The Power of the Pause with Ruthann Weeks

The Power of the Pause with Ruthann Weeks

Kelly Kennedy: Welcome to milestone episode 90 of the business development podcast. And on today's expert guest interview, we have founder of harmony in the workplace. Ruthann Weeks. We are talking diversity, inclusion, and mental health. Stick with us. This is an amazing episode. Stay tuned.

Intro: The Great Mark Cuban once said business happens over years and years value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal. And we couldn't agree more. This is the business development podcast based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world.

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Let's do it. Welcome to the Business Development Podcast. And now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy: Hello, welcome to episode 90 of the business development podcast. And today we're graced with an amazing founder, Ruthann Weeks. Ruthann Weeks is a people and culture strategist and the founder of Harmony in the Workplace. She is a change agent whose efforts have helped to bring the importance of abuse free work environment to the forefront of public awareness.

She is an author and gifted keynote speaker who delivers powerful messages about today's workplace challenges. Working as a certified resource specialist in the human services sector, Ruthann went on to graduate as a human resource manager. She is a certified psychological health and safety advisor and specializes in leadership, development, people and culture, diversity and inclusion, workplace bullying, sexual harassment, domestic violence and mental health in the workplace.

Ruthann, that's amazing. Welcome to the show.

Ruthann Weeks: Thanks for having me, Kelly. I'm really grateful to be here.

Kelly Kennedy: Oh, goodness. I am grateful to have you. You know, the listeners don't know this. We ran into a bit of a hiccup. I was late, and I apologize deeply. Thank you for continuing on regardless. I appreciate it.

Ruthann Weeks: No, my pleasure. And, you know, that's a really good segue into the type of work that I do. It's really holding place and space for people to be human and make mistakes. And, you know, To not let that blow up our day, right?

Kelly Kennedy: Totally. Totally. Yeah, it's a, you know what I mean? And I feel embarrassed a little bit.

I'll be honest with you. I this is the first show that I've ever ran into a challenge of missing. And yeah, I'll be honest. I'm a little bit embarrassed on myself today.

Ruthann Weeks: Oh, please don't be, because this is, this is a learning environment, right? This this whole journey is a learning, learning journey.

And yeah, that must mean that we have really something really important to talk about that people want to hear.

Kelly Kennedy: I think it might be. I think it might be. You know, the reality is we're all human, but I'll tell you what, it doesn't hurt any less when we make mistakes, does it?

Ruthann Weeks: It sure doesn't, especially you know, a lot of us are really hard on ourselves, right?

And I think sometimes that's one of the best things that people, leading people can do is kind of just stop and, Consider they're probably beating themselves up way worse than you want to right now, so maybe dial it back a bit. It's just a perspective shift, right?

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, it is. You know what I mean?

Going through, you know, I've had some challenges in my life where I just buried it compartmentalized and trucked on. And I'm sure if people would have known what I was dealing with at that moment, they would have been shocked. But You know, that's it. We just don't know. Do we know?

Ruthann Weeks: You know, it's a human journey.

And I talk a lot about the power of the pause. And you know, I know we're kind of jumping right into tools, but that's that's my passion is to really help people in practical ways to implement strategies that are simple, but not done without intention. And one of the things I talk about is the power of the pause.

And when we are able to Utilize our locus of control. We all have one. And really just be a responder versus a reactor. When we react initially without pausing to consider our own response, we're reenacting. either what's been modeled to us in the past or the way that we've reacted in the past. And often we have things to learn from that.

And sometimes what will happen is when we do that and we react without pausing to consider things we will do something we may regret. We may do something that actually goes against our stated beliefs and values because of unconscious bias. And so I talk about the power of the pause, really just taking that pause to consider what is it we don't know about the situation that we're making assumptions about?

What is it that this person might be going through that we don't know about or haven't considered? And I've found that, you know, it's, it's really helpful to, Just assume that people are doing the best they can from where they are at their current level of awareness. And, you know, that person that cut you off in traffic, they may have just lost their job.

You have no idea what they're going through. You know, that checkout clerk that may not be giving the very best customer service. She may have just found out she's pregnant. We just. Don't know but when we make that that time and space, like I said, to just consider and be trauma informed, even it can really change our relationships.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes. Yes. And I know that when you came by our booth that's where we, we had the pleasure of first meeting. I had a booth at at a recent Edmonton chamber of commerce expo at Roger's place. It was amazing. We had a such a great time, but Ruthann came by the booth and we were chatting about what she's doing and, and, and essentially workplace harassment and challenges like that.

