Be Well> Do Well> Stay Awhile: 5 Simple, Proven, Practices that Build Resilience

One of the three drivers of workforce resilience are 5 surprisingly simple behaviors individual staff can practice to support their personal resilience. These research-supported practices; Gratitude, Moving Your Body, Mindfulness, Acts of Kindness, and Building Social Support are simple, yet amazingly impactful ways anyone can do to support their well-being and resilience. And a huge bonus is that they all can be practiced within the workday, which has the added benefit of building connections and a positive culture within an organization. 

Transcript

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:19:19
Unknown
You're listening to Radio Kempe. We value the sense of community that connects people and helps them find ways to move forward. Join us on our journey to prevent child abuse and neglect.

00:00:19:21 - 00:00:42:17
Unknown
Welcome and welcome back. This is Radio Kempe. I'm Kendall Marlow with the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect. Thank you for being with us today. Radio Kempe is on a journey in 2024 with you to discover new voices and learn new things. We're open to what we discover and thank you for traveling with us.

00:00:42:19 - 00:01:07:10
Unknown
This episode is the second episode in a series of conversations with the Kempe Center's very own Dan Carver. Dan is tackling the disengagement and chronic turnover of the workforce in our field. Are we sentenced to a never ending cycle of moral injury and burnout? Or is there something we can do about this? Dan Comber, welcome back. Thank you Kendall.

00:01:07:15 - 00:01:33:03
Unknown
And there is things we can do about this and and and we're I want to say we're mandated to do something about it and then to fulfill that mandate in our first episode in this series, you introduced us to what you call a practical approach to workplace resiliency under the banner of Be well, Do well, Stay a while.

00:01:33:05 - 00:02:12:17
Unknown
For listeners new to this series, what is Be Well, Do well, stay a wire. It's a cool, descriptive name of a three pronged approach, which is necessary if it's going to be successful to to build a an organization that supports resilience and well-being and retention of their staff. And it's based on really three drivers. One is, the leadership, of course, sending the right messages about self-care and resilience and, setting up the right policies and practices that support that message.

00:02:12:18 - 00:02:42:04
Unknown
And then the second driver is the culture within the organization, which takes place, predominantly, not only, but predominantly at the at the team level, at the supervisor level. and, you know, culture has been described different ways. I like to think of it as it's how we work here in this organization. Yeah. And what it feels like to work here and so you can see how that's going to have a big influence on people's resilience and retention.

00:02:42:06 - 00:03:13:06
Unknown
And then the third driver is absolutely necessary. They all are. And the third driver is what am I doing as an individual person working in this very, very stressful job? do I pay attention to my, well-being or do I not? And, what are some ways that I can keep that in my own personal focus? So we're going to explore those strategies for culture and strategies for leadership in our next episodes.

00:03:13:08 - 00:03:47:08
Unknown
Today we're going to focus down on those individual practices supported by research that can make a difference for resilience. If I'm a worker on the frontlines or a part of our workforce in any positions, are there things I can do myself for myself to build my own resilience? There are and there's and there's a million of them. And lots of people are doing some of those things, or else I wouldn't be in this in this field, doing the work at all.

00:03:47:10 - 00:04:12:23
Unknown
And as I started really working with organizations around this topic, how are you? How do you keep people? How do you help them be, able to bounce back and manage the the inherent stress of this job? I have been kind of taken aback by how many caseworkers, supervisors, how many people working in the field really don't do much self-care.

00:04:13:00 - 00:04:32:12
Unknown
And I mean, that's a whole nother conversation about why they don't. I mean, they're givers and the work demands a lot, and they put all that before themselves. And then, you know, they go home at night and they're exhausted and overwhelmed and they can't do anything else. And so we we took that into consideration as we came up with these five practices.

00:04:32:12 - 00:04:53:24
Unknown
And again, let me say this about a hundred times, Kendall. if people are doing things that help their self-care and help and practice, you know, are practicing self-care and that helps them, manage the stress of the job, they need to keep doing that. If it's working for them, keep doing that. So we might already be doing some of these things that.

