^[(\d|\n)].*$WEBVTT Curt Hammond (he/him): Couple of people joining us. We'll give people a moment or two to… to… Curt Hammond (he/him): Join us, and then we'll jump right in. Want to be really respectful. Good morning. Curt Hammond (he/him): Of everyone's, time. Curt Hammond (he/him): We'll have a hard stop by 11 today. Curt Hammond (he/him): And we might be a smaller group today, and that's okay. We're gonna have some good conversations, and a reminder that we are recording this. Curt Hammond (he/him): And we'll be sharing this with everyone. We've had, actually, 25 or 30 people register for the session, so I think the convenience of recording… it's both a gift and a challenge, isn't it? Because when it's recorded, people then say, oh, I'll just watch it. Curt Hammond (he/him): But we're so grateful for everyone's time today to come out and… Spend some time with us. Curt Hammond (he/him): Good morning, Marissa. Curt Hammond (he/him): All right, well, why don't we jump in? I want to be, we've got lots of great things to hear from Jody Lynn today. Curt Hammond (he/him): And, what a… Curt Hammond (he/him): you know, jump into the con… listen to Jody Lynn, and then have some really good conversation. So, let me just formally welcome everyone to our second session of the Oak Tree Learning Lab. Yay! So great to have you all here. And those of you on video, thank you for taking time out of your days to join us as well. This is our second session. Today, we are focusing on wellness. Curt Hammond (he/him): Workplace wellness and team resilience, which is a really, as all of you know, as leaders. Curt Hammond (he/him): in mostly, smaller organizations. Well, it doesn't matter the size of the organization? This is just mission critical, right? Curt Hammond (he/him): And the goal of the O-Tree Learning Lab is to remind us that these important conversations that we're having around wellness are actually very similar to some of the conversations that we're having around how we onboard and think about new technology. So they have different outcomes, but the process to think about them Curt Hammond (he/him): can be really similar. So again, one of the goals of Oak Tree this year is to bring this learning lab together, have these two conversations, and I hope by the end of Session 3, we can really realize that, oh my gosh, there are actually some similarities in how I, as a leader, can be thinking about them, activating on them. Curt Hammond (he/him): Today, in particular, we've got Jody Lynn Morris back, and I'll formally introduce her in a bit. Curt Hammond (he/him): From Compass, and Jody Lynn's going to be talking to us about really practical strategies around psychological safety and team resilience. And I know this is really important to all of us, and the organizations we're in. Our commitment today, and Jody Lynn's fabulous, I've had the chance to get to know her as we've been prepping for these. Curt Hammond (he/him): We're gonna have some exercises we can do as leaders here together in a group, build some community. Jody Lynn's gonna share some learnings with us, and then there'll be some takeaways for us that we can… Curt Hammond (he/him): bring back to our teams, and hopefully implement even this afternoon. So our goal here, as always with Oak Tree, is to be as practical and focused on the needs of the great work that you're doing here in Guelph and Wellington. Curt Hammond (he/him): I'm going to introduce Will in a second, but before we do that, we're just gonna pause for a bit and just do some quick acknowledgements before we jump in. Curt Hammond (he/him): We usually do 3, and we're kind of truncheon them out. Curt Hammond (he/him): for this oak tree series, because our acknowledgements actually align with our conversations, and we started last session with a territorial acknowledgement. I'll do a brief one again here, and just to remind us. Curt Hammond (he/him): that the land we're on is stolen, and it is up to us to right relations with our Indigenous sisters and brothers. It's a big, important conversation for those of us that, Curt Hammond (he/him): don't belong to an Indigenous community, the work is on us to be thinking and learning and exploring, and sitting and listening, right? And I just cannot stress that my own journey here has been the more I listen, the more I read, the more I, watch. Curt Hammond (he/him): the more I learn. And so the work is on me, I can only speak for myself here, to figure out how to write relations, and I'm always reminding myself that when I think of the great work that your charities do. Curt Hammond (he/him): you know, building community and supporting one another, being in service to those around us. Those are values that started with Indigenous culture, and we now have this great honor of holding them for a bit. Curt Hammond (he/him): And it's up to us to remind those people that follow in our organizations and families and communities that they're part of that same continuum. So, important conversations, big ones, and here in Canada, we have to remember that truth must come before reconciliation. Curt Hammond (he/him): The second acknowledgement we're going to do today totally aligns with the good stuff that Joni Lin is going to be sharing with us, and it's a mental health check-in, and I started doing these in March 2020. Do you remember March 2020? We were all on screens, except none of us knew what was, you know, how to work the technology. Curt Hammond (he/him): And as a facilitator, as someone who was constantly pulling people together, we quickly moved Curt Hammond (he/him): onto Zoom and Teams, realized Zoom was the place to be, and I could, you know, through all those meetings, you could just feel a sense Curt Hammond (he/him): of, anxiety, right? And so we took time at the start of those meetings to acknowledge that. And I want to say that anxiety is still there today, it's just presenting itself differently. So what I want to do is just remind you that if you've arrived today really excited to learn from Jodi Lin and kind of explore more around her own leadership, around resilience. Curt Hammond (he/him): and team wellness. We are really glad that you're here. Curt Hammond (he/him): If today's not such a good day, and the walls are closing in, and you just barely made it. Curt Hammond (he/him): and you'd rather be doing something else, we also want to say that we're really glad that you're here. No matter how you've arrived, your presence matters, your voice matters. We are grateful for your time on behalf of Oak Tree and Jody Lynn. We want to thank you for that. And we're going to make today as participatory as possible. Curt Hammond (he/him): So we'll be inviting you into conversations. If today is a good day for chat, fabulous. If you want to turn off… turn on your mic and jump in, that'll be fine as well. However you want to participate today, we are grateful for your time and your presence. Curt Hammond (he/him): Okay, with that, let me hand it over to our founder, Will McTaggart, celebrating 10 years of Oak Tree. Will, thank you for pulling us all together. I think you want to give a shout out to some of the other organizations and people that allow Oak Tree to happen. Will Mactaggart: Good morning, everyone, and thanks so much for coming. Yeah, it's actually… it's been a little more than 10 years. It's Oak Tree 