Leadership

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Sparking Innovation in Workplace Well-Being - Lessons Learned from the Google Sponsored John E. Martin Mental Health Challenge: Interview with Michael Martin | Ep 11

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Sparking Innovation in Workplace Well-Being - Lessons Learned from the Google Sponsored John E. Martin Mental Health Challenge: Interview with Michael Martin | Ep 11

Impact entrepreneurship (aka “social entrepreneurship”) happens when we bring together the mission and heart of a charity model of change and the efficiencies and accountability of a business model. In “Corporate Social Responsibility” models, the main focus is often still profit, but in impact entrepreneurship the “profit” is sustainable impact for the common good.

In this episode, I chat with Michael Martin, Google’s APAC Energy, Infrastructure & Sustainability Data Center Portfolio Manager and the Founder - John E. Martin Fellowship & Mental Healthcare Challenge. Michael shares his lessons learned in sparking innovation in workplace mental health with national social enterprise-style innovation challenges among some of our brightest groups of students.

Here are his three tips:

1.    Vulnerability = courage.

2.    We don't fail, we learn.

3.    Catch people doing good things.

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SPECIAL EPISODE from the International Association for Suicide Prevention: Work-Related Suicide -- How Do We Define and Measure?: Interview with Jorgen Gullestrup & Prof Sarah Waters | Ep 10

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International researchers and advocates from the International Association for Suicide Prevention’s Workplace Special Interest Group are working on a BIG idea.


What do we do when work kills?


How do we — as a global community — take urgent action in order to define, recognize, investigate and prevent work-related suicide?


What are “work-related suicide” deaths? Suicide deaths that are caused in part or in whole by work-related factors.


The IASP Workplace special interest group has highlighted the need to move the workplace focus in suicide prevention from seeing the workplace as simply the venue where interventions can occur but also a place and a connection that interacts with individuals’ suicidal intensity.  What happens when there is a causal link between workplace and suicidal intensity is it enough just to identify individuals and treat or should the workplace itself be treated.  This podcast episode discusses the suicide prevention benefits of acknowledging suicide as a potential consequence of psychosocial hazards in the workplace.


While the workplace can offer a sense of purpose and belonging when working well, it can also be a place fraught with psychosocial hazards that increase distress and despair than can lead to suicide. Research shows that exposure to psychosocial job stressors including lack of autonomy, lack of variety, effort-reward imbalance, bullying and discrimination at work are linked to an elevated risk of suicidal behavior.


Historically, governments and employers have largely attributed suicide risk to personal and medical issues, but with this emerging research we must also acknowledge the workplace contribution. In this podcast I speak with world thought leaders Jorgen Gullestrup of Australia and Prof Sarah Waters of the UK about this paradigm shift and our need to define, measure and regulate suicide deaths related to work.


About Jorgen Gullestrup

Starting his career in the construction industry, Jorgen saw first-hand the impact of suicide on the workers, their families and friends. He also experienced suicide intensity first hand and decided to take action.


Jorgen founded the MATES in Construction program and within the first five years saw an 8% reduction in Queensland construction industry suicide rates was achieved.

Jorgen holds is Masters in Suicidology and was recently named the winner of the 14th Annual LiFE Award in 2018, recognizing excellence in suicide prevention. He serves as the Co-Chair for the International Association for Suicide Prevention’s Workplace Special Interest Group.


About Prof Sarah Waters

Sarah Waters is Professor of French Studies at the University of Leeds, UK. Her research focuses on work-related suicide in France and across the international stage and seeks to understand the complex connections that link contemporary working conditions with the extreme and subjective act of suicide. Her book, Suicide Voices. Labour Trauma in France was published by Liverpool University Press in September 2020.

In her book, Sarah examines testimonial material linked to 66 suicide cases across three large French corporations. She examines ‘suicide voices’ considering how workers themselves describe the circumstances that led them to such desperate extremes in the letters, emails and recordings they leave behind. Why at the present historical juncture do conditions of work push some individuals to take their own lives? What can suicide letters tell us about the contemporary economic order and its impact on flesh and blood bodies? How do suicidal individuals describe the causes and motivations of their act?