00:04:54:01 - 00:05:15:01
Unknown
Absolutely. I mean, absolutely. And again, I'm kind of, dismayed by the the number of people who who don't do much to take care of themselves. and those are probably the people that we want the most to be able to manage it because they are so giving. they tend to they tend to stay in the job a long time.

00:05:15:01 - 00:05:50:09
Unknown
They're very talented. but they're kind of they're hurting themselves physically and emotionally and every other. Which way. So we came up with five. We went looking at the research saying what? You know. We came from a lens of this is a tremendously, burdensome job. Lots and lots of requirements, case loads, hard, hard to manage. And we just I honestly, we imagined going into an organization and saying to caseworkers, hey, we'd like to put something else on your plate.

00:05:50:11 - 00:06:09:07
Unknown
So some of these self-care things on your plate, and it's in my mind, it was a revolt to ask people to do more than they're already doing. And so our lens was what are some practices that, first of all, we know work. They're proven. They're research supported. They're not just pie in the sky kind of things do these things.

00:06:09:07 - 00:06:36:05
Unknown
That's great. They were proven. They were things that had a true impact on people's ability to, manage stress, take care of themselves, not just survive this job, but thrive in this job. And so they needed to be impactful. And then the third criteria really was how easy can it be to do something that still has an impact.

00:06:36:07 - 00:07:02:00
Unknown
And you were able to discover practices that met all those criteria that were proven that were impactful and that they were easy. I'm struck by the easy business then, because isn't this supposed to be tough for you? Don't we need to get vulnerable and kind of crawl through glass and climb the mountain to get to the mountaintop and have this epiphany of worth and validation and all that good kind of thing?

00:07:02:02 - 00:07:25:00
Unknown
You mean this could be easier than we think it can be? I mean, some of the research is pretty amazing. Kendall. as we go through these, I mean, I'm kind of blown away by what they've shown, as far as what, not the minimum requirements, but, how little you can do that still has an impact. You can go crazy.

00:07:25:00 - 00:07:47:01
Unknown
I mean, you know, there's people that, you know, work out seven days a week or whatever, and that's fine. The more you do, the the better. I guess up to a point and, you know, most people aren't going to be able to do that. And some people don't even find time to do anything. So this is a pretty good way to make sure you're doing something that's going to support your well-being and your resilience.

00:07:47:03 - 00:08:13:10
Unknown
So let's dive in. Let's dive in. What are those practices. So kind of the first the first one is the practice of gratitude, which I'm going to be really honest with you. When we first started talking about what are the practice is going to be, I thought this was a little fluffy, to be brutally honest with you. but then as I dug into the research, it was amazing.

00:08:13:12 - 00:08:46:04
Unknown
It was truly, truly amazing, to be honest with you. let me ask you a question, Kendall. What's think about the last 24 hours in your life? What's what are three things that you are grateful for just in the last 24 hours? In the last 24 hours, smaller, the smaller, the better. getting to see my son, who's all grown up now and very busy getting to see my son eating homemade from scratch pasta last night.

00:08:46:06 - 00:09:19:16
Unknown
that my wife of 40 years made for us. And then also just waking up this morning and seeing the sun and knowing this was going to be the last day in the 90s for a little while. nice. Hope so. Just that simple practice. So this for this. When I think about the practice of gratitude, it's really a it's about how it's about changing your perspective, changing your perception.

00:09:19:16 - 00:09:40:13
Unknown
What is it that you pay attention to. So just doing that, simply asking that's the practices basically that what are three things. You know, you can say 100 if you 1 to 2, but you don't need to. What are three things that you're grateful for today. And writing it down, remembering somehow reinforces it. But the basis of it is that you're.

00:09:40:15 - 00:10:01:17
Unknown
But if you have that practice, then throughout the day could because you're going to be writing down three, three things you're grateful for. You're shaping your view of the day because because you're going to be looking for things that you're grateful for. And just thinking about those and writing them down has that impact. Yeah. They're really, you know, the brain plasticity.

00:10:01:17 - 00:10:21:15
Unknown
It's a beautiful thing. if you do that, if that's a habit for you, if you are looking for things that you're grateful for, you know, I'm not going to go into all the biological science behind it, but you're actually reshaping your brain, the connections in your brain that makes it easier and easier to see the good things in your life.