10, but some of them have taken a little longer than a year, so we're… That's true. Yeah, so we're up to, it actually all started back in 2014, Will Mactaggart: You know, my… I've been fortunate to have been raised in a family that really believed Will Mactaggart: In giving back, and really imparted those values. Will Mactaggart: To myself and my siblings, and, you know, we've… I, you know, just… really… Will Mactaggart: I'm personally committed to this community, and want to give back. Will Mactaggart: And in Oak Tree, I've been really fortunate to be joined by some amazing partners. And, in fact, two of them have been with me since day one, and one of them you're hearing on camera here, Mr. Hammond, and his great organization at Forcible Words. Will Mactaggart: And then Doug McMillan at the letter M Marketing, both founding partners of Oak Tree. Will Mactaggart: Couldn't do it without These people and these great organizations. Will Mactaggart: We've also been really fortunate since day one. Will Mactaggart: to have the Guelph Community Foundation as a vehicle to make all this giving happen. Will Mactaggart: It's, you know… Will Mactaggart: It's possible to go out there and create your own charity, and do all that work, but when we have an organization in our community. Will Mactaggart: That makes all of that easy, and just takes all that… Will Mactaggart: All the receding, the, you know, all of that kind of… Will Mactaggart: CRA, you know, Canadian Revenue stuff away, and makes life easy so that as, you know. Will Mactaggart: as the founder of Oak Tree, I can focus on the giving. Will Mactaggart: And… that's just great. Will Mactaggart: I have some amazing… Will Mactaggart: friends who, who have helped out through their families, and I want to mention them by name, the Beingeschner family, the Pollard family, and the Lammer family, who have Will Mactaggart: you know. Will Mactaggart: when I reach out to the Oak Tree, I mean, I need help in order to have the impact that we do, and it's a phone call, and these families are on board. I'm also very fortunate to have some great partners through work. Will Mactaggart: It's really interesting, but because it's charitable giving, they actually, through our industry, I'm in financial services, they're not allowed to be acknowledged for their charitable giving, which is interesting, but they've been with me since the beginning. Will Mactaggart: And this year, in honor of the 10th anniversary, my employer, Richardson Wealth, is… been amazing and agreed to pick up all the costs of putting this year's iteration of Oak Tree on so that, well, the rest of us can focus on the giving. Will Mactaggart: So with that, I will turn it back to you, thanking all those amazing organizations and people and families, and I look forward to the session today. Thanks so much. Curt Hammond (he/him): Thank you. Well, just remind us, over the 10 sessions, Oak Tree is generated… how many… Curt Hammond (he/him): $1,000 in the community? Will Mactaggart: With 10, we're heading over just over $400,000 now. Curt Hammond (he/him): Fabulous. Fabulous. So again, that's all under Will's, stewardship and leadership and generosity. So thanks to Will for holding us together today. Curt Hammond (he/him): And bring us together to do some learning, and I'm really excited to… we're gonna have a great conversation with Jody Lim. If you were on our last session, you saw her, there. Let me re… let me introduce her again for us. Curt Hammond (he/him): And then we're gonna just have a great conversation with Jody Lynn. So Jodi Lynn Morris is the lead of mental health services at Compass Community Services. She has her MSW and her RSW. We were just talking about education before we jumped on the call. She's super smart, like everybody here. Curt Hammond (he/him): She's a dedicated social worker specializing in trauma-informed care, clinical practice, and community wellness. And she's really passionate about empowering individuals and teams Curt Hammond (he/him): fostering resilience, promoting recovery, and advocating for compassionate, client-centered approaches. And just in the chance I've had to interact with Jody Lynn, I can see that's really clear and apparent. Curt Hammond (he/him): She works at Compass, has her own practice, and is really dedicated and knowledgeable about this work. So we're just really fortunate to have her join us today. So let's give a warm oak tree project welcome to Jody Lind. If your screen's off, you can just collect her hands for Jody Lynn. Jody Lynn, good morning. Jodi Lynn Morris: Good morning. Curt Hammond (he/him): And thanks so much for, joining us today. Jodi Lynn Morris: Oh, thank you very much for having me, I appreciate the opportunity. I just wanted to say good morning, thanks for the great introduction. Jodi Lynn Morris: I am Jody Lin, and I am from Compass, and today's, learning will be about thriving together. Tools for workplace wellness and team resilience. Jodi Lynn Morris: Kurt, are you able to… Curt Hammond (he/him): I can share… were we gonna do a quick exercise first? Were we gonna do… Curt Hammond (he/him): Do you want to report… Jodi Lynn Morris: Like, the visual of my one slide. Curt Hammond (he/him): Perfect. Awesome. Come on, Hammond, get your act together here, here we go. Curt Hammond (he/him): Boom. Curt Hammond (he/him): You can see that. Jodi Lynn Morris: Yes. Curt Hammond (he/him): Excellent. Those are your slides? Yeah, great. Okay, excellent. Jodi Lynn Morris: Can you just go to the next slide? Curt Hammond (he/him): Excellent, there's Jody Lynn. Jodi Lynn Morris: Third. Curt Hammond (he/him): Sure. Jodi Lynn Morris: Oh, one back. Curt Hammond (he/him): Good. Jodi Lynn Morris: One back. Jodi Lynn Morris: There we are. Curt Hammond (he/him): Where are you. Jodi Lynn Morris: I'm wondering who's had a stressful week. I know it's Wednesday morning, we're halfway there. Jodi Lynn Morris: So, we'll just go to the next slide, Kurt. Curt Hammond (he/him): Excellent. Jodi Lynn Morris: Let's just take a minute. Curt Hammond (he/him): And sorry, just a reminder that anytime you do have questions or feedback, sorry, Jordan, I apologize, I'm watching the chat, so if you've got something specific that you want to be requesting or reflecting on, throw it in the chat, and we will circle back to that. Sorry, Jordan, here you go. Jodi Lynn Morris: It's okay. Jodi Lynn Morris: So let's just take a minute, Jodi Lynn Morris: This is, an exercise in gratitude. I just wanted to say that I'm grateful for the time that we're about to spend together. Jodi Lynn Morris: We're gonna be doing some learning, Jodi Lynn Morris: Maybe some reinforcing of things we already know, and sort of an encouragement to continue to do them. Jodi Lynn Morris: I am grateful with the various demands and pulls on our time that you've made it to this space, this morning. And… Jodi Lynn Morris: despite potentially distractions going on in the background, that you will do your best, and I will do my best, to focus on the time together, and on not only what I'm presenting and information I'm providing, and also sort of any sort of conversations that we may have as well. Jodi Lynn Morris: So, I just wanted to, Jodi Lynn Morris: Have that moment, of gratitude. Jodi Lynn Morris: So, this is a little bit of an agenda. Nobody hires me for my PowerPoint skills. Jodi