I had the pleasure of talking with the Otago Regional Business Partner Network about Wellbeing and how we can best approach our current situation in Queenstown and the surrounding areas.
Keep things clear and simple was my advice.
For the past 2 years, it’s been about how we can adapt and pivot with our businesses and employees, not ever really knowing what the next few weeks or months would look like, constantly doing everything we can to avoid the inevitable outbreak.
Now it’s here.
As with any challenges or times of crisis in our lives, you do what you can to support yourself and others. Let’s focus on what really matters right now and I always come back to the Maori Proverb:
He aha te mea nui o te ao
What is the most important thing in the world?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
It is the people, it is the people, it is the people
Let’s not complicate things with any more posters, strategies, to-do lists, and ask this question firstly for yourself:
What is it that I need to feel supported at this time?
How can I best support others?
Support will look like different things for different people.
Support for me these past 2 and a half weeks after my husband was assaulted on the job was receiving meals so I didn’t have to worry about cooking a variety of meals. Accepting help from others offering to take care of our daughter so I could still run my business and take care of myself. Neighbors offering space in their freezers for meals and picking up countdown orders on the day’s none of us wanted to leave the house. A friend lending us a blender to puree meals. And seeing a psychologist so I can make sense of my emotions and have my experience in this situation validated and acknowledged. All because I work in Wellbeing doesn’t mean that I don’t need support too. I could have done everything on my own but that would have denied others of the innate human response to support you when in need and give them a sense of belonging not only to our Whānau but to our community.
In your workplaces, support could be checking in on each other whilst in isolation. Knowing who needs help with groceries to be picked up if they have no one else. Keeping them in the loop with what they will be paid whilst in isolation….no long drawn out documents, just simple facts that they can wrap their heads around and ease one of the stresses they could be experiencing. It could be providing them with some personal development options for their time in isolation so that it is not time wasted.
We are all unique individuals. So my question for you today is what support do you need? Ask your employees what they need. Let’s put people back at the center of our focus and nurture our basic needs. We don’t get through these times alone unscathed, but we can get through them together by allowing others to help us when they offer and are able to. That’s how we rebuild connection and community. That’s how we change the narrative of a pandemic. That’s the key to Wellbeing.