And I was like, Ruthanne, you got to come on the show because this is something we have not had a chance to talk about. I think it's really important. And I know we reached out to briefly that you have a story behind it, but I would really love it if you would take us down to the beginning of your career.

You know what? Tell us about the steps that have led you to where you are today.

Ruthann Weeks: Wow. That's a, that's a loaded question, Kelly. But I think part of the reason that I have an edge, a competitive edge, let's call it. I mean, this is a business podcast is that I do have a varied career path. I am a bit of a late bloomer in that I didn't start my formal education until I was late in my thirties.

And you know, so up until then, I mean, I always worked, I moved out of my parents home when I was 19 years old. I always supported myself. I worked largely in administrative roles. I mean, I've done so much. I was working as a A bookkeeper early on in my career and I had a wonderful mentor and it was for small business and it was, you know, one of the clients that he had was a bakery and, you know, there were times that I would be called and, and being just part of a small team, I would go in.

At 5 a. m. and be helping to make bread, you know, and so it's just really interesting how my career path has gone and I do believe that it has helped. I mean, I sold heavy equipment parts for 2 years. I've worked in materials and manufacturing. I worked in human service roles for many years most recently.

So I think I'll start where. Where I kind of got into facilitation and helping to help others learn and grow. And you know, one of the best things about facilitation is when you're doing it, you're in it all the time. You're also keeping those skills top of mind for yourself. Right. So how I got involved in.

Facilitation was when my son was young and I had stepped back from my administrative career to stay at home with him. My husband was our sole income earner at that time and he was, my son was a toddler and we wanted to bring a mama taught gym time to our community. So they needed someone to run it.

I mean, this is really casual work, four hours a week. It's hard to get people. So I stepped up and I started facilitating. And then of course, because you know, little kids aren't really my jam, if they're not mine. I, as he transitioned and grew out of that age stage, I continued to work with that organization, but I learned how to facilitate parenting programs.

And one of the programs that we did was called Kids Have Stress Too another one was Parenting Partners. And. I really learned a lot about things that I still apply to my life and business. And again, you know, when you're in that and you're in those roles, it keeps those skills top of mind for yourself as well, but it naturally just progressed.

I ended up that was, of course, in the nonprofit sector that I was. Working, building relationships. Anytime we have opportunity, it's because of relationships we have, right? And that network that we build. So it just progressed. I ended up getting an offer to oversee a program in information and referral in Sturgeon County, where I live in Alberta, and You know, I did that role for almost five years and really loved the work.

I loved what I was doing. I loved helping people with their problems. It would be anywhere from, you know, someone coming into my office that is new to town, looking for an electrician, for example, to a single mom, well, a mother that had just left. Her abusive spouse, she's got her three kids in the car, she's running out of gas, she has no, no food, and she's not sure what she's going to do, where she's going to even spend the night.

So it's really just helping to de escalate some of those Sometimes high stress situations help that individual come up with a plan, make sure they know about all the resources that are available to them you know, to potentially help them in their situation. And so I just, I really learned a lot during that time.

And, and to say during that time, I was. Doing a lot of professional development. I was going you know, taking classes part time and working on my human resource management education. While this was all going on, but I just learned so much about. People and the problems people have and the gaps in services that don't exist to help people deal with their problems.

And these are not uncommon things, but they're things that. We just don't really notice unless we're in it. And so I think all of that has been really beneficial to helping to get me into into my present role and that place where I worked. And, you know, I loved the work that I was doing. I love the people that I worked with.

But once I. You know, finalize my education and got that credential. And it was a very small organization. I wasn't feeling challenged anymore. And I just really felt that my wings were touching the walls and I needed an opportunity to take my new skills, gifts, talents, and abilities somewhere else. where I could be challenged and still continue to do good work in the world.

So, I very strategically took my time, researched different opportunities. I continued to look in the non profit sector because you know, as a Certified Information Referral Specialist, that was you know, something that, that helped in that sector. And I carefully chose to take a position with an or a larger organization in a middle management role, which would have been the next sort of natural career progression.