Lynn Morris: I am a clinician through and through with 26 years of experience, so please ignore the little spinny circle thing at the bottom where the fractions, I couldn't figure out how to get rid of that. Jodi Lynn Morris: So, we've done some welcome and some introductions of myself. We're gonna move into sort of the first topic, which is kind of understanding workplace wellness, and sort of the components of that. Jodi Lynn Morris: We're then gonna shift into building team resilience, and again, sort of what are some of the strategies, that you might, already be doing, and some of the ones, and could strengthen, and or some of the ones that you may not be aware of. Jodi Lynn Morris: I'm gonna have some experiential, some interactive, not necessarily interactive, but I'm gonna lead some experiential, strategies. I really feel strongly, when I work as a therapist, I don't ever make a recommendation or a suggestion, to any of my clients without having done some experiential work myself. Jodi Lynn Morris: And so I strongly encourage leadership to be practicing and to be exploring, sort of, what are the things that they can do to sort of support themselves, and then ultimately, and we'll talk about it a bit later, role model, for your staff as well. Jodi Lynn Morris: And then we'll end off with, sort of, some reflection, section, or some reflection time, as well as, sort of, next steps. Sort of what can you do next? Jodi Lynn Morris: So I felt it pertinent that we sort of talk about. Jodi Lynn Morris: what wellness is. Wellness is on a spectrum. Jodi Lynn Morris: If you had a line in front of you, sort of. Jodi Lynn Morris: At any given time, we can… in any given day, at any given week, we can fluctuate on that spectrum of wellness. Jodi Lynn Morris: Really… Jodi Lynn Morris: What is important to know is, is that you are actively pursuing and doing things that support your wellness. Jodi Lynn Morris: And that can be a variety of things. I'm not someone who likes to overthink this. Jodi Lynn Morris: As, you know, think about wellness, I was thinking about my morning tea, and that is something that I do routinely with certain practices that support my wellness and sort of my work that I'm able to do. Jodi Lynn Morris: Some may overlook that and say, well, that's not… that's, you know, I just need the caffeine to sort of, you know, whatever, and I'm… I would challenge back that you do that to stay well. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? Because what would happen if you didn't have that cup of coffee, if you didn't have that cup of tea? What then would be the difference? For me, personally, by about 3 o'clock, I'm not quite the same human. And so I have done the work and sort of been reflective around sort of what Jodi Lynn Morris: part of my own wellness is, and so I would challenge you as well to sort of consider what are you doing? Jodi Lynn Morris: In order to sort of maintain your wellness. Jodi Lynn Morris: So what does this mean in the workplace? And what does it really mean? Jodi Lynn Morris: This is… for staff, it's beyond perks, right? There's sort of 3 components that, sort of, I… Jodi Lynn Morris: Look at, when considering workplace wellness, that's the culture, that is built and sort of within the workplace, what communication looks like, and how that happens, as well as the care that we demonstrate. Jodi Lynn Morris: Towards each other, amongst, sort of, supervisors and, sort of, frontline staff, and sort of what that looks like and how that's imparted. Jodi Lynn Morris: We need to sort of accept that stress is part of our life, Jodi Lynn Morris: And where is there opportunity? I'll use that word quite a bit today, the opportunity, in order to sort of be well. There actually is, a phrase Jodi Lynn Morris: an equation, really, that sort of I use with clients, and anyone I'm working with that sort of suffering is equal to stress times resistance. Jodi Lynn Morris: within that, equation, stress is inevitable, it will happen, it does happen, we sort of… it is what it is, it's going to be present. Suffering is also part of that equation, and where we really can have influence is in the resistance. Jodi Lynn Morris: So if we… if there's stress present and there's resistance to that, again, where's the opportunity to learn? Where's the opportunity to grow? Where is the opportunity to shift and make changes, in order to sort of decrease the suffering? Jodi Lynn Morris: As it were. Curt Hammond (he/him): And can you share that equation again? Suffering equals… Jodi Lynn Morris: Suffering equals stress times resistance. Curt Hammond (he/him): I'm just… Great, thanks. Jodi Lynn Morris: No problem. Jodi Lynn Morris: So… Jodi Lynn Morris: If you can just flip to the next slide. We're sort of going to dive into these three components, culture, communication, and care, a little bit more. Jodi Lynn Morris: So, when we're talking about workplace… Jodi Lynn Morris: culture, we're talking about 3 things. We're talking about psychological safety. Jodi Lynn Morris: Modeling of healthy behaviors, and then a lot… being… policies and sort of procedures within your organization being aligned, with a certain workplace culture. Jodi Lynn Morris: That sort of supports, flexibility and sort of, expectations and so on, so staff are aware. Jodi Lynn Morris: I think that it's important, for… Jodi Lynn Morris: I'm going to start with role modeling, just because I feel very strongly about it, that leadership really needs to be role modeling, sort of what is possible in a workplace culture. I would also sort of encourage, sort of, what are the opportunities? Jodi Lynn Morris: When I sort of speak to staff and sort of work with them. Jodi Lynn Morris: Feedback that we get is that when they see us as leaders going for a walk, getting water for our water bottle, chatting at the water cooler about our evenings. Jodi Lynn Morris: That that role models and sort of normalizes, that that is an okay thing to do in the workplace, that we are human, and that there is that kind of space in order for us to sort of take care of ourselves. Jodi Lynn Morris: Psychological safety, again, we can be role modeling this around… Jodi Lynn Morris: feeling safe to speak up. I'm sure, Jodi Lynn Morris: I guess I can speak for myself. I've been in situations where I have felt like I wanted to say something, and yet something held me back. I don't necessarily know if figuring out what was holding me back is helpful, I just know that there was this feeling of uncomfortableness and sort of… not necessarily fear for me. Jodi Lynn Morris: and yet it was still present that I sort of hesitated. And so, it is really important in workplace culture that we sort of set the tone that sort of, it's okay to have ideas, it's okay to be innovative, it is okay, to sort of Jodi Lynn Morris: speak our minds, respectfully, appropriately. And then as leadership, for us to… Jodi Lynn Morris: Ex… sort of work on being open. Jodi Lynn Morris: And work on listening, and not necessarily having a response. Jodi Lynn Morris: And we'll get into that in the communication piece a bit as well. Jodi Lynn Morris: I think the other component, as it says here, is sort of policies being aligned with sort of well-being. And I think that that's important even from the onboarding, and we're onboarding a new staff member this week, and sort of