Rejecting the "New Normal"

Over the past few weeks (has it really just been weeks?), our collective wellbeing has come under attack from every side. 

At Virgin Pulse, we have a unique view of this through our platform. In the wake of this crisis, which is requiring people to change their behaviors and adapt to new ways of living and working, employees around the world are looking to be informed, stay connected with their colleagues, manage new levels of anxiety and stress, be more active, productive and healthy, and set new personal goals. To support this effort, we have launched a public-facing COVID-19 Homebase filled with relevant information, tools, and resources to help people around the world maintain healthy habits and personal wellbeing through this difficult time. 

I’ll be writing in future posts about what we as a company are doing to put more essential resources into more hands. But what’s been on my mind lately is a resource we should all take advantage of right now, one that can have an outsized impact on employee wellbeing at a time like this: Leadership. I’m not talking about leadership in the exclusive corner-office sense, crucial as that is. I’m talking about the leadership capacity each of us has to dig deep and step up when it matters most. There is no playbook for navigating what we are encountering right now, so it’s on us to create one. Here are a few thoughts on what we can each do, right now, to lead and support our employees’ wellbeing during what is arguably the most significant challenge any of us has ever faced.

Assess and Reset

If I hear one more person describe our current reality as “the new normal,” I just might lose it. There’s nothing normal about losing thousands of lives in a single day. Or seeing more than six million people file for unemployment benefits in a single week. Or sheltering in place with loved ones for months at a time. Or having to cancel major conferences - like our annual Thrive Summit - after months or years of planning. Or hoarding water and hand sanitizer. It’s not only OK to acknowledge the volatility of this moment with your employees; it’s the only honest response and the first step in moving forward.

Reviewing and resetting short-term goals is a crucial next step. We’re all operating pretty far from “business-as-usual,” but that doesn’t mean we can let down our customers and stakeholders. We should be encouraging employees to take a fresh look at goals and KPIs in light of new business realities and daily life challenges, like juggling work while home-schooling kids (home-schooling my 7 and 13-year-old daughters has proven much more challenging than I anticipated). That cancelled conference? Though disappointing, maybe it just freed up considerable bandwidth. How might it be redirected to still hit targets, or to establish new ones? Giving people the latitude and psychological safety to creatively rethink goals will go a long way towards making them feel in control during this out-of-control time.

Be Human 

If ever there was a time to be a human first and a boss second, it’s now. We’re all dealing with a lot, and most of us will crack under the weight of it at some point. Working from home, which just a few weeks ago sounded to many employees like an amazing perk, now feels like a new version of hell to many of us as the firewall between work and home is obliterated. 

As flight attendants constantly remind us (when we used to fly), we must put on our own oxygen masks before we can assist others. Leaders can’t lead if we don’t make it a habit to recharge our own physical and mental batteries, every day. Personally, I’ve been using our platform more than ever to hold myself accountable and stay healthy and focused on my personal goals through this unsettling time. I’m running every morning and challenging myself to bump up my step count. Running is training me to focus my energy in productive ways and takes my mind off of the distressing news that seems to be permeating every aspect of our lives. I’ve also continued to meditate using our partner app Whil - it’s helping me reduce my stress and build mental resilience. And, I’m working with our amazing health coaches for support in specific areas (like many, I am struggling with sleep right now as I constantly think about how to navigate our organization through this unprecedented crisis).

As the CEO of a health and wellness company, I speak regularly with organizations around the world about the health and wellbeing challenges they are facing. As you can imagine, those challenges have only been exacerbated by the current global crisis. Right now, the number one thing leaders can do is encourage people to put their health first. This means following the latest WHO, CDC and state-level guidance for protecting themselves and their families against COVID-19 and preventing its spread. 

It also means attending to the aspects of their health that are too easily neglected in the midst of a crisis like this — including mental wellbeing, physical activity, and diet. For example, working from home can be productive, but it can also lead to more sitting, less natural movement between meetings and declining daily step counts. Across our global members, we are seeing a 5% decrease in daily steps from the last week in February to the first week in March (and up to 30% decrease in some countries, year-over-year).

This is concerning for many reasons. We’ve all heard that “sitting is the new smoking.” In fact, a newly published study looking at the connection between movement and mortality finds that every 4,000 steps we take — whether outside or inside our homes — reduces our risk of dying from heart disease and other causes by 50 percent or more. When new daily routines consist of sitting on video conference calls for hours on end, it’s difficult to get steps in (and mentally exhausting). That’s why it is imperative to encourage employees to schedule - and take - physical (and mental) breaks. Walking or stretching for even 30 minutes can go a long way toward helping them build positive habits now and into the future.

 See the Silver Lining

This one may be the hardest of all to see from our current vantage point. But whether it’s weeks or months, we will get through this and go back to our lives. While this experience will undoubtedly change us forever, those changes - for most of us - will hopefully be for the better. We can use this time to revisit, refocus and recalibrate the way we live, the way we work and the way we take care of ourselves. We also have a unique opportunity to reestablish healthy daily routines, using the tools and programs available to us to ensure we are prioritizing our wellbeing.

As leaders, we must encourage and challenge our people to see today’s crisis as a chance to learn, to lead and to do better. We need to support one another and be patient as we adapt to new processes and trust that we’re all doing the best we can in challenging circumstances. We’ll find new ways to collaborate and brainstorm (and even participate in workouts and Friday happy hours) virtually. While this situation is far from ideal, going through these hard times make us stronger. This is when the real growth is possible. This is what creates resilience. In fact, one of the main contributors to resilience is struggle. I personally will emerge from this a stronger CEO and we will emerge as a stronger, more competitive company. Einstein is credited with saying, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Right now, we all have an opportunity to step up and help each other through this crisis. We just need to unleash our inner leaders.