However, what I experienced in that organization. Really shook up my career and life because it wasn't very long before I knew it was a bad fit. I was really struggling to fit in and I, I had a team. There were three directors in that organization and I had a team under me and my team and I, I mean, we got along great.

They. Bought into the vision that I had for the department. There had been a lot of restructuring within the organization. And I found out my first day on the job that the executive director who hired me would also be retiring. There's a lot of retirements happening and restructuring within that organization.

And I had a peer director, one of the three I'm not being ageist, I'm, I'm being conscious and I'm not being, I don't intend to be ageist by this, but she was 70 years old. She'd been with the organization for about 10 years and she decided that she would stay air quotes for the good of the organization.

And what that turned out to be was that so nothing would change, everything would remain the same. And she never took the time to get to know me. She made lots of assumptions about me, and What I found out later, three months later, when I got fired from that job, having done nothing to deserve it was that she had the ear of the executive director and they've been talking and, you know, she would take things that I would say out of context.

For example, I suggested moving some files to archives and got accused of wanting to destroy files. Well, that's not what I said, and that's certainly not what I meant. But what did the executive director hear? Yes. And then, you know, I'll never really know exactly what was said. All I know is that I didn't do anything to deserve losing my job.

I know that there was disparaging things said about my character. And you know what, at the end of the day, Kelly, I was suffering. I was struggling in that location because I was, I mean, this was my shiny new opportunity. I was trying so hard to fit in and to make it work and just to do good work.

You know, and really at the end of the day, we all want the same things. We want to do meaningful work in organizations that support us, that care about the same kinds of things that we care about and, you know, earn a decent wage, a fair living wage while we're doing it and be challenged, right. And, and have an opportunity to use those skills, gifts, talents, and abilities that I mentioned.

And so, you know, as devastated as I was to get fired from that job, and it's interesting because the first few times I even told this story, I would downplay the get fired part because it's embarrassing, you know but essentially, I mean, that's, that's it. And, it was as devastating as it was because so much of our identity, or certainly so much of my identity at that time was tied up with the work that I did.

And, and, you know, the, the kind of impact that I had and influence where I could, I was relieved because, it was making me sick. I wasn't sleeping. I was suffering psychological harm, which I couldn't have named at the time, and I wouldn't have named it bullying either. I didn't know enough to know. But I have ulcerative colitis, and that it's very, very connected to my mindset and stress and that disease had been dormant for years, and it started to flare.

And, you know, in the morning when I was traveling to work, I'd be relatively healthy. But by the, you know, in the afternoon just in the stress of it was, it was a type of. undercurrent that the environment there was so formal that it was the point of being toxic. And I'm, you know, I'm a pretty warm and engaging person and I, I'm certainly professional, but at the same time.

I'm not a robot and, you know, I, I really built good relationships, like I said, with my team, but I was having a hard time fitting in with the, with the leadership team. I wasn't getting included in meetings with other directors. I was left out of all strategic planning for, for my my team and my department.

And it was just where other people were involved and it was just kind of an icky feeling that I couldn't quite put my finger on, but my body knew. And you know, it showed up in my, in my guts and made me quite sick. So I was relieved at the end of the day. And that happened in October of 2015 and about January of 2016, you know God tapped me on the shoulder and he said, Hey, you always wanted to work for yourself.

So now's a good time. And you know, I, I just took that to heart and I founded my business in January of 2016 and really got busy with the business of learning about, I mean, I had the human resource You know, education, I knew that side of things. I knew the employee side of things because I'd been an employee for, you know, decades at this point.

And, you know, I knew a lot about people and what they needed and how they needed to be engaged at work. When I was, even when I considered what I wanted to do when I grew up in my thirties and decided on human resource management, I chose that career because, of the diversity available within that field.

But I always knew that I was interested in people and culture and helping leaders build businesses where people can thrive and. Be their authentic selves and really, you know, when we do this with intention, there's no downside. Win, win, win. Because the employees win the employers win. You know, the, what's really exciting to me is even in 2016, there was very little data available.

There was very little

There was very little evidence of the ROI. And now we've got those numbers for every dollar spent. The immediate return on investment is 1. 62 when we invest in people and culture. And, you know, when we Invest and continue these inclusive practices past three years, that jumps to 2.18 right away. And I do think there was those estimates are even conservative.

