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This year I made a rather grand goal of raising $1000 for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health through their newly launched “iquit” campaign. The campaign started late, in mid January, and runs until the end of February. I only have a few more days to meet my goal. Right now I’m at 81%, and I am hoping you will help me reach 100%. Any donation is appreciated.

People have reacted in different ways to my choice of a charity to support. Some have said “You are brave” and others have asked me “Is everything okay?” Others wondered if it was the right charity to choose. There is a stigma attached to anything to do with mental health and addiction. I guess these differing reactions are why I chose to support this campaign.

It’s not a popular charity. It’s not easy to talk about. It’s much easier to talk about a broken leg, or other physical illnesses, but not so easy to talk about mental health and addiction. But 1 in 5 people are impacted by mental health and addiction at some point in their life. Yet mental health and addiction issues are still the “hidden illness” that people don’t want to talk about.

During my HR career I’ve seen a young lady not able to handle stress eventually going on long term disability; I’ve driven a “suicidual” employee (with a colleague) to get emergency counselling; I’ve helped someone going through a difficult divorce obtain counselling; I’ve helped an employee who came in late and missed work due to drug and alcohol related issues get into rehab; and on and on. My role as an HR professional is not to provide counselling but to ensure people have access to and obtain the expert counselling they need to become fully functioning people and employees.

Personally as part of the campaign, “iquit” sitting so much. I’ve been using my treadmill. I can’t sit and I have to be more active with people donating to my cause. Hopefully this will become a healthy new habit for the rest of the year!

I thank those of you who have shared very personal stories about how mental or addiction issues have impacted you or those close to you.

I thank those who have already contributed and for those who haven’t, thanks for reading this and for considering helping me reach my goal.

Click here to make a donation now. Your donation can be anonymous if you wish.

Wishing you peace, joy, and tranquility,    Joanne

The campaign is now closed!  Thank you for your support and donations.

Other blog “iquit” blog posts: 

”I quit” – the start

How positive thoughts help us reach our goals - the successful finish!

I was enjoying a coffee with a colleague last month and we chatted about goals for the New Year. I asked her if she created written goals each year. She said she did, but she is careful to highlight the wisdom in the quote - “A goal without a plan is only an illusion.” 

You have a goal, but how will you accomplish it? How will you make it real?

Tips to ensure your goal becomes a reality:

1. Make it SMARTER – Specific, Measureable, Achievable (or Attainable), Results Oriented (or Relevant), Timely – plus – Enthusiastic, and Reinforced!
2. Know what’s in it for you (or the company). Is it worth the effort, time, and money to achieve it?
3. Create an action plan. Use the “swiss cheese method” and poke holes in the goal, to create steps or tasks to accomplish the goal.
4. Now take the tasks and block off time in your daytimer or Outlook.
5. Brainstorm obstacles and constraints and know what might realistically get between you and your goals.
6. Develop solutions to overcome the obstacles and constraints.
7. Create positive statements or affirmations to raise your confidence and to keep you motivated.
8. Visualize or see yourself accomplishing your goals to reinforce your belief that you can do it.
9. Post your goals where you can see them and tell others about your goals so they can help support you and make you accountable.
10. Take the time to celebrate when you reach your goal.

Why create goals?

If you don’t set SMARTER goals, you become like a horse with a carrot dangling in front of it. Galloping and galloping, but never getting that carrot and finally so weary and burnt out that you stop and drop! You never get to your destination!

Think of the carrot as things you just do every day with no goal in mind. Perhaps you eventually reach a destination, but how will you know you have reached your goal if you never set one? There is nothing worse then reflecting back on the year (or worse – the years) and wondering what you have accomplished. If you don’t set goals, you never take the time to recognize and truly celebrate your accomplishments. You get off course, and out of focus working on things that truly aren’t a priority.

Setting written goals will help you succeed. What do you think? Share your comments below.

Happy goal setting, Joanne

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, giving feedback with L.O.V.E. is a relevant topic. A colleague told me she saw the Michael Jackson movie, “THIS IS IT.” She said there were two things that stood out. The first was that Michael Jackson was a genius and a perfectionist when it came to performing and to music. The second was that he was a gentle soul who gave direct feedback, but gave that feedback with L.O.V.E. She said that when his band didn’t quite deliver to the standard he expected he would premise his feedback saying that he was giving it with “L.O.V.E.”