00:10:21:17 - 00:10:41:23
Unknown
And, you know, if there's a if you're able to see the good things, if you are able to see more possibilities. and I feel like child welfare, there's there's never enough resources, there's never enough time. We need people that are able to see other possibilities, that are able to see resources and be creative with the things that are out there.

00:10:42:03 - 00:11:13:22
Unknown
And we certainly need optimistic people, to be able to be in this field. And so the research behind this practice just it shows an amazingly strong correlation for such as, I mean, again, going back to the simpleness of it, such a simple activity. I mean, here's what we talk about it in training, but I mean, just keeping writing down three things you're grateful for each day increases your positive emotions, actually reduces symptoms of physical illness.

00:11:13:24 - 00:11:36:04
Unknown
you're more likely to help or support another person if you keep things you're grateful for. You're better at perspective taking. But you think about our work. I mean, it's about being able to see things from a different perspective. You know it. Of course, some of the study say it leads to less burnout, more open to new ideas, greater job satisfaction.

00:11:36:04 - 00:11:58:00
Unknown
It's just a kind of an amazing little thing. And that's going to help your clients and not just you, isn't it? You can walk into the room with a more hopeful and positive approach. Exactly. You show up differently. You show up differently. You're able to do the job better. Yeah. Perfect point. And so we talk about it at the personal level.

00:11:58:00 - 00:12:15:19
Unknown
All of these practices we talk about at a personal level. So you know there's a million beautiful gratitude journals out there. So we talk about that I happened I started with writing it down in a journal. And then I switched to we had a little whiteboard on a refrigerator at home. You know, we're out of eggs, we're out of bread, whatever.

00:12:15:21 - 00:12:35:13
Unknown
And I took it over and wrote at the top. I am grateful for dot, dot, dot. And as it comes up in the day, I don't wait any time as it comes up in the day. You know, I come back from my morning walk and, I love goldfinches and sometimes you see a whole bunch of goldfinches. Yeah, might come back from a walk.

00:12:35:13 - 00:12:55:21
Unknown
And I am grateful for goldfinches. Now you've got then you've got kids. Yeah, I know this for a fact. Do they just roll their eyes at that whiteboard on the refrigerator? Or is this just dad's crazy thing where they bought into it, too? I'm going to tell you that they probably did at the beginning. And over time I've been doing it a long time now.

00:12:55:21 - 00:13:18:03
Unknown
Over time, they add things to it, and even if they didn't candle, they see it, and I don't I don't think you see things that you're grateful for written down and not be impacted by that. I think it's I think it shapes you. How cool. And so, you know, there's lots you know, there's that old dinnertime gratitude practice of everybody goes around and says, what's one thing you're grateful for today?

00:13:18:03 - 00:13:39:15
Unknown
Or, you know, something like that? So all of those different ways to put a spin on it or implement this practice individually. And then at work, you know, I work with organizations and, you know, a many of them have put up a gratitude wall a little bit like that whiteboard kind of thing where, you know, even seeing that your colleague is grateful for something has a positive impact on you.

00:13:39:17 - 00:14:02:18
Unknown
And then, you know, so there's lots of ways that people brainstorm, you know, acknowledging successes and, being grateful for little things. And it's amazing. Some of the little things that you see on those, on those gratitude walls. I remember seeing one, I'm grateful for having a printer that works. and with and, you know, you think about that and you go, yeah, I've had something.

00:14:02:18 - 00:14:28:11
Unknown
I need to print it, and it didn't work. And yeah, I am grateful. but there's one practice that has been, just really unbelievably, impactful in teams that we recommend every time we train or talk about this particular practice. And that is at work starting staff meetings. You know, everybody has a staff meeting every week or every month or whatever start, you know, you can start them every way you want to.

00:14:28:11 - 00:14:47:03
Unknown
And, you know, a lot of people say, well, here's the agenda. And then they go, well, what we suggest is that you start each staff meeting with everyone going around and sharing one. When that they've had since the last time the team was together. Talk about and again talk about perspective. Because what's going to happen in those meetings?