So all that to say that when I started my business, I found myself in the position of having to convince my potential clients that they had this problem, first of all. Yeah. And then convince them that I had the solution for the problem. Now, since 2016, man, there's been a lot of, a lot of things that have happened to really shake up our society.

even then though, I mean, we were starting to see society push back on some of the toxic environments systemic Environments that were, you know, causing harm at work, COVID certainly accelerated that people, you know, everybody on the planet has been given this opportunity to pause, a forced opportunity, be it to pause and reflect really what is important.

What are, what are our values? You know, how do we want to do life and work moving forward? And I'm just really excited to be in this field. It is such an exciting time to be in the field because society is finally caught up. It's catching up, right? So I no longer, so now they're aware they have the problem.

And so the job is easier because now I just have to, you know, show them and demonstrate that I have the solution.

Kelly Kennedy: Absolutely. Absolutely. Amazing. First off, like, I, I listened to your story and you know, I mean, I want to go back first off just your time and supporting the community of sturgeon. Thank you.

I, you know what I mean? I think that that's a very unsung area of need in every single community, not just sturgeon, not just Edmonton, not just, you know, Parkland County, but, you know what I mean? The problem is, is that What happens to people when when emergencies happen? And unfortunately, we typically don't know that unless we're directly connected to that in some way.

And so thank you for your support. I'm sure you helped a lot of people during that time who needed the help and may not have got it if you weren't doing it. So thank you for doing that. Second off, I just see, like, I was thinking about that time that you, you know, you were essentially forced out, like, let's get real, that wasn't a firing, that was a constructive dismissal or or a planned, you know, we're just going to make life so hard that she's going to either quit or we're going to find a way to get rid of her, and I've been in a similar scenario.

So I connected with that immediately. You know, I mean, at the time, I'd been with a company a very long time and they were shaking up management a little bit. And the new management that came in felt threatened by me. And I ended up in a very, very similar scenario. Yeah. The other, it went the other way, but, but it was, it was very felt.

It was immediately, we're going to make life as hard as we can for this person to try to try to make them quit or leave on their own. And when I didn't it eventually went the other way, but Yeah, I remember feeling that same way, just absolutely horrible about my work at the time, which didn't need to be that way.

I dreaded it. I was also starting to feel ill and sick and I just, I related to that so much through then.

Ruthann Weeks: Well, thank you for sharing that. And I am sorry that happened to you, Kelly. I wish I could say it was kind of a rare scenario, but unfortunately, it's not. Over 40 percent of Canadian workers report experiencing workplace bullying.

And I, again, I think that's a conservative number. A lot of times when we're in it, we don't even really know what it is. We just know that it makes us feel icky. We know that something is wrong. And that you know, it may help you feel better to know that it is typically the high performers the go getters that are targets.

And it is typically because someone is threatened. Now I think in my situation, it was. because that a long standing employee has been experiencing a lot of change. I mean, face it, people don't like change. They don't. It's statistically something that the only thing constant is change, but people don't like it.

We get in our ruts. And sometimes even that rut is more comfortable than the unknown. Right. And I think sometimes. Often it's that change that drives the toxic behavior and fear at the end of the day. It's really fear and sometimes ego, but ego is also related to fear. So yeah.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah. Like what? You know what I mean?

We're probably talking to a bunch of executives right now in that, in that exact scenario. How can we, you know, what would you say to them right now if they're being harassed, if they're being bullied, but you know what I mean? They've worked hard to get there, right? They're not ready to throw in the hat or throw in the towel.

You know, what do we, how do we help these people?

Ruthann Weeks: Yeah, you know what? Know your rights, know your worker rights, know your workplace responsibilities. Employers have responsibilities to prevent psychological harm and keep people from experiencing workplace violence and harassment at work. And, you know, although it would be really nice if Executives and boards made people and culture a strategic priority because it was the right thing to do.

Sometimes that's not enough. We are fortunate in Canada and a lot of places in the world actually that we have legislation to help. Keep people safe at work, but if people don't know what their workplace rights are, what those policies and procedures are to keep them safe and, you know, even what violence and harassment.

is you know, we all have a perception of it, but employers have five responsibilities under the Occupational Health and Safety Act to keep people safe at work. So they have to do hazard assessments. And when it comes to workplace violence and harassment, unless you've had the training to really unpack what it is and what it is not.