right out of the get-go, sort of, you know, having to review those policies and all the wonderful HR things that people do when they get onboarded. Jodi Lynn Morris: Part of that is sort of policies around your wellness and your well-being, and how we take care of our staff. Jodi Lynn Morris: In that way. And that… Jodi Lynn Morris: again, I… it's not… we don't need to… I don't feel we need to have grandiose… I don't feel like we need to sort of… Jodi Lynn Morris: you know, think outside of the box. I think it is sort of… it's about flexibility, it's about understanding, that we have human beings that are working for us, who have a variety of stressors, a variety of things pulling at them, and so where can we offer a culture, where within our culture can we offer, Jodi Lynn Morris: Understanding and, sort of, The integration between policy and wellness. Jodi Lynn Morris: Again, I just want to point to the sort of quote at the bottom, it's not a quote, it's sort of a collaboration of things that I have found, is that positive culture reduces burnout and turnover, along with encouraging staff to utilize wellness resources and to support one another. If you're having a bad day and you've Jodi Lynn Morris: Role modeled, sort of being able to debrief with a colleague, that would be helpful. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? And so that supports staff, that allows for a culture in which wellness is supported. Jodi Lynn Morris: You want to go to the next slide around communication? Jodi Lynn Morris: Oh, communication. I spend a lot of my time working with communication. And when I look at communication within a workplace, it's… Jodi Lynn Morris: I really, sort of, these… Three things are sort of what Jodi Lynn Morris: bring forward for me the importance, important components of communication. So it's really important to be clear and have clarity around expectations and goals, Jodi Lynn Morris: Having open communication that flows, both… not just top-down, like it says on the slide, but we really sort of want to encourage that sort of engagement, with staff and that conversation. Jodi Lynn Morris: And the one… I mean, regular check-ins and feedback is… It's an interesting, Jodi Lynn Morris: it's an interesting aspect of this work, because I think we are socialized, I think as leaders, we are often put in a situation where we need to problem solve. Someone is bringing us an issue, someone's bringing us a concern, it's our job to fix it, to find a solution. Jodi Lynn Morris: to whatever. And so, I think my encouragement and my sort of recommendation is to, sort of, this concept of sort of listen to understand. Jodi Lynn Morris: in comparison to listen to respond. So if we just take a minute, take a deep breath. Jodi Lynn Morris: And sort of tune into staff and say. Jodi Lynn Morris: Help me understand… tell me a little bit more about that, right? Help me understand, you know, and be curious. Jodi Lynn Morris: with these, sort of, when you're having a regular check-in. I think it's important, Jodi Lynn Morris: Even as, you know, we're meeting today, and there's a lot of, sort of, virtual work that is happening, Jodi Lynn Morris: I am someone who was trained in person, that is my preference, so that's my bias. And so… Jodi Lynn Morris: Making sure we connect and communicate, not just by what we say and what we hear and how we respond. Jodi Lynn Morris: That's one sort of element of it. And also, there are elements of it that are, when you're in person, making sure that you are making efforts to check in and listen to what staff are saying, right? What might else be happening, and how can you ask a question? How can you engage with staff? Jodi Lynn Morris: So that they feel heard, they feel connected, and that you're communicating in a way that supports a feedback loop, right? And so that's that piece around listening to hear, listening to understand, and then providing opportunities to sort of be curious, Jodi Lynn Morris: You know, explore it a little bit more. Jodi Lynn Morris: And then, you know, support the staff as they need it. Jodi Lynn Morris: We can go to the next slide there, Kurt. Jodi Lynn Morris: So then the third… Jodi Lynn Morris: piece here is about care, right? And so this can include, sort of, accessible, mental health supports. Here at Compass, we have several EAP contracts with organizations in Guelph, where we support, those… the staff of those organizations. Jodi Lynn Morris: With, sort of, their EAP perf… their, sorry, EAP program. Jodi Lynn Morris: Through those contracts, we offer a variety of services as well, you know, whether that be coming out and doing a webinar, coming out and doing a presentation to staff, critical incident debriefs, those sort of supports for staff, and so on. Jodi Lynn Morris: I think… and that includes accommodations for, sort of, any kind of, mental health issues that, sort of, they may be having. Jodi Lynn Morris: Flexible work arrangements. There were many things that came out of the pandemic, one of which was sort of learning that we could do our work virtually. Jodi Lynn Morris: And so, where are the opportunities? Where are… there… where is there a possibility to sort of have a little bit more flexible, whether that's flexible hours, remote work, so on and so forth, around how do we support our staff in sort of managing? Jodi Lynn Morris: The third component is recognition. This tends to be a bit of a controversial, and… Jodi Lynn Morris: But again, we need to balance sort of what someone's personal circumstances are, and what they're managing and dealing with, and the empathy and leadership, right? And sort of being able to sort of demonstrate care, concern, and compassion, for those who work with us, and be able Jodi Lynn Morris: To sort of support them in kind of what they need at this time with whatever is going on for them personally. Jodi Lynn Morris: And so, again, care… the sort of statement at the bottom is care is really about this genuine sense of support and belonging, because you… we're showing staff your people. You're not, you know, I often sort of… one of my lines in my work is that I'm not dealing with a machine that makes a widget. I'm… I'm… I'm working with a human being who Jodi Lynn Morris: We are ever-evolving and ever-changing, and so it is important to stay connected and to demonstrate care. Jodi Lynn Morris: for staff. Jodi Lynn Morris: So we can go to the next one. Jodi Lynn Morris: So I know the next, presentation next week is about, sort of, the utilization of, sort of, tech. Jodi Lynn Morris: And AI specifically, and sort of how do you support this work? So, I would be remiss if I did not sort of say thank you to ChatGPT for creating said table. It was really quite… I was struggling with how to sort of visually sort of put those three concepts together. And ChatGPT just didn't… Jodi Lynn Morris: Without any arguments, so that was lovely. Jodi Lynn Morris: So when we're looking at, sort of, culture, communication, and care down the one side, right, what is the focus, Jodi Lynn Morris: How, you know. Jodi Lynn Morris: what is the focus? What can you really sort of zoom in on and kind of, focus? I guess I'm just going to continue to use that word. And then what the outcome is. Jodi Lynn Morris: And what the benefit would be. Jodi Lynn Morris: And then the fourth column provides a bit of an example, right? So, again, the culture, is again modeling. Modeling balance, modeling an openness, modeling, sort of, hmm, I wonder if that is an opportunity, right? Can we go for a walk prior to this meeting? Can we have a meeting outside? Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? Those types of pieces, is that possible? Jodi Lynn Morris: You know, do we all need to make sure that we have something to drink, right? Like, again, it's sort of… Jodi Lynn Morris: What is… where is the focus? Where are the shared, sort of, normatives, in this… in a culture, in your organization? Jodi Lynn Morris: Again, communication with sort of regular check-ins and sort of creating Sort of that… Jodi Lynn Morris: The flow of information, and making sure that we're clear. Jodi Lynn Morris: Making sure that staff understand, provide opportunities, not just when we're providing information. Oftentimes, people need an opportunity to process, reflect, sort of let the information sink in, and then following up. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? Continuing to sort of say, you know, this is the change in this procedure, for example, and sort of, you know, provide an opportunity at the time to sort of ask questions and so on. It is not uncommon for questions then to come subsequently, and again, as leadership, being open, and being able to sort of say, oh, okay, you had that question, let me help you clarify. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? And whatever. And then the care we take, right? Being flexible, having policies and procedures, having programs within our capacity. I appreciate that sort of some of the programming and such that I've suggested, does come with a cost, so that's not lost on me. Jodi Lynn Morris: And… Jodi Lynn Morris: again, what are their opportunities? What are the other sort of options that we can help provide, care for staff? Jodi Lynn Morris: I'm not sure if anyone has any questions about any of the culture, and sort of workplace wellness information. Curt Hammond (he/him): Yeah, jump in if you've got questions in the chat, or turn off your mic, and maybe while you're thinking, let me just… so much… you've given us so much stuff here. Curt Hammond (he/him): the word discomfort really grabbed me, and it's something we explore at Forcible Words as we talk about building cultures of mattering. Like, can you talk to us a bit about what it means to step into discomfort and stay there for a little while, and as leaders, how maybe we need to be first? Curt Hammond (he/him): to invite our teams into that, like, I think that's a really powerful opportunity and barrier to really stepping into some of these conversations. Is that fair? And push back if that's not what you're seeing? Jodi Lynn Morris: Yeah, it is… it is difficult to sort of start to look at our own and reflect on, sort of, who we are as leaders and how we are responding. Jodi Lynn Morris: Because again, I go back to, sort of, the concept of Jodi Lynn Morris: We are socialized, or we've been programmed, and don't necessarily love that word, but, we have learned, sort of, in our roles, part of our role is to problem solve, to solution find, and so on and so forth. Jodi Lynn Morris: So to sort of challenge, leaders to sort of say, wait a minute, I'm not going to go into problem-solving mode, I'm going to listen to this staff member. Jodi Lynn Morris: I'm going to listen to what is going on. I'm going to listen to you. And I guess… Jodi Lynn Morris: It's a difficult thing to do, because it does… it requires… Jodi Lynn Morris: individuals, leaders, to sort of take a moment to sort of go, okay, I'm not… I'm going to take off the hat of, like, problem solving, and I'm going to put. Curt Hammond (he/him): Right, right. Jodi Lynn Morris: of listening. Curt Hammond (he/him): just receiving, right? Yeah. Jodi Lynn Morris: And that's not an easy thing to do. Even in a therapy chair, you know, I sort of have to be very conscious of, sort of. Jodi Lynn Morris: I don't necessarily need to solve it, right? There are some leaders that sort of, you know, I've had some feedback where someone has said, well, a staff member brings me an issue, I'd like them to bring me a solution. Jodi Lynn Morris: And that's fine if… Jodi Lynn Morris: And we want to encourage that. That's part of that open communication, it's part of the culture, and so on and so forth. And we need to be aware that staff may just not be aware of what the options are. So if we are listening to understand, and we are listening to ensure that we know what the difficulty is. Jodi Lynn Morris: For us, that might lead to a different problem, or a different… a different solution. Jodi Lynn Morris: Than what we originally were gonna out of the gate just for. Curt Hammond (he/him): Right, right. So sometimes it's that unknown, right? We just don't… you know, with many of these conversations, it's just starting with that unknown a bit. Thanks for that, Jody Lynn. Any question anyone want to jump in with a question before we move on to the next section? Curt Hammond (he/him): Feel free to drop them in the chat. Curt Hammond (he/him): We'll grab those. So, yeah, thanks for that, Juggling. Great stuff. Next up is… resilience. Jodi Lynn Morris: So, let's talk about team resilience. What is this? Jodi Lynn Morris: So it is about the collective, it is about the team, and it is about a team's ability to recover, grow stronger, and adapt. Jodi Lynn Morris: And, sort of, when I think about team resilience, I often think about clients, for example, who've been through a traumatic incident, and there's this concept referred to as sort of traumatic growth, that sort of even within, sort of, the difficulties of, sort of, anything traumatic that may happen to someone. Jodi Lynn Morris: there is growth there. So whether that, you know, whether that be sort of an acknowledgement that in… Jodi Lynn Morris: you… you're a survivor, right? Like, there was more courage and more bravery, than you realized you had. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? And so… This… team resilience is sort of… Jodi Lynn Morris: This component where we sort of look at the collective, how they are supporting each other. Jodi Lynn Morris: Maintaining their relationships, Jodi Lynn Morris: And sort of in the… when they are approached with challenges, when they are… when there is stress, present. Jodi Lynn Morris: You can go to the next slide, please, Kurt. So there are, Jodi Lynn Morris: five components. You'll see that, sort of, some of this overlaps, which is not accidental. So when it comes to team resilience, I think it's… we'll start on the left-hand side around shared purpose and values. Jodi Lynn Morris: So, when we have… and your organizations will have values, they'll have mission statements, they will, you know, that is the glue. That is what drives the work. That is what sort of brings you all together as an organization. Jodi Lynn Morris: So if those are clear, they provide direction. They link staff and leadership in a way for that sort of common purpose. It also sort of Jodi Lynn Morris: lays groundwork. It lays, you know, so when you have a challenge, or there's something going on, that is what you can go back to. That is what… Jodi Lynn Morris: you, as a leader, can bring forward and say, well, okay, what's our value, right? Like, what's