Alongside her research, Sarah actively campaigns to improve workplace legislation in order to recognise and monitor work-related suicides. She is part of the trade union Hazards campaign in the UK that lobbies the Health and Safety Executive

She lives in Leeds and is a mother of two teenage boys.


Show Notes

WORK RELATED SUICIDE OVERVIEW: https://research.iscrr.com.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/297147/Work-related-fatalities-Overview-of-work-related-suicide.pdf

https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/books/id/53177/

http://www.hazards.org/suicide/suicidenote.htm

http://www.hazards.org/suicide/suicidalwork.htm

https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=core_ac_uk__::50394fbea95b8d9643610cf2b5d43dae

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/11/capitalisms-victims/

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Beyond Paychecks and Performance -- How Leaders Can Cultivate a Spirit-Infused Workplace: Interview with Robin Szeliga | Ep 9

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Beyond Paychecks and Performance -- How Leaders Can Cultivate a Spirit-Infused Workplace: Interview with Robin Szeliga | Ep 9

For many, fostering well-being at the workplace historically equated to fitness or weight loss challenges. More recently, many companies have been integrating emotional well-being into their benefits programs by augmenting their mental health support offerings. However, what is often left out of these conversations is the spiritual component of workplace well-being.

Some people may bristle at this notion, thinking all we mean is religiosity at work. Spirituality is related to religion for many, and for others it also means finding meaning, value and inspiration beyond ourselves. How spiritual experiences like these show up at work can really make a difference in one’s satisfaction and happiness.

When we have a “spirit-infused workplace” our souls are nurtured, we have a sense of purpose, and we want to better our society and the world we live in. In this interview I speak with long-time friend Robin Szeliga. Robin has been studying the role of consciousness and self-awareness in leadership and how a richer inner life landscape can help transform a workplace that holds deep meaning and connection for its workforce.

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The Wounded Leader -- How Unresolved Trauma Impacts Executive Performance: Interview with Corey Jones | Ep 8

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The Wounded Leader -- How Unresolved Trauma Impacts Executive Performance: Interview with Corey Jones | Ep 8

Behind the masks of many of our most impactful leaders there is often a story

– a story of childhood trauma.

While the psychological insights of resilient childhood trauma survivors give them deep emotional intelligence into what makes other people do the things they do, many of these leaders do not talk about their trauma experiences.

What we know about unresolved childhood trauma is that it often has long-term lingering effects. As trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk says, “The Body Keeps the Score.” In other words, the terror and isolation that exists for many children at the core of their trauma significantly impacts the brain in a way that the effects show up later in life as intense anxiety, numbing, and rage.

One of the most important challenges for leaders who are healing from trauma is gaining the skills to regulate the emotions often hijack a traumatized brain. In this podcast, I interview the inspiring leader and trauma survivor Corey Jones. He shares these important actionable take-aways.

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The 6 "A"s of Advancing a Caring Culture at Work: Interview with Julius Rhodes | Ep 6

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The 6 "A"s of Advancing a Caring Culture at Work: Interview with Julius Rhodes | Ep 6

A when leaders are their authentic selves, they allow others to see more clearly their own self-identity. Isolating and concealing your true identity is exhausting – and wears on your well-being. When leaders are authentic and model their vulnerability through humility, they become more trustworthy. By building trust, they create psychologically safe teams.

In this podcast I speak with HR professional Julius Rhodes and how we can help drive a caring work culture.

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Reclaim Your Moxie -- Workplace Supported Recovery for People Living with Addictive Behaviors: Interview with Dana Piscopo | Ep 5

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Reclaim Your Moxie -- Workplace Supported Recovery for People Living with Addictive Behaviors: Interview with Dana Piscopo | Ep 5

Unaddressed or under-addressed substance use disorders and addictive behaviors result in costly and risky outcomes at work. Most people living with substance use challenges are able to “function” at work, but according to an article published by Harvard Medical School[1], workplaces experiences $81 billion in lost profits due to addictive behaviors. These losses are connected to increases in absenteeism, sick time and turnover and decreases in productivity and quality of work. Furthermore, alcohol and drug use contribute to work-related injuries and fatalities increase both by impairment while working and also the short-term cognitive problems that linger after a heavy night of drinking.

In this episode, I speak with Dana Piscopo of Oracle, a woman in long-term recovery who is advocating for workplace-based peer support for people living with substance use disorders.