What a novel idea. Feedback given with L.O.V.E will be more accepted by the person receiving it. Perhaps you think that L.O.V.E. doesn’t have a place in the workplace. Why not? All people respond to caring and compassion. Consider feedback given in a harsh and abrupt way, in front of coworkers, in a way that humilates the receiver. Will that feedback be effective? Will it help build a relationship? I don’t think so. I believe that giving feedback with or from a place of L.O.V.E. is much more effective.

Feedback with L.O.V.E.

Here are some tips for giving feedback with L.O.V.E. in a way that will make a positive impact on the person receiving it:

L Lead the meeting in a positive manner while giving the facts and data.
O Open the dialogue by asking for their input and perception of the situation.
V Verify the facts and data and lead the discussion by asking logical
consequence questions*.
E End the meeting with a follow up date, encouragement, and a commitment
to support the employee.

The benefits to the organization are plenty: increased goal achievement, performance improvement, communication, morale, and productivity.

There you have it – a short and sweet process for giving feedback with L.O.V.E.!

Happy Valentine’s Day,

Joanne

P.S. * Logical consequence questioning is a type of questioning that leads a person to form their own conclusion or decision. It is more effective than telling a person what to do because when a person comes to their own conclusion, they own the decision. This skill is taught in our Effective Communication program.

News flash! An article in the Toronto Star reinforces the need to ensure stress coping strategies are available in the workplace. Overall, employees on the bottom of the hierarchy had higher rates of heart disease, mental illness, chronic lung disease, gastrointestinal disease, suicide, depression and back pain. (The Star, January 23, 2010).

Signs of stress in the workplace

The CAMH states that stress presents itself differently in each individual. Signs of stress include:

• Physical symptoms: allergies, migraines, sleep disorders, and more
• Psychological symptoms: irritablity, anxiety, depression, isolation, memory lapses, etc. 
• Behavioural symptoms: aggressiveness, conflict, absenteeism, lower productivity, etc.

Read the complete list of signs of stress by clicking here. 

How can you help reduce stress in the workplace?

Whether your organization has stressful peak periods (like RSP and tax season), or is a year round high-stress organization, it helps to recognize and understand the:

1. scope of stress in the workplace.  The direct costs of stress includes absenteeism, short-term disability, long-term disability, medication, and paramedical costs. Indirect costs include salaries and training costs for replacement staff, reduced productivity, increased turnover, presenteeism, low morale, overtime. One in five people will experience mental health or addiction issues in their lifetime.
2. sources of stress in the workplace. This includes things such as work overload, lack of job stability or advancement, poor communication, role conflict and ambiguity, unrealistic deadlines, no decision making power, poor relationships with management, colleagues, or clients.
3. strategies to solve the problem. Once you know the sources of stress in the workplace, strategies can be developed to prevent or reduce stress such as offering training to management and employees, posting the symptoms of stress in prominent areas, holding regular meetings to open lines of communication, ensuring clear role responsibililties, including EAP programs as part of the benefits plan, and recognizing good performance during a formalized process of performance management. (Chair in Occupational Health and Safety at the University of Laval in Quebec)

Sometimes adding a bit of humour into the workplace to cope with stress will help as well. For example, develop a code word to alert the team to escalating stress levels  (i.e. like “goosefraba” used by the psychologist, Jack Nicholson, to calm his patient, Adam Sandler, in the Anger Management movie).

Over my years of experience in HR, I’ve seen many examples of workplace stress and it can be devastating to the individuals, the people they interact with, and to the company. This year for my New Year’s resolution, I joined the “i quit” campaign to raise my goal of $1000 for The Centre for Mental Health and Addiction. This is the first year for the “i quit” campaign and it started a bit late and will run through February. By fundraising, I’m doing something good and I’m trying to help reduce the impact of mental health ($34 billion) to the Ontario economy. It’s not a popular cause because people don’t like talking about it. That’s why it’s often called the “silent illness.” 

Is it easy to ask people for a donation and to raise awareness of mental health and addiction? No, but that’s why I’m doing it. A side benefit is that with every donation people are sponsoring my “i quit” resolution of not sitting at my desk so much. I’m happy to report that I’m being more active. My treadmill is no longer gathering dust and I’m helping raise money for a worthwhile cause. Thank you to those who have already sponsered my “i quit” efforts. To read more about why “i quit” click here or to make a donation, click here.

Goosefraba, Joanne

P.S. “Goosefraba” is apparently a soothing sound made by Eskimo mothers to sooth their children. I like that! How do you cope with stress? Share your strategies in the comment section!