the common goal here? What… what are we… what are we working towards? Jodi Lynn Morris: It provides cohesion, right? It sort of supports kind of what you're doing. Jodi Lynn Morris: And… Jodi Lynn Morris: So that might be a piece where, sort of, you know, is everybody on board? Do you need to sort of have a conversation organizationally around what are the values, what is the mission statement, is it still accurate and current? Things change over time, right? And sort of what your organization started with as values and goals. Jodi Lynn Morris: may still fit, and may just need to also have a little bit of a brush-up, a little bit of a polish, right? Engage staff in that. Support them. They're the ones doing the work, they're the ones engaging with the community. Have them have input. It supports team resilience. Jodi Lynn Morris: The second component, there's psychological safety, again. Again, sort of having… Jodi Lynn Morris: staff be able to sort of speak up, and have ideas, and not be concerned and worried. I think sort of the caveat for that is there still may be concern and worry when they speak up. It's our reactions, Jodi Lynn Morris: as sort of leaders. I mean, I can remember very clearly in the past where I have been brought into meetings and asked for my opinion, and based on the leader's response, I knew it was falling on deaf ears, right? They were dismissive, they moved on quickly, there was a lack of that care piece that I talked about earlier. Jodi Lynn Morris: And so, I think it is important to tune in to our staff, tell me more about that, how do you think that might work, can we explore that in a different way? Sort of, again, all these other questions that can be asked with curiosity and openness, sort of helps support the psychological safety that someone might have. Jodi Lynn Morris: So then we have strong communication. Oh, look, there's that one too again. Jodi Lynn Morris: it's a similar concept, right? Sort of, are we open? Are we… you know, and at times, there's information as leadership we can't necessarily divulge, to staff until certain timing pieces happen, and so on. And yet, I would challenge back and sort of support Jodi Lynn Morris: can we… Jodi Lynn Morris: continue to engage in an open conversation, even saying there's information that just sort of is not ready yet, right? Or, sort of, there's more coming for this, and sort of… and acknowledge that that's an unknown, and that that will be uncomfortable. Jodi Lynn Morris: And yet, we are sort of stuck with sort of some of those things, because of other factors, right? Jodi Lynn Morris: And I think the biggest one is when I worked for a ministry, oftentimes, we would know things as leaders, and yet the ministry's like, can't tell anybody yet! So it really wasn't my choice and decision, it just was what, was given to me, right? Again, being open around, sort of, there's more stuff coming, the ministry's in charge of that, sort of being able to communicate in that way. Jodi Lynn Morris: adaptability. I think that this is a really tough one for staff, with having… Jodi Lynn Morris: them, because really what we're looking at is sort of where is there an opportunity for staff to cover for each other, right? If, you know, Sue's having a hard time and needs to step away from the reception desk, can someone just kind of step in to allow her that time, right? So that does mean some cross-training, potentially. Jodi Lynn Morris: And it requires some experimentation. It's not always going to be appropriate, and yet, again, where is there opportunity? Where is there possibility? Jodi Lynn Morris: the example that probably I will not go into talks about, you know, an organization that might have an outreach worker, and how in a particular sort of crisis situation, that particular staff member, who, although is an outreach staff and sort of is in the community a bit more, shifts and adapts and starts helping to support grant writing. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? And so there's sort of some of those, strategies that sort of you can look at internally for sort of where is there an adaptable Jodi Lynn Morris: opportunity. Jodi Lynn Morris: Okay, and then we have mutual support. Jodi Lynn Morris: So mutual support really is about, again, right, it's decreasing an individual's sort of burden and sort of sense of stress, that they're not alone. And so this… Jodi Lynn Morris: can be about balancing workloads. This can be about looking out for each other, right? Oh, I see Sue's having a hard time, she's had a really busy morning in reception, you know, I'm just gonna step in and sort of say, why don't you go to the bathroom, get yourself some water, take your time, whatever. Jodi Lynn Morris: sort of that… I mean, some of the strategies there is sort of setting up a bit of a mentorship program or a peer support internally, so that staff have maybe their first go-to. Jodi Lynn Morris: their first kind of source of support, before it necessarily needs to get escalated. Again, we're going to normalize that in the culture, right? We're gonna look at Jodi Lynn Morris: How this supports workplace wellness, so staff don't feel isolated, so staff don't feel like they've got to problem-solve something on their own and find a solution, that they can reach out and find support and kind of move forward. Jodi Lynn Morris: I was gonna say something else, but I've lost it. So, I'm not sure, Jodi Lynn Morris: Oh, I guess, Jodi Lynn Morris: I was gonna go… I was gonna give an example of the strong communication that happened recently for myself. Jodi Lynn Morris: We had a situation arise where we had a client who we needed to reschedule. At times, it can be very difficult. A, I had to leave a voicemail for the client, so then calls coming back into the organization from the client. I wanted to make sure, that everybody was, Jodi Lynn Morris: well aware of sort of how to manage when this client called back. And so that did require, an email, and it required an email to a variety of departments in our organization, so that everybody was on the same page, so when this client called back, everyone sort of knew, and it was very clear. Jodi Lynn Morris: Depending on how the client responded and reacted, how staff were supposed to sort of support that client. Jodi Lynn Morris: Again. Jodi Lynn Morris: one clear email, I was open to conversation, and open to discussion, but it wasn't needed, because when the client called back in, front desk was able to support that client without necessarily me needing… me needing to be involved. Curt Hammond (he/him): stuff. So much good stuff here. Lots to unpack. It's quarter two already, so I just want to… Jodi Lynn Morris: No, no. Curt Hammond (he/him): I… yes, I know you've got lots of good stuff here, so… Curt Hammond (he/him): I just want to give you that… maybe another 10 minutes, and then we'll… and if anyone does have questions, please jump in into the chat, and we can… we can pass those on. So, Jordan, thanks for all the good content here, and I know you're… you've got a bunch of stuffing… and we'll share these slides, in our follow-up as well. Jodi Lynn Morris: Okay. Jodi Lynn Morris: So we can… Blow past this, this is fine. Curt Hammond (he/him): K. Jodi Lynn Morris: So these were just some statistics on mental health. Although they're fairly dated, we