#burnout

SixSEED Partners Affiliates: Joy W. Goldman RN, MS, PCC:  CEO SixSEED Partners

Background:

Joy W. Goldman RN, MS, PCC: CEO SixSEED partners and Dr. Larry McEvoy, Founder of Epidemic Leadership co-facilitated a half-day workshop on both/and thinking- polarity thinking for over forty nurse, physician and administrative leaders at WellSpan Health. This was the third year presenting this workshop to WellSpan’s high potential leaders.  WellSpan has expanded the audience from only physician leaders to all leaders in their leadership academy.  Expanding the audience facilitated the collegial sharing within populations that may, absent both/and thinking awareness and capacity, engage in unnecessary conflict which contributes to burnout.

The Strategy:

Dr. McEvoy and Ms. Goldman designed the half-day workshop so that most of the time would be spent physically walking the interdependent tension of “Care for Self” and “Care for Others.”  Since WellSpan, like so many other healthcare systems, are focusing on clinician wellbeing, this tension was relevant for each participant.  In addition to providing an experience of standing in the upsides and downsides of each tension, the participants also used each other as internal consultants with a designed liberating structure that facilitated effective listening.

The Solution: 

The leaders were asked to progress through the polarity map of “Care for Self” and “Care for Others” in silence.  They were invited to scan their body for images, colors, and sensations experienced as they stood in each quadrant of the map.  This provided a profound and clear experience of their values—“This is like me,” and their fear- “This is NOT me.”  When the participants were engaged in the listening exercise, we noticed their difficulty in turning their chairs around and refraining from being part of their triad conversation.

The Impact:

Organically, the leaders had difficulty being associated with the upside of “care for self.”  Their instinctual reaction was to perceive that as being “selfish,” (the overdone expression of care for self).  Their comfort zone was caring for others and they resonated with the overdone care for others to the neglect of care for self, resulting in burnout.  Because their fear (not me) is in the overdone care for self, they began to see that there are healthy actions they can take to better care for themselves.  A participant commented: “Just the eight minutes tuning into my body was healing and when I stood in care for self, it felt relaxing and healthy.” Self care was the topic for their peer coaching/consulting resulting in clear action steps and peer accountability after the workshop.

If this sounds like something from which your leaders can benefit, please reach out and let us know at info@sixseedpartners.com.  Four hours powerfully engaged in this work can lessen burnout!