You're not going to be effective in conducting those hazard assessments, right? Well, they have to conduct those hazard assessments. They have to have policies and procedures and prevention plans in place to keep people safe at work. And they, and that includes from psychological harm related to sexual harassment, workplace abuse.

One of the areas I mentioned was domestic violence that is also protected under the legislation. Employers are responsible to keep. people safe at work when they, when it comes known to them that one of their employees doesn't feel safe because they're experiencing intimate partner violence, it absolutely falls over into the workplace.

Again, most people have a perception of what that is, but unless they've had specific training around that, they won't actually know. They're making assumptions, right? And under the eyes of the law, ignorance is not an excuse under, under the eyes of the law. So they have those prevention plans. They have to train their employees and provide competent supervisors and in what's in those policies and procedures.

And they have to have a mechanism in place to report incidents and every single incident that is reported must be investigated if it's formally reported. And they have to. provide support to those that are experiencing workplace abuse. So start there, educate yourself. I mean, in, in Alberta, it's section 27 of the occupational health and safety code.

Learn your rights, you know look at Alberta human rights legislation. There's 15 protected grounds. Often harassment is related to one of those protected grounds. Sexual harassment is related to the protected ground of gender. And, you know, we have 15 of them in Alberta, and they're mirrored very closely in the rest of the country.

And, you know, these are things that people can do to make themselves aware of what their rights and responsibilities are. And then, you know, Build your case. Document, document, document. Dates, times, places, potential witnesses, incidents that are happening, how you feel. We want to be what I recommend is we keep our victim impact statements separate from our chronology of events.

Because it is so personal, and because we're so hurt by it and We really from an HR perspective, especially, you know, when we're building this case and we want to do something with it and HR is not always your friend. I got to put it out there. I find myself apologizing for the profession. Often they're coming a long ways and a lot of really great HR people are doing the work to educate themselves around these types of issues.

And let's face it, often they're stuck between you know, leadership and the front lines that often want different things. but, you know, educate yourself and really just build that case. And, you know, sometimes the person you report to is, is the person that's the bully. So what do you do then? Well, you can either go over their head to their supervisor.

You can report to occupational health and safety if you know that your employer is not doing their due diligence and doing things correctly. If you're experiencing workplace stress and struggle, and you're off on work related leave or sorry, stress related leave, that's authenticated through a medical doctor that's psychological harm that you're experiencing because of workplace trauma.

And that's, you know, that's not okay. We have laws in place to protect you. So start there, know your rights, build your case. You know, consult with someone on how to have that conversation. I have a a branch of my business called When Work Hurts. And it's actually, you know, it's something I haven't monetized yet.

Because sometimes when I'm talking to people that are experiencing workplace abuse, they are off on leave. They don't have resources. You know, I've never turned anyone away. I'm actually in the process of evergreening my one work hurts. Online course so that people can have it for free and they can know what their workplace rights are.

They can know what their employer responsibilities are. I can teach them, you know, how to build a case that protects themselves, but my messaging to them first and foremost is take care of yourself and do what you need to do to be safe and well, people are killing themselves. because employers are not doing their due diligence and protecting people at work.

Just yesterday on LinkedIn, I shared a story of a woman who killed herself. She worked at the coroner's office in BC, in Vancouver, Victoria, I believe, actually. And. It was systemic bullying, death by a thousand paper cuts over years that caused so much harm that the only way this person sought out was to end their life and it's not right and it's time to for people to pissed off, quite frankly, and hold employers accountable.

And, you know, I find myself in that balance between supporting those that are experiencing workplace abuse and supporting the employers themselves so that they can. Make sure that they're treating their employees right, that they're doing their due diligence, that they're creating these environments where everybody thrives and at the end of the day, it's, you know, it's the corporations that, that pay me and make my business viable.

This isn't a hobby, it's a business and, you know, I, I, I'm finding myself walking that line, but I also realize that. Employers that are perpetuating toxic environments and aren't cleaning up their own backyard and, you know, are, are not not sharing with employees those policies and procedures, if they even have them, because they don't want them to know, you know, right, they don't, they're, they're carrying a risk and, you know, mitigating that risk is something that they should be looking at because the case law is coming out all the time.