00:14:47:03 - 00:15:10:00
Unknown
Are you coming in talking about I'm dealing with this and I'm struggling with this case and what have you. It it you forget. If that's all you talk about, then you're focusing on everything that's really, really hard in this job. And it is. And it's better and it's helpful. You show up better, you do the job better. If you can balance it by saying, oh, I did have this win last week.

00:15:10:02 - 00:15:36:15
Unknown
I did have this win and hearing from other people too. Again, going back to that optimism, going to going back to that, being able to bounce back, it's it's it's and again how tiny is that one question. How cool. Yeah. What's next. So we've got to get it to rolling. Yeah. And gratitude the second one. And these are in no particular order of importance or any other order can I'll maybe I'll do that someday, but they're not yet.

00:15:36:17 - 00:16:05:21
Unknown
we talk about exercise and I think people know that exercise has powerful physical benefits. and for your health, you know, lots of benefit, benefits for your health. but we've been surprised by the research on how helpful, exercise is on lots of things outside of your your direct physical health. It boosts your mood. The research shows that it's helpful as as helpful as antidepressants.

00:16:05:23 - 00:16:32:22
Unknown
it broadens your thinking. Again, going back to what do we need to do in this job? improves your memory then, you know, people of a certain age. That's helpful. Speak for me. It is, an exercise. This is cool. Exercise trains the brain to believe that your behavior matters. which, again, all that does is, again, it raises your optimism and creates more optimism for you.

00:16:32:22 - 00:16:55:08
Unknown
Now, how much then? Because I think many of us have read various things over the years. Five days a week, three days a week, an hour, 45 minutes. And we start to imagine this vigorous exercise that starts to feel pretty intimidating and then not, you know, not me, I did. So I'm talking for a friend here, a friend.

00:16:55:10 - 00:17:20:09
Unknown
Then what tends to happen is then you just think, oh my God, that's too much and you just don't do it. How much is enough? Well, it's, I love researchers, I gotta say, and they're two, and it's good. Really. I mean, they're doing the research, and especially if you're looking at somebody who's really not doing anything, exercise wise or physically wise, they the newest research candle 15 minutes.

00:17:20:11 - 00:17:40:00
Unknown
And when I say exercise, it's important to recognize to exercise means moving your body. Don't think of it as going to the gym and getting all sweaty and all that kind of stuff. And if that's your thing, go do it. It's good for you. And you and I know plenty of people who say, oh, if that's exercise, I'm out.

00:17:40:02 - 00:18:02:02
Unknown
I'm not right. I'm not going to the gym. and we're not talking about that. It's 15 minutes. Doesn't even have to be at the same time. So there's there's people out there that are having the benefits. I mean, the more you do, the more the benefits. But the benefits start at 15 minutes a day. And so you can do unbelievably simple things.

00:18:02:02 - 00:18:22:15
Unknown
I mean, you can park your car farther away from the office door than you normally do. You don't have to park up front. Now. You're right. There you go. There's four minutes done. gardening. It's about moving your body. It's not about going to the gym. It's not about running or anything. All those are fine. Do them. And if you don't do anything, gardening counts.

00:18:22:17 - 00:18:44:11
Unknown
Vigorous vacuuming counts. and my home is available for people who like to do that. but again, if you go to a gym, great. But if you detest that idea, you're not going to ever do that. Don't give up on exercise. Exercise, because it can be as simple as that. and we talk about then how do we implement that at work?

00:18:44:11 - 00:19:24:24
Unknown
And lots of really, truly simple ways to do it at work. But here's why. There's this beautiful study from England who they asked workers to report which aspects of their job performance. Job performance improved on the days that they exercised. so on the days that they exercised, here's what the reports were 41% greater motivation, 21% better able to concentrate, 72% better time management, 27% ability to deal with stress, greater ability to deal with stress, 22% greater ability to meet deadlines.

00:19:25:01 - 00:19:41:20
Unknown
That's our job. All those things are our jobs. How do we handle stress? How do we get things done? How do we focus? you know, a lot of people quit this job because of the demands of the paperwork, and they just can't get it done. And it over time, it just they can hear, they can't do it anymore.

00:19:41:23 - 00:20:00:12
Unknown
And so they leave to to go somewhere where there's not so much paperwork. So this actually impacts. And you know, I've seen this I do all of these practices. And the days that I exercise in the morning, it's not the study wasn't based on that. But the days that I exercise in the morning, all of those things play out for me.

