Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Lt. Brian Ellis, host of the Badge Cast 1 podcast. Badge Cast 1 is a production of the National Command and Staff College, an organization dedicated to providing leadership training to public safety professionals.
Are you home and feeling alone? Are you home and wishing you could be alone for even a few minutes? The Covid-19 virus has caused many organizations to move large numbers of employees from working together at the office to working remotely at home. For other organizations, it has meant temporarily shutting its doors and having to furlough workers or let employees go. Unless you are an “essential worker,” gone is the time you spent interacting with strangers, colleagues and friends as you commuted to work, ducked out to grab a meal or run an errand, and did your job. Gone is the time you spent socializing with friends at a sporting event or volunteering alongside others in the community.
In this recent episode of SHRM’s “All Things Work” podcast, Katie Stallard and I spoke with host Tony Lee about the isolating nature of remote work and solutions employees can take to stay well during this time of social distancing.
I hope you’ll listen and share the podcast with a friend or colleague as we all work together to stay connected. Click here to listen to the podcast episode.
The novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the need for social distancing, quarantine and isolation so that vulnerable individuals are not exposed to the virus and healthcare systems are not overwhelmed. Collectively, we understand the goodness of “flattening the curve” by each of us doing our part to slow the spread of the virus. COVID-19 is not the only epidemic we are facing.
“Michael Stallard Interviews with Pat Farnack on Ways to Connect”
by WCBS Newsradio 880
With the exception of America, suicide rates over recent decades have declined in most of the world. Suicides in the U.S. have risen more than 50% from 2005 to 2017 and now exceed deaths by motor vehicle incidents. In 2017, the most recent year data is available, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported 10.6 million people seriously considered suicide, 1.4 million attempted suicide and 47,000 committed suicide.
“A company is stronger if bound by love than by fear,” the late Herb Kelleher, co-founder, CEO and Chairman of Southwest Airlines, once said. When Kip Tindell, retired co-founder and Chairman of The Container Store, first heard Kelleher’s bold declaration more than 40 years ago he was, in his own words, “completely taken by it.” In Tindell’s book, Uncontainable, he describes how he and his leadership team went on to shape The Container Store’s “employee first” culture in ways that reflect love. He credits the company’s culture for its success.
“The level of toxicity in the workplace is at an all-time high,” warns Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Society for Human Resource Management (“SHRM”). Taylor’s organization recently set up a pop-up coffee house in the middle of the Oculus at the World Trade Center complex in New York City to bring attention to the issue and its new report titled “The High Cost of a Toxic Workplace Culture: How Culture Impacts the Workforce—and The Bottom Line.”
If you want to boost employee engagement, consider going back to the basics. Begin by answering this question: What promises should I make to the people I am responsible for leading?
Loneliness is a growing problem in U.S. society, but fortunately it is one that is beginning to receive the attention that it deserves. I had the privilege of contributing comments to a recent article published by SmartBrief, which explored the impact of loneliness and how organizations can address it.
Read the full article and consider what steps you can take to address the problem of loneliness in your community.
I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Pat Farnack, longtime radio host on WCBS Newsradio 880 in New York City. In our conversation, we talked about the toll that lack of connection takes on our lives, why it is important to slow down and connect, and practical ways to increase connection at home and at work.
Listen to the full interview below.