Talent Empowerment: Lift Up People Leaders

Over the past two years, well-known by all to be commanded by the pandemic, “more than 30% of adults have reported symptoms of anxiety and depression— a nearly threefold increase from before the pandemic.” Beyond the obvious of wanting to help those around us struggling, poor employee wellbeing is almost guaranteed to harm the productivity, output, and retention of every company’s greatest advantage: its people.

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The solution to addressing mental health in the workplace, unfortunately, is not as simple as adding free meditation apps to the company’s list of perks. It’s also not enough to increase coverage for therapy (not to mention the nation-wide shortage of therapists) within your benefits package. Why? One-size-fits-all solutions are not effective.

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The huge responsibility of finding an effective and affordable one-size-fits-one solution falls onto our HR leaders, who are also suffering from mental health issues like burnout at an alarmingly high rate.

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That’s why I launched my podcast, Talent Empowerment. The show’s mantra is simple— we lift up people leaders so they can lift up their organizations! Every episode, I talk with thought leaders, influencers, and game-changers in the world of human behavior and people development to uncover how organizations can move from a culture of top-down management to talent empowerment.

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And what defines talent empowerment? It means everyone in your organization has equal opportunity and resources to develop the competencies, confidence, and wellbeing to thrive. This is accomplished by moving away from the pillars of talent management— EAPs, Learning & Management Systems (LMS), workplace hierarchies, one-size-fits-all group training, and compliance— to personalized professional growth opportunities, ongoing skill development, inclusive work environments, and on-demand support.

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Each episode helps to teach listeners how to: drive innovation, transform HR into people ops, and make HR a revenue generator! By sharing our collective wisdom and personal trial and errors, we can begin to re-focus HR efforts on people and culture, moving us into this new era of work, talent empowerment. ?

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Some of the overarching themes include tested strategies on how to improve work/life balance or integration, burnout, psychological safety, workplace accessibility, DEIB initiatives, and workplace transparency. In essence, how to make HR more human, less transactional, again. Let’s dive into some of the aforementioned topics below.

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Workplace Accessibility:

One method to make your workplace more accessible is to offer remote and/or hybrid working models. In fact, if you don’t, you run a major risk of losing top talent. Leaders can improve the balance between employees’ work and life by ensuring that HR & broader company processes are streamlined in an effective and timely manner, allowing employees to get their work done more efficiently. Some people need more individualized support than others and can benefit greatly from individual coaching, which not only can help people master the transition, but simultaneously serves as a preventative mental health tool.

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Want to dive significantly deeper into accessibility? I chatted with the Founder of Inclusively, Charlotte Dales, on the Talent Empowerment podcast. Her platform allows candidates with disabilities to connect with employers who have the accommodations in place they need to be successful.

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Psychological Safety:

Psychological safety is where your people feel safe enough to (1) let you know they are experiencing burnout, call out sick, or take a mental health day and/or (2) let you know when they feel threatened or in an unsafe environment from peers or leadership team. A great example of this touchpoint on the podcast exists in our episode with Cassie Whitlock of BambooHR where her employee came to her to ask for advice as they thought they may have harassed someone (made someone uncomfortable with jokes) after completing her harassment training— they turned themselves into her. That’s true psychological safety!

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The above initiatives and the talent empowerment movement are critical in helping all our employees, not just the ones suffering from mental health issues, feel valued in the workplace. It’s time to build company cultures rooted in community and defined by comfort, connection, and contribution. I hope the podcast is just one valuable tool for you on our collective journey to improve employee experiences.

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Let’s get back to people and culture, together.