00:20:00:14 - 00:20:28:07
Unknown
I'm more productive. I'm more focused. I'm I think, better. Everything is better. So there can be things like taking the stairs instead of the elevator. I've heard you speak before about the benefits of if a supervisor, an employee, want to have a, you know, a ten minute conversation, why not do it through a walk, Kind of that we, you know, we don't, you know, we don't want to say, here's how you do this week, right?

00:20:28:09 - 00:20:51:01
Unknown
That's. No, but that's not a good idea for anybody. So what we say is here's the benefits. here's some ways that people implemented at work or try to get some movement, the body movement at work. What are your ideas? And the one thing we do share automatically is you have to do supervision. in this in this job, there's going to be supervision weekly, whatever it is.

00:20:51:03 - 00:21:15:19
Unknown
I just don't see why you ever do supervision when you're not walking. You know, your brain works better. You're thinking better for it's a it's just a better. It's going to be better. educationally and supportive and everything. And, and you get the physical piece of it too. So, so things like that. People are starting, you know, lunch, walking at lunch clubs, all those kind of things.

00:21:15:21 - 00:21:35:12
Unknown
Somebody gave me the idea that they talked about it at their workplace, and they decided to move the printer up to another floor so that at least on that floor, you had to go up a couple floors and I go, oh, I can do you know, my age, I print everything which drives my 18 year old daughter crazy.

00:21:35:12 - 00:21:54:04
Unknown
I print everything chair. And I recognize you don't have to and I so I heard that idea and I go, oh shit. And so I took my printer and moved it in the basement. And so every time I print, I can do a lot of times during the day I have to go down two flights of stairs, get when I print it and come back up two flights of stairs.

00:21:54:04 - 00:22:16:14
Unknown
Boom. So it's those pieces, so little tiny pieces. And again, if you think about doing those tiny things, you know, all day long at work and maybe going home and gardening or taking a walk with the dog or whatever, you're doing it and you're going to see those benefits. And if you're starting from I don't do anything, you're you're really going to see some impact.

00:22:16:16 - 00:22:52:19
Unknown
These can make a big difference. So we've got gratitude. We've got exercise. What more can we do in that. We talk about the practice of mindfulness. and we initially and wording is so important. We initially called it meditation because much of the research is done on meditation and it's powerful. And so we wanted to advocate for some practice of meditation are tons of different ways to do it, but as we heard and talked about it, many people too, too many people, a lot of people said their first reaction to talking about meditation was, yeah, I tried that.

00:22:52:19 - 00:23:25:08
Unknown
I can't do it right. I cannot do it. that we had to really kind of take a look at it. And what we realized was, there's a we look deeper and deeper into the research and the correlation between meditation and mindfulness. And actually it's very, very similar. Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique such as mindfulness, or focusing, focusing on a particular object or thought or activity to train your attention and awareness.

00:23:25:10 - 00:23:51:22
Unknown
And what that does is, you know, clears your mind and, you know, it stabilizes emotions. Those kind of things, by focusing on one thing. Well, that's the definition of mindfulness. it is it can be mindfulness can be practiced at any time. Wherever you are, whoever you're with, whatever you're doing, by just showing up and being fully engaged in the here and now and again.

00:23:51:22 - 00:24:14:14
Unknown
I don't know how simple that sounds, but I, you know, working in this field with it, we're pretty bad at just focusing on one things. We're we're the kings and queens of multitasking. and so when you talk about just doing one thing at a time, you got to get past that whole mindset of, oh, I have to do multitasking or I won't get anything done.

00:24:14:16 - 00:24:45:01
Unknown
But the research proves just the opposite, and we do it in a different ways, don't we? You know, I used to react to some of this self-help advice by thinking, you know, this is all fine. And meditation, mindfulness and all that. But I just don't like scented candles and I don't. I have trouble with my knees sitting down and crossing my legs like I've never said, you know, but then sometimes I'll be at night and I'll be in the house.

