The longer you live, the longer you live as you get past the diseases that afflict people at younger ages.? The survey questions are more interesting than one’s predicted life expectancy as you can change your responses and see how much longer you might live if you give up smoking, move closer (but not too close) to family, and stop eating processed foods.? In many ways, physical wellness is a choice (or really hundreds of small choices) and starts with a realization that we all have one life and one body, that the game clock is running, and that it’s not too late to make positive changes. ???

Case in point - it is surprising how many people do not get annual physicals, even when paid for by their employer.? Recently, a colleague said, “I want to be in better shape before I go see the doctor,” putting themselves at risk of missing illnesses unrelated to their physical appearance or condition.? Most people will spend hours (if not days) researching and thinking about a new purchase but refuse to spend a few hours and dollars to keep a log of their diet, health treatments, prescriptions, and illnesses, i.e., invest their most important possession: their physical and mental health.? Leaders must send the message that time spent on maintaining one’s health – in all its forms – is not only encouraged but expected. ?Leaders have to walk the talk. ?A small example: we served “mocktails” instead of alcohol and more healthy food choices at TRIUMPH's most recent leadership offsite.? A company’s short-term performance and long-term competitiveness depend on a healthy and engaged workforce.?

Mental health can be even harder to maintain in today’s world.?? People tend to cope with stress in ways that are not good for their physical health – increasing their salt, sugar, and alcohol intake, smoking, and losing sleep and time for exercise.? Leaders can reduce the level of unhealthy stress in the workplace by dealing with the internal issues that are obvious to everyone head-on and creating a work environment where people want to come to work, not go home or “quietly quit.”?

A positive aspect of the last few years has been that mental health conditions are no longer stigmatized.? We all recognize we are mutually dependent for success at work and lifting each other up in one’s time of need benefits the larger organization. ?

TRIUMPH is promoting mindfulness and stretching at the start of shifts and during breaks to break the cycle of sitting (which many consider the new smoking) and encouraging short walks about the building.? Research shows these walks promote left/right brain interactions across synapse gaps which helps avoid writer’s block.? These breaks also reduce the risk of workplace injuries, and perhaps workplace violence as we “take five” and think about how we respond to challenges as opportunities rather than as threats. ?To quote Stephen Covey, we need to be “response-able” rather than let external circumstances dictate our thinking, mood, and actions.??

Leaders must recognize when organizations are under unhealthy stress and encourage teams to approach problems in a new way. ??As the Lockheed Skunkworks founder Kelly Johnson said “If you can’t fix it with brains, you can’t fix it with hours” – encouraging people to focus on the problem and collaboratively develop solutions quickly can help teams create a winning mindset and avoid burning the midnight oil so they can spend time with their friends and family which is foundational to mental health.? ?

A novel way to promote wellness is to encourage people to brainstorm all the ways a given situation or planned action (e.g., a merger or new venture) can go wrong, then flip the list on its head and develop mitigations for all these imagined problems. Participation in volunteering and employee resource groups has been a great channel to help TRIUMPH employees derive more meaning from their work and be more productive in their primary roles. ?Incorporating wellness into employee events and celebrations is an easy win.

Like mental health, financial health is a sensitive topic.? No one likes to admit they are going through tough financial times, caused by any number of factors, due to the embarrassment or fear of making a tough situation worse.? You may be surprised to learn how many of your coworkers had to borrow against their 401K balances during the pandemic.? The economic stress we were all under was real and continues on during this inflationary cycle.? It is not likely that a company comprised of people living close to the edge financially will produce sustainable, long-term shareholder value.?

Most of our companies have employee assistance programs to help those going through financial difficulties, but there is more companies can do in terms of fair pay practices, 401K and ESOP programs, and education.? It is in all stakeholders’ interests to create sustainable jobs that pay well and to provide effective health care solutions so that our team members can focus on our commitments to customers who are our primary source of job security and value creation.

Given leadership’s commitment to creating the optimal conditions for individual and organization wellness, the team will lead the way with ideas on how to get there.?? By asking team members what are the things that prevent your company from being an employer of choice, and not unreasonably withholding management's support to their ideas, all sorts of positive outcomes are possible.?? TRIUMPH has incorporated wellness into our “New Deal” whereby we are revisiting the social contract between the company and the employee, and the value proposition for working here.??

Wellness is a journey, not a permanent state, and must be regenerated like red and white blood cells on a continuous basis to fight off infection and illness.? By detecting the early warning signs of health issues, in all their forms, and taking action early, we have the best chance of not just survival, but adaptation and prosperous growth.??

As top athletes demonstrate, a lot of success is mental.? Under duress, people often over-constrain the available solutions to their physical, mental, and financial health challenges through a reluctance to ask for help or not accessing the resources available to them. ?TRIUMPH’s Human Resources team is helping to identify and simplify access to on-line resources for wellness so that team members are not left to search the internet in search of solutions to life’s many challenges.

We continue to pursue a culture within TRIUMPH where we work as One Team to partner with our customers to overcome their hardest challenges – so too should we work together to help everyone through their life challenges we so we can jointly enable the safety and prosperity of the world through our work.?

So next time someone asks you “How are you doing ?,” I suggest you answer, “I am doing well, as is my team, and let me tell you why.” ??I am confident that you will have the answers and your commitment to wellness in all its forms will be contagious.?

#TogetherWeTriumph #Leadership #Wellness