That employers are being held accountable and it's only going to become more and more prevalent. So, you know, like I was starting to say, it'd be nice if everyone got their ducks in a row because it was the right reason. We also have the legislation in place that they're responsible to be compliant to.

And, you know, that ROI is there too, so that's there and, and one of the other messaging that I've been putting out there to try to get people to, to make the move and to start the process in, in creating these psychologically safe environments that are inclusive is what kind of legacy do you want to leave?

You know, we've got so many people leaving the workforce. Now in leadership and instead of being the leader that says, ah, you know, I'm out of here in two years. I'm not going to deal with this. I'll let someone else deal with it. What kind of legacy do you want to leave in your leadership? What's the mark you want to leave in your organization?

You know, maybe that's going to be the motivator. It's really trying to determine what it is that is going to move people to action.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes. And I think one of the challenges, Ruthann, is that no business owner started a business thinking about any of this. They started a business because they were great at something, right?

They were inspired. They loved it, right? I didn't start a business development firm because I, because I hate business development or because I liked other things I did because it was what I was great at and I love doing it. And then all this other stuff and I get it, it's still our responsibility, but I think they end up in that mindset where it's like, I didn't want to have to deal with the challenges of people interacting with people, right?

That was never on the table of things that we were thinking about. And I'm sure I speak for a lot of business owners on that front. But it doesn't mean that we're any less responsible for it. And I think that that's it takes a minute, I think, for businesses to wrap their heads around, and especially when they're small, because they're looking at it as like, well, I only have two or three employees, right?

Like, I, like, I think they get along for the most part, but we don't always see the interactions, or a lot of people are working from home, so you're really not seeing the interactions, because you're not together in an office anymore, where it's like obvious, you can't really escape it. But yes, I completely agree.

I guess. How do you get more cognizant? I think that that's a better way of saying this. I'm not saying that we are our heads in the clouds. I think what it is is we're just not seeing it or maybe we're not aware of it. Does that mean that we need to be actively hunting? for these challenges ahead of time.

How do we do that? Do you have any recommendations?

Ruthann Weeks: The business of people is what makes running a business challenging, right? I think probably the best thing business leaders can do is be authentic with their teams. You know, be the first one at the table to share a problem that you've had share failure. If we can be vulnerable and just bring that human part of ourselves to work, nothing will endear us more to our teams than being vulnerable.

Now, I'm not saying you want to necessarily, you are the leader. I'm not saying you necessarily want to go to work and your whole life story necessarily. But, you know, if you're having a challenge, share that. If there's, if you've screwed up, share that. Nothing will endear you more to your team. And it also gives them permission, then.

To make mistakes and admit them because really at the end of the day, that's the crux, that's where the, the, the magic happens with psychological health and safety is that we've created these environments where people. You know, we've done what we can to check to make sure that there's no pockets of toxicity or you know, there's no systemic bullying or, or racism or, you know, disparity any of that kind of stuff that's going on that we're aware of.

And if we don't do those audits, we don't know, like, if we're not doing our, hazard assessments, psychosocial hazard assessments to look at these factors. We have no idea what's going on and yeah, you're absolutely right. When it comes to remote teams, that makes it even harder. But does that, does that mean that bullying isn't happening?

No, it doesn't. Because you can give someone a wrong meeting time. You can forget to send someone a link. You can just say, oh, well, they must be having tech issues. You know, you have no idea what's going on. It can make it easier to bully and harass because one piece of that is, is that isolation piece, right?

And leaving people out. So I just think it's really important for leaders to Separate management and leadership. First of all, we know that managing and leading is not the same thing. Managers look after tasks. They make sure that, well, typically those policies and procedures are followed and that they're in place.

They're looking after budgets and schedules and all those types of things. But leaders are different. Now, managers are super important. We all need them. And a lot of times it's the leaders that are also, especially in smaller organizations, it's the leaders that are also responsible for management. But leaders inspire.

Leaders give those high level views and every single person on that team, regardless of the size of the team, they know how they fit in and how they contribute to the overarching strategic. Objectives, right? And how important they are to the success, overall success of the organization.

Kelly Kennedy: Yes, yes. I think it's very important that people know how they contribute to the organization as a whole, 100%.

Because you see it a lot where, you know, especially with larger organizations, where I think it can be really hard to tell where, where you fit into this big pie. Like, you think you have an idea, but maybe you don't know the true scope. It's a lot easier at a smaller organization to see your impact, if that makes sense.