would… we would sort of hear at Compass echo that the sort of these continue to be sort of relevant, albeit anecdotal from our work. They are still, quite relevant. Jodi Lynn Morris: the cost, I'm gonna say, of workplace disability leaves for mental health probably is higher. Jodi Lynn Morris: Then, especially post-pandemic, especially post, as we grow, post that very significant event for the world, mental health is just seen, differently, as it once was. Jodi Lynn Morris: Go ahead to flip forward there, Kurt. Jodi Lynn Morris: Again, I don't… I think… I think we all probably are aware that by investing in, sort of, someone's mental health and sort of seeing them in this way supports them. Supports them to come to work, supports productivity, and supports them feeling satisfied. Jodi Lynn Morris: Both in their own life, as well as, in the job. Jodi Lynn Morris: Next slide. Jodi Lynn Morris: So, I appreciate that, sort of. Jodi Lynn Morris: I told Kurt I had too much information and not enough time. Jodi Lynn Morris: So I want you to just sort of take a minute, and I want you to think about, do you know what are the current strategies that your staff are using, if any? Jodi Lynn Morris: What are they using in the office? Do you know what they use at home? Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? Jodi Lynn Morris: And what strategies are supported by you as leaders and in organizations? For example, I take a walk. I have a 12-minute route around the building, and I communicate with my supervisor and say, I just need to go for a walk, and off I go. Jodi Lynn Morris: Other staff will do the same. We all have different confines to sort of our work, so I have a little bit more flexibility than potentially some of my mental health therapists do. However, that can also be part of their day as well, and they are supported to do that, so we know that. Jodi Lynn Morris: So I just want you to consider, sort of, what do you know about, sort of, your staff and how they take care of themselves. Jodi Lynn Morris: Go ahead, sorry. Jodi Lynn Morris: So, strategy number one, sort of out of the gate, is to sort of take a break. Jodi Lynn Morris: Schedule a break, keep your appointment with yourself, making sure that, sort of, you do that. Again, we go back to the role modeling, that I talked about earlier, that as leaders, what are you doing? What are you showing your staff? Are you showing up at 7.30 in the morning and working and sending emails at 11 o'clock at night? Are you having appropriate boundaries? Are you taking time? Are you integrating work and life? And has it flows, sort of, throughout your day? Jodi Lynn Morris: Demonstrating that and role modeling that Jodi Lynn Morris: Especially this strategy around taking a break is important. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? Jodi Lynn Morris: I think part of this is, when I was doing the sort of work and prepping for this, is sort of another strategy we have called habit stacking, right? And so, again, this is where you can combine what you're already doing. Jodi Lynn Morris: So if you already go to the gym, if you already have a tea in the morning, right? Can you take a break, take some deep breaths while doing that, right? Jodi Lynn Morris: And encouraging staff, you know, one of my go-to strategies is when I'm drinking my tea in the morning, I wrap my hands around my mug, I feel the warmth of that, and I just sort of sink into, take a deep breath around, sort of, my day is starting. Jodi Lynn Morris: This is a good thing. Jodi Lynn Morris: And you don't have to, it's not big. It's not a big thing. I already drank my tea. It's just a habit that I've stacked around gratitude, breathing strategies, depending on how I'm feeling that particular day. Jodi Lynn Morris: Let me go to the next slide. Jodi Lynn Morris: Strategy number two, which is, again, one, like I said earlier, I don't ever recommend and suggest anything that I haven't tried myself and don't do. Gratitude, which we… was an exercise we started with and I demonstrated, was, Jodi Lynn Morris: is a big one. Research has actually shown that when we sit and are present in gratitude, no other emotion is present. If there isn't another emotion present, you have moved out of gratitude. And so sitting, and being grateful, and it's… Jodi Lynn Morris: And again, sort of… The… underneath the daily gratitude are sort of some suggestions, and… Jodi Lynn Morris: making sure that we're not adding to our, stressors, adding one more thing to the list of things that we do in a day, that's not what I'm trying to do. Again, we go back to habit stacking, right? Gratitude pause when I drink my tea in the morning. I am grateful that I am sitting here with my cup of tea, the sun is shining, and move on. Jodi Lynn Morris: Whether you start with a morning intent, whether you do an at-the-end-of-day reflection, gratitude is very supportive of mental health. Jodi Lynn Morris: wins check in. This is where, you know, can you check in? Can you say to staff, what have you done really well? And point out to staff what you are observing and seeing as something, and have them sort of sit in and lean into, yeah, I did that. And they may not consider that a win. Jodi Lynn Morris: And yet, in your world as the leader. Jodi Lynn Morris: If they had not done that, what would that have meant for your organization, right? Like, if someone doesn't answer the phone, what does that mean? Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? And that's a win. Thank you, thank you for answering the phone and being kind with that person. I heard that, and I am very grateful that you're here. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? Again, sort of, what does that do to provide communication, culture, care, all of the things that we've… I've been talking about today, and sort of supporting our staff. Jodi Lynn Morris: The next one is a grounding strategy. I'm not going to go into that, too much. It is just sort of one of the frequently recommended strategies, because it does sort of appeal to our five senses, which is supportive of our nervous system and grounding. Jodi Lynn Morris: In that way, and sort of making us feel like we are stable and secure and safe. And so there's lots of stuff you can… Jodi Lynn Morris: call me if you need to ask me anything. Don't necessarily go on Google and figure it out. Jodi Lynn Morris: So yeah. And… Jodi Lynn Morris: wrapping, kind of, this up is around, sort of, what does mental health look like in the workplace, right? Being open, us as Jodi Lynn Morris: leaders being vulnerable around, you know what, I'm having a tough day. Setting boundaries and saying, if staff come to you and say, is this really urgent? I need 10 minutes before I have a conversation with you, right? Role modeling these things for them so that it normalizes it, and it engages in a different conversation, and sort of supports, the culture. Jodi Lynn Morris: We're gonna listen, we're gonna try to listen, we're gonna validate, yeah, that's hard, that sounds really tough, and then we're gonna provide some support, rather than… Jodi Lynn Morris: ignoring validation. Validation is where change can happen. And so… Jodi Lynn Morris: In order to sort of hear someone, we need to be able to sort of validate and understand and empathize with sort of where they are. Jodi Lynn Morris: And I… we encourage to have conversations about mental health. We need to change the narrative on that, we need to change the stigma, and make it part of regular conversation. Jodi Lynn Morris: The next slide is a ridiculous chart that, once again, I will thank ChatGPT for supporting my… my learning. I won't go through it. I think if you look at, sort of, what are the things that pop out, what's popping out is trust and safety. What's popping out is, Jodi Lynn Morris: trust and safety, right? Like, it comes up multiple times in multiple of these things. It's about psychological safety and how to support staff to be open and communicative. Jodi Lynn Morris: And it's about engagement and increasing their coping, right? So… Jodi Lynn Morris: Role modeling, how you're coping, how you're figuring out and finding a solution for stress, and sort of some of that resistance that maybe Jodi Lynn Morris: Part of our work environments, and how… how we can practically, encourage staff, to be well, and, and the team to be resilient, and to continue to sort of manage our mental health in the workplace. Jodi Lynn Morris: So I'm just gonna… this can be your takeaway. I want you to reflect, I want you to take some time, whether that be while you're eating your lunch, whether that be on the car ride home. Jodi Lynn Morris: Just take a minute and reflect on your workplace wellness and what you're currently doing, and where might there be opportunities, right? Where is there resistance? Where do you find that you are resisting? Oh, I can't do that, oh, we can't do that? And can you take a look at those where that comes up, and can you lean into Jodi Lynn Morris: What's possible? Jodi Lynn Morris: Have I… can I think about this in a different way? Can I… Jodi Lynn Morris: Engage staff in a conversation about what might that look like, because our ideas might not be theirs. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? What are ways that you individually can grow in your own resilience at home and at work? Jodi Lynn Morris: And what are strategies? We've talked about some today. Jodi Lynn Morris: And encourage yourself to be reflective about what you're doing, to support yourself. Jodi Lynn Morris: actively, right? So back to that original sort of slide where it's, like, our wellness and what are we actively doing, to support ourselves. Curt Hammond (he/him): Awesome. Curt Hammond (he/him): Another historian's coordinates. Curt Hammond (he/him): We'll pass those on. Curt Hammond (he/him): In our summary, Jody, oh my gosh, so much great stuff there. Thank you. Curt Hammond (he/him): Let me just… there we go. Do we have time? We've got time for maybe one quick question for Jody Lynn, and I know that's, Curt Hammond (he/him): That's tight, but does anyone want to jump in with a question, either in the chat or, turning off your mic and… Curt Hammond (he/him): Picking Jody Lynn's brain. Jodi Lynn Morris: There may not be much left after that, but I'll try. Curt Hammond (he/him): Let me just throw a quick one at you here. Not seeing anybody jumping in. What's the most common mistake leaders make as they try to step into this Curt Hammond (he/him): conversation around mental health and team resilience. Like, as we… as we think about really owning this conversation in our organizations, what are some of those common mistakes you see leaders making, and how can we Curt Hammond (he/him): How can we bypass those or avoid those? Jodi Lynn Morris: I think that, sort of, one of the things is that leaders may be aware of an issue, or aware of a concern for their staff. Curt Hammond (he/him): And they either think, well. Jodi Lynn Morris: They'll come to me if they need anything. Jodi Lynn Morris: Is a bit of a, Jodi Lynn Morris: Or it'll go away. You know, I just… it'll go away, it'll resolve itself, and so on, and sort of we avoid or ignore or whatever language we want to use. And that's not always the case. I strongly feel that there is a way to ask questions. There's often some resistance with leaders that, well, I can't ask certain questions, or I can't have certain conversations. Jodi Lynn Morris: And I challenge back. I think you can, I think you can ask questions, I think you can be… Jodi Lynn Morris: you can listen in a way that validates and supports a staff member. They may not be willing. Jodi Lynn Morris: to sort of bring it forward, or sort of not engage you in a conversation around finding a solution, and yet you're still communicating with them that you are open and willing to sort of support them and provide them with that care. Jodi Lynn Morris: I, you know, some of the questions that we ask around here are, what do you need? Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? Curt Hammond (he/him): Mmm, that's a great one, yes. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? Yeah. And again, we're a bit socialized to sort of have an automatic response of, like, I don't know. And so, as leaders, sort of, you know, knowing our staff and being able to say, you know, even prepping for this, my super… my boss was like, can I get you your tea in the morning? Would that be helpful to sort of support you in sort of prepping for this? Jodi Lynn Morris: I would not have thought of that. Jodi Lynn Morris: Right? You know, and sort of having those conversations with staff, because it's not about necessarily problem-solving it, it would be about sort of encouraging the conversation and encouraging a culture, through that communication. Curt Hammond (he/him): Brilliant. I love that. I realize your question. What strategies are my staff using? Like, it's taking it off me entirely and putting it on them. I think that's a really powerful question for us to be taking away as we go back to our teams this afternoon. Curt Hammond (he/him): We're almost in a time. Jodi Lynn Morris: Sorry to cut you off, but this is really a shared, right? Like, this is a… when we look at, sort of, these concepts, it really is a shared. Curt Hammond (he/him): Excellent, great. Jodi Lynn Morris: in shared responsibility, and again, sort of through the concepts, that sort of I've chatted about today, it encourages staff to sort of take responsibilities, as well as us as leaders. Curt Hammond (he/him): Love that. Oh, brilliant. Excellent. What a great way to… powerful way to end this. Let's give an oak tree thanks and appreciations to Jody Lynn, yes, thank you very much. Curt Hammond (he/him): Everyone, thank you for joining us today. A pleasure. Lots of great learnings. Thanks to Jody Lin, thanks to Will for pulling us together. Hopefully, we will see you next week. We're going to be joined by Curt Hammond (he/him): my colleague Sean Yeoh, and we're gonna… Curt Hammond (he/him): kind of parallel this conversation, and think about AI and how we can start thinking about embracing that in our organizations. It's going to be a little strategic, and then we're going to have some toys and tools just to paint a picture of what some of the things we're seeing organizations using. Again, to Jordy Lynn's point, and I think there's another parallel, this is everyone's responsibility, and it's a… both of these are cultural conversations. So I think as we're maybe leaving today. Curt Hammond (he/him): Thinking about my team's wellness, embracing technology starts with culture. So, with that, thank you all very much for your time.