¶ Introduction to Compassionate Leadership
Why the World Health Organization , in 2019 , did a study that burnout is not a buzzword , it is an occupational phenomenon . Because of what you just brought up , I'm not going to go to my boss and tell my boss how I feel today .
Hello and welcome to Notes on Resilience . I'm your host , manya Chylinski . My guest today is Jasmine Dennis . She's a seasoned expert in creating and implementing transformative workplace wellness programs . Today , we talked about identifying emotional burnout , the role of compassion in leadership and how to champion workplace health and wellness .
You're going to really enjoy this conversation , jasmine . I'm so excited to have you on the podcast .
Very excited to be here .
Before we dive into the topic , what's one thing that you've done in any area of your life that you never thought you would do ?
Oh gosh , I have to tell you that skydiving you did . Moons ago I was with a company and they had a golfing club , a skydiving club , and I thought how hard can that be ? Because this guy , who's gonna be there with you , he's gonna fear for his life . So he's got to be careful .
And I tell you , I went through every single emotion a human being could go through . I bet you did yes , and I promise God that if you ever get me through this , I'll never do it again . Never , never , done it again .
Well , hey , you took a literal leap of faith . That is amazing .
Yes , what else could scare you as to be out there in the open ? And it's not a soft landing if you miss .
Yeah , oh , my goodness , wow , wow , wow , wow . Thank you for sharing that . We are talking about compassionate leadership today and before we hit record , you and I were talking about how important compassionate leadership is to identifying and preventing emotional burnout in the workplace . Tell me more about that .
Oh , first of all , you have to dissect what is compassion right . It's empathy , it's learning to listen , it's creating a safe space for someone .
So a compassionate leader has to literally be conscientious about the work environment and how they are going to show up every single day , because in order for burnout not to happen in the workplace , compassion has to be the cornerstone of that workplace and creating a culture where compassion thrives .
Yes , and I'm fully in agreement with everything you just said . Question though if a company is dealing with a lot of burnout in their executives and their teams , what are some steps they can do to become more compassionate or to tune into their compassion ?
To become more compassionate or to tune into their compassion , to change that environment , because it seems to me that companies kind of get stuck in these cycles , and what's a way to get out of ?
that . Well , the first thing I would tell a company right off the bat they have to know to identify emotional burnout . Okay , to know to identify emotional burnout Okay . If they can't identify that themselves or their team or their employee is in emotional burnout , it is not going to help . So that is why I always paint a visual picture of burnout pie .
The burnout pie . Tell us about that .
If I walked up to you and said you know , you said Jasmine , you know I really like apple pie , the burnout pie , tell us about that . If I walked up to you and said you know , you said Jasmine , you know I really like apple pie , I really like peach pie and you know I'd like you to bring one over to me .
You know , come by and bring me a pie , please do . By the way , yes , yes , if you eat that pie in one sitting , you're going to be sick . Now , the pie comprised of a lot of stuff long ingredients that's good for you , long ingredients that are not good for you . However , if you slice that pie , let's take it for the burnout pie .
Visual enough so the compassionate leader can see to say I am going to rule and develop this culture of being a compassionate leader by looking at that burnout pie and the slices . I've always said not more than eight slices . How do you eat an elephant , little bites at a time , right ?
Yes , yes , I say to someone don't you look and you see your staff , and this happened where a whole section of that company is in burnout based on their actions . So you see the pie slices you'll have . You know , for instance , lack of energy , you'll have no productivity , detachment in the workplace , stability in the workplace .
You'll have just chronic stress in the workplace . I say to that leader by being empathetic , by being conscious of how you're running your team , do a checkup from the neck up for everyone .
Create a space where your employees are going to feel safe to come in and say you know what , today I am not at my best , I didn't sleep well last night , and so that's a key . If it's a compassionate leader , there's that first key to helping that individual . Most leaders will look past that you didn't sleep last night .
They're probably going to ask that person oh , were you up watching TV ? Are you sick ? No , you ask that individual to say tell me
¶ The Burnout Pie: Identifying Emotional Exhaustion
. When you say , tell me a story , or use the word tell me what's going on with you , tell me why you didn't sleep last night . Don't assume that you know why that person didn't sleep last night and that person feels safe enough to say I really don't know , or maybe I missed my deadline at work , or maybe I don't when I go to work .
I don't understand why . I feel I'm not a part of that team . And so a compassionate leader will start to say okay , I'm going to work on that slice of pie , because that is what I can control . Yes , yes , can't control the whole pie , not yet anyway .
Right , I want to add to what you said . I've I talked to a lot of people about the concept of resiliency and compassion , and something I've heard from coaches and consultants and employees is how rare it is for a leader to actually ask and listen to the answer of what is really going on with you . What do you really need ? How can I help ?
Yes , and that is what you find . A compassionate leader will slowly work through their team by helping them one slice at a time . There's going to come a time when that leader is going to recognize that that person is out of the burnout pie . Their productivity is high , their energy is high , people are not yawning every two minutes .
They feel like there's an open door policy . That leader create a really nice space for them to go in and share . They are not driven by the demands of the job and all of a sudden they're wondering . And if they take stats of this from when they start working on that pie , they're going to realize that all of a sudden something has changed here .