00:24:45:03 - 00:25:08:10
Unknown
Sometimes I'll sit down. Sometimes without knowing it, I'll start to pace around the house. And what I'm doing down is I'm processing my day and kind of coming to peace with everything that I confronted and getting myself in my own little way towards that place where when I'm at peace and I'm kind of ready for the next thing, and I feel kind of whole and connected to the world in my own little way.

00:25:08:10 - 00:25:37:12
Unknown
And when my wife sees me walking around like that, she jumps up and says, you're stewing. You're stewing again. I think that's how I do mindfulness down in my case here is that one way to do it. If you're not thinking about everything in the world going on, then that's a practice of mindfulness. Yeah. And again it it is simple and it's not easy in the world we live in and in the job, you know, human service jobs or child welfare jobs.

00:25:37:14 - 00:26:02:23
Unknown
but it has amazing benefits. You know, it has it has all the emotional benefits, all those things that you always hear about. But it has mindfulness has physical benefits. It impacts blood pressure positively. It reduces anxiety and depression. It reduces cholesterol. A regular practice of my in one study shows that I never knew about the physical piece.

00:26:02:23 - 00:26:37:02
Unknown
I knew I practiced meditation, and have for a long time, and I know the impact it has on calmness and all that kind of thing. so again, what we really center on in the training is and there's a theme actually, and that is take a break, take a short break. And the studies are so clear. I mean, I ask every group I've ever I get in front of nowaday and nowadays and I have for the last couple years, I said, all right, how many of you just eat lunch, not checking emails while you're eating lunch?

00:26:37:02 - 00:26:58:19
Unknown
Not blah blah blah, just eating lunch. and you can, you can imagine almost no one does that. No one. And again, I think it has to do with the pace of the job. And, oh, I got to do two things at once or I'll never get it all done. And I understand that belief personally. And the research just blows that up.

00:26:58:21 - 00:27:19:13
Unknown
You will be more productive. You will get more done, you will think better. You will show up better if you take breaks and they don't. And again, so if you take 30 minutes for lunch and you're thinking, oh my God, oh my God, I need that 30 minutes to get this shit done. the reality is, but at the end of the day, you'll be more productive.

00:27:19:13 - 00:27:43:16
Unknown
You get more done by taking that lunch break. And so we talk about ideas and we get ideas from other people. There's, deep breathing, which is just concentrating on one thing at a time, which is your breath. five deep breaths before meeting starts. A lot are starting to do that. And what? And watch what happens. You show up differently.

00:27:43:18 - 00:28:11:13
Unknown
a small when we advocate for is is having 15 minute zoom meetings rather than 60. But a lot of people listening to this right now kind of go from meeting to meeting to meeting to meeting. Absolutely. And you and everyone knows you can just feel your abilities, your your awareness, everything you it wears you down. It wears you down at five minute break.

00:28:11:13 - 00:28:35:07
Unknown
A ten minute break between meetings will allow you to come back and show up better, think better and react to stress better. so I mean, we advocate for tech for doing one thing at a time. There's a interesting one that's kind of really change something. For me, talking to training somebody, you know, we're talking about this just mindfulness and focusing on one thing at a time.

00:28:35:07 - 00:29:00:13
Unknown
And this lady said, wow, I just realized I love nothing more at home. When I get home in making dinner, chopping vegetables, that's I just that's I love it. I now that we talk about this, I recognize how it calms me down. And that's all I'm doing is chopping vegetables. And I saw the look on your face as you're sharing that candle, and I've, you should see me now in the kitchen.

00:29:00:13 - 00:29:29:05
Unknown
I love it, it really does. It's one thing at a time. It's focusing on one thing at a time. Whatever that is for you. Simple, but not easy. So gratitude, exercise, mindfulness. What's next? Kendall Martin Seligman is a psychologist, American psychologist who's the founder of the positive psychology movement. That's what I read as well. And this is why.

00:29:29:07 - 00:29:56:03
Unknown
Or this is the beginning of thinking about including this particular practice, he says. Doing an act of kindness produces the single most reliable, momentary increase in well-being of any exercise that has been tested. Find one wholly unexpected, kind thing to do tomorrow and just do it. And then notice what happens to your mood. That's where it came from.