You know, Ruthann, we, we talked about, you know, this is, I love what you say on your website, you have psychological safety specialist. I've never seen anything like that before and I think you're really shaking it up. It, does it fall under HR? I know that that's kind of the background, but is this HR or is this something else?

Ruthann Weeks: Well, what's really interesting about it is psychological health and safety falls under occupational health and safety in the legal framework. But when it comes to respectful workplace and upholding policies and creating culture. That absolutely falls under HR and for whatever reason, I've never really understood occupational health and safety and HR don't always play nice together.

And now, in this social context that we're in particularly related to workplace violence and harassment, we need HR and our occupational health and safety representatives or committee, whatever that looks like at the table together. You know, we need them rowing in the same direction organizations really do.

And you know, the smart ones are getting on board. Nobody working in a silo is going to be able to create any sort of cohesion within a team of any kind. So we really do want them working together. Like I said, HR often when it comes to workplace violence and harassment, sometimes they get it wrong.

And it's not necessarily because they want to they're often, well, let's just talk about middle managers in general. They are at the highest rates risk of burnout. 98 percent of HR managers, when 30, 000 people were surveyed globally reported levels of burnout. Now this is post COVID HR was really.

Really affected in a really dramatic way during COVID whether that's a business owner doing HR functions themselves you know, looking after their people, paying their people, keeping the revenues going you know, It was stressful, super stressful, and that stress is still carrying forward because we're in a whole new world of work now, and I mean, we've only got an hour here.

We haven't even started talking about the multi generational workforce and what, you know, those different demands are. But middle managers are at a higher level for burnout, and some of those reasons are related to an overflowing inbox that is perpetually behind. They're feeling perpetually behind.

Sometimes they're feeling like They're on call 24 seven, you know the way technology is today. We have to be very diligent about checking out and taking time that we need away from work, taking time to rest and restore. And how many of you know, when we're resting if we're still thinking about work and it's a guilty entrepreneur, right?

We're always You can't not, it's part of the entrepreneurial journey, really but sometimes, you know, when we're, when we're stressing about things and we're worrying about things we're not actually restoring, we might be resting, but we're not restoring. So you know, it, it makes me sad to find out how many people really don't even know what it is that fills their cup let alone being intentional about.

About building it into their into their lives. So really, if you don't know what it is that fills your cup figure it out and make sure that you honor yourself by building that in, you know, maybe it's for me, it's nature and, and animals, dogs, all dogs are good therapy and you know, really just making sure that I take care of myself and I'm not perfect at it.

I'll be honest. Like there's a lot on your plate then, you know, sometimes you're working those Saturdays and, and even Sundays, but you need to give yourself some time and you need to be intentional about actually checking out and, you know, not checking your email. Maybe for the weekend, or I actually, when I started my business, I set up a separate business line just to have that boundary now, full disclosure, when I started my business, I expected someone else to be answering that line by now, but anyway, that was a boundary that I knew that I would want to set.

And it's easier when you're, when you have that separate business line, because you can leave it in your office. And you know, people are generally honoring that, but as a leader, how are you honoring your employees? Are you expecting them to answer emails now? It doesn't mean that's another trend that we're in right now though, is people being able to work whenever they want to and get the work done when they want to, and when it works for them and their family situation and whatever, you know, their lifestyle might be.

So. We're really starting to see policies come out around communication in the workplace that we haven't seen before. Is it okay to send an email at 3 a. m.? Well, sure it is, but that doesn't mean that you expect a response at 3 a. m. No. So if you're the boss, you want to make sure that, you know, you premise that, and really at the end of the day, Kelly, that's what we can do best is talk to people, be transparent about our intentions, be transparent about wanting to do psychological health and safety, right?

Whether we're getting it right or not. And that, you know, we'll learn together, we'll figure this out together. If you can bring in someone from the outside, a consultant like me do that. But if you can't, do what you can from where you are with what you have. Workplace Strategies for Mental Health.

Just Google it. Workplace Strategies Place strategies for mental health has so many free resources that can help employers. They have full decks of you know, facilitated learnings and things like that, that employers can use. But don't. What I don't want is I don't want employers to ask those middle managers to take this on and then not resource them to do it.