The numbers are up in as many sick days off .
I want to dig a little deeper into this . What if the leader themselves is struggling with burnout ? In some workplaces there's so much pressure and we've shrunk in the workforce , but people are taking on more responsibility . What happens in that situation if the leader is burned out and maybe can't even identify what's going on with the team ?
Excellent . This is why , in creating a workplace health and wellness program , you find some companies will think you're only talking about the employees and not themselves . You have to lead by example . And so , therefore , in creating this wellness program , I start with the leaders . I say tell me how you feel Before I start to create a program for your employees .
I want you to tell me how you feel . I want to know if I need to deal with the leader before I attack , because this leader has to lead by example and I'm going to have to give strategy . Of course that applies to the burnout pie . Of course that applies to the burnout pie . I'd say okay , how do you feel when you wake up in the morning ?
Do you have anxiety leading your team ? Do you have constant pressure of your team not producing , and how does it affect you ? How do you feel ?
So , in getting to the leaders and sometimes I do a program where the leaders I start off with the leaders first , sometimes program where the leaders I start off with the leaders first sometimes , and sometimes I want the leaders to be a part of it , because I want the employees to understand that leaders are humans as well .
They're human , they have frailties , just like anyone else . They walk , they talk , and if you find a space where they're vulnerable enough to show that yeah , I might have been irritable with you yesterday and be smart enough to go and say I apologize , I know why I was irritable with you yesterday . I promise to do better .
And it starts off when a leader acknowledges within themselves that they're not superhumans and that they do have the same aching pains that we do have . They have that sense where they figure okay , I'm not going to be judged by my staff or my higher ups , we're all here together .
And that's when I when I find , when I speak to leaders , they feel good when everyone
¶ When Leaders Face Burnout
is on the same page .
Yes , and what I'm hearing as you're saying this is building this underlying trust in each other as team members .
Yes , and you find that it works . You know , really like we all have our times when we feel me included and I have this visual that I walk around with me , and the reason I created the burnout pie is because I want that visual , because I want to stop and say okay , jasmine , why are you driving like a mad maniac on the street to get the disappointment ?
Driving like a mad maniac on the street to get the disappointment ? It's not worth it . What is there that is propelling you to be anxious ahead of time ? Because remember our actions today . If you come home and you say my son is crying today and I don't want my son , kids would normally say no , there's nothing wrong .
However , tell me , tell me , make it in a storyboard , tell me how you feel today . They will tell you that they had a rough day at school or a rough day at work .
Yes , I feel like when you say tell me how you feel . There are some workplaces where , where that would be a hard sell and we still have that division of work , is this place , it's professional , and home is where you have your feelings , and never the twain shall meet .
That is so true . That is why the World Health Organization , in 2019 , did a study that burnout is not a buzzword . It is an occupational phenomenon where , because of what you just brought up , like I'm not going to go to my boss and tell my boss how I feel today Well , if that continues , if that continues , the end result is not good .
So it's all an education program and when I go in , I either say my Jazzy , health and Wellness can help you do that , or we can train someone . So it is consistent . There's got to be an era where you work it down , and I know there's some tough workplaces . I've often said health and wellness is not a sexy word .
People think when you talk wellness , it's about weight loss and it's about all those stuff . It's about the whole . On my website , the logo is a circle and I did that because it's a circle of life . All go through the circle of life and it's all in educating . Some companies do it very well , some companies are open to do it .
Some companies start the program and it falls by the wayside because another boss will come in and another leader will come in and think very different , and I'm telling you , I've seen leaders that are not compassionate at all . None of the words of compassion ever flow through that person's vein , so that person's going to have a toxic work environment .
I heard on someone's podcast and they gave an analogy of the rider and the elephant . I'm going to equate the employees as the rider and the leaders as the elephant . And it might seem that the employees can lead the leaders , but it's not so , because it's so ingrained in the workplace and in the communities and even in the household .
The husband might say I'm the leader of this house , the community , you know they have different tiers of community . And in the workplace they might say well , I am your boss and this is what goes .
Just have to like the elephant , one company at a time , and try to educate them that in this phase that we're in of real , real burnout stress , we need to have a different mindset . So it takes a different . I might not be qualified to change some of the minds of some of these leaders , but hopefully , if you drop a nugget and you give a hint
¶ Breaking Down Workplace Communication Barriers
and if your department is constantly lagging behind , we're hoping that it will change . We can only hope that it changes . Takes more than me to go in and change the minds .
Yes , Well , you mentioned something very interesting that I think about a lot , which is you can get a new leader come in who decides they're not going to necessarily do some of the old programs or what have you , or they're going to ignore them .
And I think about how important it is to embed compassion into the culture and into the systems so that one person might have a different approach , but they can't upend the whole system . But they can't upend the whole system , and if they are toxic , then they somehow get moved out of that role much more quickly .
I want to see these things become just so much more embedded versus . It depends on whether you have a good manager or not .