00:29:56:03 - 00:30:22:01
Unknown
And I got to be honest with you, can't I? I mean, I do all these practices. I mean, I have a hard time talking, talking about trying things out. If I'm not doing them. I do all these practices. They're habits for me now. It's it's an everyday kind of thing. and I've seen for me, I've seen for me that when I'm in a stressed place, which, everyone is at some time or another, acts of kindness, this is the one that makes the most difference for me.

00:30:22:03 - 00:30:39:09
Unknown
It just. And I I've tried to analyze it and think about it. I think it just it takes you out of yourself and put you out there with somebody else. and the benefits of being kind again, it's one of those things that you go, well, yeah, you know who isn't kind? Well, okay. But listen to some of the research.

00:30:39:11 - 00:31:12:24
Unknown
Witnessing acts of kindness produces oxytocin. Oxytocin in the in the body which lowers blood pressure and improves overall heart health. Kindness increases one's energy levels as well. As a lot of people know this, that phenomenon called helper's high, which is the brain's pleasure and reward centers lighting up when the person is doing a good deed. so you get, you know, you're getting high, basically, you're doing an act of kindness deepens the amount of social support that the giver feels.

00:31:13:01 - 00:31:30:21
Unknown
Now, of course, the recipient feels good about it, but it deepens the amount of social support that the giver feels by doing an act of kindness. and I mean, you know, I know at work, I mean, I'm surprised at my, you know, I'm oh, man, I've been doing this a long time, and I it's funny. I got good timing.

00:31:31:01 - 00:31:55:03
Unknown
I got an email today from someone, just one sentence telling me how much she appreciated how I showed up in a meeting yesterday. and Kendall, you smiled when I told you that I. I'm sorry, but that made my day. Sure did everything. It shifts everything. And so that's that's more. And you know, that's an act of kindness and that's what we kind of talk about.

00:31:55:05 - 00:32:21:00
Unknown
Do you? You know what do you say. Thank you. And the giving as well as the receiving. That's what's interesting to me is that these benefits come to the person, and you're not necessarily, you know, rescuing someone from a hurricane or climbing a mountain to rescue a climber who is stranded. Simple things like that. Email to a buddy at work saying thank you for what you did at that meeting.

00:32:21:02 - 00:32:45:16
Unknown
Yeah. Treating people as if, yeah, it's your job. It doesn't support people. You need you need to acknowledge that they could be doing something else, and they're doing this really hard job. and this is how this whole, like, this practice of kindness, connects with the culture piece, being kind is contagious. I mean, the research shows that that, people.

00:32:45:18 - 00:33:17:17
Unknown
Stanford. That's a real place. Stanford University found that acts of kindness make others significantly more likely to pay it forward. So, I mean, it kind of kind of spreads like a virus. And I've been in organizations where that is the culture. We do kind things for each other big. And, I take that back small things and they but but it's a culture and it's appreciated and it has an impact and the last thing I'll say about this practice candle and I mean it sincerely and I think people understand it.

00:33:17:19 - 00:33:42:18
Unknown
has there ever been a better time than right now in this world to, to practice or have a habit of a practice of kindness? I don't think so. I think if you're going to do, do something new, that practice of kindness would be helpful right now. This might be our moment. So we've got gratitude exercise, mindfulness, acts of kindness.

00:33:42:20 - 00:34:04:01
Unknown
And our first practice is, let's do a little bit candle. Do you remember that? Oh, gosh. It's been a couple of years now, but there's some kind of pandemic going on. Remember the man that vaguely recall that? Yeah, we had to, you know, eventually it was bad enough that we had to really stay home and not, you know, you need to stay away from people, right?

00:34:04:01 - 00:34:30:08
Unknown
For our our lives were utterly transformed. And I'm a people person. I feed off of other people's energy and all that was taken away. What's that? So at some point it was said, okay, it's okay, it's safe now. And what's the first thing you did? Went and saw people. Went and saw people. There's no other answer I've ever gotten from anybody.

00:34:30:10 - 00:34:56:22
Unknown
It's where Bill, humans are built for connection. The reason we're still surviving is that we were built for connection. And so when you take that away, things don't work very well. And so here's that, here's how it plays out. But I want to talk about it, this work, research and then some personal research around, social connections and how important they are.