You have to give them the time, you have to give them the money and you have to give them you know, the the ability set them up for success. Don't just add something else onto their plate to cover your own butt. And you know, sometimes if, if you're not in a, you don't have to bring in someone full time or even part time, you can do it.

Fractionally through consultants. So it's really time and money well spent at the end of the day.

Kelly Kennedy: I think, I think going forward, focusing on how to keep your workplace, your workplace mentally healthy and happy, it really is critical to the success of your business because the reality is you don't have a business without the people.

And lost time for a mental health episode is much worse than you just taking some time up front and trying to make sure that there isn't a mental health episode in the first place.

Ruthann Weeks: Well, it is and you know, we want to set up environments where people thrive. That's one because no matter how psychologically healthy we are individually.

We can't maintain that in an organization that's not psychologically safe for us and, and has a perpetuating toxicity about it or systemic problems that you know, keep people from thriving. But yeah, really just getting really clearly focused on, on the type of, I mean, if you're a founder and it's been a while, you know, go watch Simon Sinek's why video on YouTube.

What has changed with your values through COVID since COVID? You know, we're so busy with the day to day that sometimes we don't even stop to look at the big, big picture. And I know my why is that I don't think anyone should have to sacrifice their physical or mental health in order to earn a living.

I think it's a right that we all have, and until they figure out how to replace all the people with robots, we really it's really important to, to be looking at this stuff and, you know, I did mention the multigenerational workforce and I'll just say that. I am so proud of Millennials and Gen Z. I'm Gen X, so I'm kind of that middle child.

That's that forgotten middle child generation. But when it comes to Millennials, particularly younger Millennials, and certainly Gen Z, they know what they want, and they are not willing to sacrifice their physical or mental health in order to achieve it. To earn a living and they, that doesn't mean they want to live in their parent's basement.

They don't but it also means that they're not willing to sell their soul or give up, you know, their health to. Earn a living and to you know, support their lifestyles. They have very definite ideas about how they want to do life. They are researching organizations and looking at things like their DEI policies their mental health strategies.

They're asking those questions. You know, we're, we're working on. Prepping HR on how to field questions about culture and employers and job seekers on how to ask and to screen out different cultures, and they're not even going to apply for an organization that they don't think is going to be a good fit for them or doesn't support the things that they support or.

You know, support them in their, in their career journey.

Kelly Kennedy: Yeah, no, it makes a lot of sense. I, you know, I talk about it on the show, especially on the business development front, I always tell people like, why, why do business development for a company that you don't align with their values or you don't mean you can't, you don't believe in their products or services, right?

That's half the battle. If you don't believe in it, you shouldn't be doing it. So I, you mean? I totally get it. I'm completely on board.

Ruthann Weeks: Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you're an enlightened leader Kelly.

Kelly Kennedy: I do my best, but I, you know, I mean, I'll be honest. I know that I still have a lot of learning left ahead of me.

I'm, I'm never done.

Ruthann Weeks: Thank God. How boring would life be if we, if we thought we had it all figured out? Part of being a subject matter expert in anything is that lifelong learning piece and just checking your ego and never thinking, you know, at all.

Kelly Kennedy: Absolutely. Absolutely. Ruthanne, we are coming to the end of our episode today.

I appreciate it immensely. I do want to just ask you, you know, we've talked about a lot. If people want to get a hold of Harmony in the workplace, they want to check you out. What's the best way to do that?

Ruthann Weeks: You can reach me by email at info@harmonytraining.ca. I started out as a sole proprietor under Harmony Training and Development.

So that is my email HarmonyTraining. ca. And my website is harmonyintheworkplace.com and my phone number is 780-460-1019. And yeah, I'd love to hear from anyone who would like to have a chat. There's never a charge for an initial consult.

Kelly Kennedy: Amazing. Thank you so much, Ruthann. This has been episode 90. We have had Ruthann Weeks a founder of Harmony in the workplace.

They do psychological safety, diversity inclusion, and mental health. It's been an absolute pleasure having you, Ruthann. Thank you for coming today. Until next time, this has been the Business Development Podcast. We will catch you on. The flip side.

Outro: This has been the business development podcast with Kelly Kennedy, Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020 his passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation.

And business development. The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your Business Development Specialists. For more, we invite you to the website @ www.capitalbd.ca. See you next time on the Business Development Podcast.

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