Absolutely . They have to have some form of a metric If they want this compassionate leader in the company . It has to be a part of their blueprint so that the leader that is coming in is going to say oh you know , of course they're going to give their input for changes , right .
Of course they're going to give their input for changes , right , but it's to have a series of an open door policy . It's not hard to have an open door policy , right , it's to prioritize employee well-being . How do you do that ? You might say , okay , I'm going to have you know , this is the way it works .
We encourage our employees to go out and do some laughing yoga , which I really . You know , the mind does not know the difference whether it's real or unreal . So this right , but I'm going to go with that because I've done it myself and it works . Is that leader going to encourage that person ? Because this is non-traditional , right , this is non-traditional .
Okay , you break time , you're free . They might see one person out there doing that laughing yoga and it starts with maybe just a chuckle . And the more you , if you try it , Manya , the more you laugh . I get myself when you have friends and you know the tears running down because you're laughing so hard .
Yes , you can do that , and it's become a part of the fabric of that organization , so someone doesn't come in and just take everything away , right ? What do you think we're missing in leadership training and in how we're bringing people up through the organization ? When it comes to preparing people to lead with compassion ?
What we're missing , literally , is communication , effective communication and compassion those two hand in hand . And how do you communicate ? Some of the ways that I say to you you bring it up through the organization is based on .
Some of the ways that I say you bring it up through the organization is based on having you have a simple place , which is your open door policy , which creates safety . Trust is very important , extremely important , to have the trust to know that you're going to be that compassionate leader , you're going to feel free and you're going to lead by example .
Really , you have to lead by example , and that's what your question before leading by example by coming in there and saying , okay , this is , I took over a company , just divert , just slightly , took over a company many , many years ago .
This was a wellness company that I was building and the first thing I did and I remember when I walked in they were removing one leader out of the main post that was putting me in as the head of the organization , which was not you know .
I got bombarded with a lot of stuff , but anyway , the first thing I did I didn't care how long it took me before I made I wrote a procedure manual , procedure manual , policy and procedure manual . I sat down .
That was my first order , even though they brought me on initially as a consultant to bring the company up financially to take it out of it's going this way , even though I said I'm not going to do if I don't sit down and if everyone does not have something to go by , we're never going to be successful .
So I locked myself in an office and I start off with you know and simple things . There were simple things . I said to the trainers the boardroom is not your closet . Take your gym bags and your sweaty shirts out of that room . Created that room where , when we go in there , this is what we do in that room .
Jasmine , we are getting close to the end of our time so fast and I know it goes by so quickly . What do you think
¶ Developing a Wellness Culture
is one step that a company and its leaders can take right now easily to just move the needle to becoming more compassionate ?
Develop a wellness culture . Develop a wellness culture is number one . Takes many steps to get there , but if you can develop this wellness culture and I've seen a company that's so good at it you walk through that front door and you can feel it . You can feel the energy . Energy is something that is very contagious .
So , if they develop , the one thing right away is develop . Don't worry about the steps to get there , Worry about putting it down and says this is what I'm going to do for my team . Absolutely , Absolutely .
Oh , that's excellent . Commit to building that wellness culture . Don't worry about the steps immediately , but get yourself there . Jasmine , thank you so much . Before we go , can you please share with our listeners a little bit more about yourself and how they can learn about you and your business ?
Oh , fantastic . I am a wellness leader and leadership coach . I create health and wellness programs in workplaces . When I say workplaces , don't take it for only workplaces . It transforms , transcends to your home and the community . And what I do I do speak in engagements community and um . What I do I , I do speak in engagements , I do um .
I have a book , out of several books , but your audience will get a free copy of the hidden signs how to identify emotional burnout in the workplace , and they can get that copy by going to on my website .
Get that copy by going to on my website , jazzdhealthcom , and it's J-A-Z-Z-D-Healthcom , and they fill out that little thing that says give me my free copy from you know , notes of Resilience , and they'll get that copy .
They can also reach me on LinkedIn and I also have a series of developer learning hub on YouTube where there are probably about 20-odd videos on it as we speak and just different on emotional intelligence in the workplace , because in order to get anything done , you must have a little bit of emotional intelligence in order to see what's going on around and be able
to act . And yeah , so they can reach me on LinkedIn , they can reach me on my website , they can Jazzy helps . Just one word on YouTube and they can click through the videos to see what resonates with them .
I will put links to that in the show notes to make it easier for folks to find you , Jasmine . Thank you so much . It's been lovely chatting with you today .
It's been so great and time flies .
It does . It absolutely does , thank you . Thank you for listening . I'm Manya Chylinski . I help organizations build compassionate , resilient teams
¶ Resources and Closing Thoughts
that thrive by creating environments where well-being is at the core . Often , people reach out to me during times of crisis or significant change , but the truth is that building a healthier , more supportive workplace can prevent issues before they arise and empower your teams to thrive no matter what challenges come their way .
If you're ready to make a meaningful change , I'd love to connect . If you haven't already done so , please subscribe , rate and review the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your listening platform of choice . It really helps others find us , and if you'd like to continue the conversation , connect with me on LinkedIn or visit my website , wwwmanyachylinskicom .
Thank you for being part of this journey with me .