00:34:56:24 - 00:35:22:13
Unknown
The one is there's there's an extremely strong correlation between social social support and performance during times of challenge. and, you know. Right. I mean, logically, you say, yeah, if I feel like I'm all on my own and I'm facing these kind of decisions and work that I have to do in this, in child welfare. yeah. If I'm all alone, it's really, really hard.

00:35:22:15 - 00:35:50:03
Unknown
If I feel like my supervisor has my back, my team has my back. I'm not in this to get alone. yeah, I can handle that better. It just makes sense. And they've proven it. And then the second thing, which again, I, I guess I sometimes research blows me away. Kendall. Social support is equally predict of how long you're going to live, as is smoking high blood pressure and obesity.

00:35:50:05 - 00:36:09:19
Unknown
Wow. So you can, you know, take care of all those other things if you want. But if you're sitting if you don't have social connections, and I think some of us really know some people like this, that impacts how long you're going to live. We need it. We need it, Kendall. And so in in the training at work, we we really talk about several things.

00:36:09:19 - 00:36:37:17
Unknown
One, the importance of onboarding. carefully, let's say, sure, that we take it extremely seriously so that new people are, are truly welcomed and feel like they belong and feel like they're connected to the rest of the organization. the rest of their team, for sure. And if you're not careful what onboarding can look like in some places that I've seen anyway is, here's a lot of forms that you need to fill out.

00:36:37:23 - 00:36:59:09
Unknown
And then here's two, video courses that you have to take. And, and, and you're generally set off into a room on your own to fill the forms out to it. Yes. And I understand that, you know, the things you have to do. I get that. And so what we just talk about is let's really take a look at onboarding and how can we make a connection to this person and to them to the organization right away.

00:36:59:11 - 00:37:32:03
Unknown
And then we talk about teams need this teams. Organizations need to spend time together connecting at the whole person level. People are people who have a work life, but they have a whole nother, piece of who they are. And making sure that we're connecting to the whole person. And I mean, you know, you know how it feels in a meeting when when there's some chit chat beforehand and people are talking about what happened with their kids or what they did over the weekend, just that.

00:37:32:04 - 00:37:55:20
Unknown
Yeah, just that connection. If what when that meeting then starts, you can tell the difference when that when you've had that chit chat and when you have it and you're just digging in, it feels totally different and you're collaborating differently. You're hearing things differently because you've made that connection. So the last thing about this is that with the whole virtual thing, it makes it harder.

00:37:55:22 - 00:38:30:08
Unknown
It absolutely makes it harder. Connecting harder. And many, many, many teams have overcome that. It takes intentionality about it. You just have to be intentional about it. And you can do it whether you're virtual or whatever you're setting is. How about that? Everybody? Gratitude. Exercise. Mindfulness. Acts of kindness and deepening social connections. Practical, simple things and and powerful and powerful.

00:38:30:10 - 00:38:54:18
Unknown
Powerful and impactful. And it doesn't have to be hard. And we can start with the smaller steps, the more achievable goal literally steps up that flight of stairs to go to the printer. Exactly, exactly. Then thank you for making us all a little wiser, a little bit more resilient today. Shall we meet again next month? Yeah, I really want to talk.

00:38:54:18 - 00:39:16:15
Unknown
I, I really want to talk about the power of that culture piece and how it does or doesn't support the resilience and wellness of the people who work there. It's critical. Yeah. And again, all three of these drivers have to be in play. or you're just not going to get the outcomes that you're looking for. The individual practices and and shaping the culture and leadership.

00:39:16:15 - 00:39:42:00
Unknown
So to our listeners, join us again each month for this series with Dan. Our next conversation will explore how organizational culture shapes us, and then how we can reshape that culture for the benefit of both our workforce and our clients. Thank you Dan. Thank you Kendall. Thank you. This is important. Join us each month, listeners. We look forward to it.

00:39:42:00 - 00:39:51:22
Unknown
Dan and I look forward to being with you next time. This has been Radio Kempe.

00:39:51:24 - 00:40:05:11
Unknown
Thank you for listening to Radio Kempe. Stay connected by visiting our website at Camp center.org and follow us on social media.