The following is a transcript of our podcast conversation with Dr. Adeola Mead. You can listen to the full episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
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Sarah
Hello and welcome to Humans Beyond Resources, an HR podcast by Reverb, where we cover topics from culture to compliance. Reverb believes that every decision a leader makes reverberates throughout the organization. From hiring your first employee to training your entire workforce. We believe in building healthy, inclusive cultures that engage your team. I’m your host, Sarah Wilkins.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. So we planned a series of conversations talking with different leaders in the wellness space on how to make wellness and particularly mental health a priority in our companies. Joining me today is Dr. Adeola Mead, chief holistic, Wellbeing officer, executive, wellbeing coach, speaker, and consultant. Welcome. Thank you so much. Great. Well, let’s just dive into some questions. First, I just hear from you, and will you share a bit more about you and your passion for wellness?
Dr. Mead
Sure. So, I am a naturopathic physician. I’ve been practicing for over 15 years now. I live in Seattle. I have three young children that I just adore my husband and I just love to spend time outdoors with them or just playing as much as possible. And they’re definitely my inspiration for what I do. I work with individuals and teams and leaders to improve wellness. Holistically and my focus is on natural alternatives to drug therapies. Although I’m well versed in using and prescribing drug therapies, there are just so many things we can do naturally and using nutrition and botanical medicine and lifestyle that help us to recover quite holistically so that is my clinical focus. And over years of practicing in really busy, kind of driven, tech driven, hectic cities like Vancouver, BC, here in Seattle and San Francisco, I saw this common thread of individuals having lots of stress related illnesses that became chronic over time. And a lot of those illnesses came from long term workplace stress that was unmanaged or poorly managed or toxic or unhealthy workplace environments that caused a lot of emotional stress, which led to physical stress. So over the past few years have started to focus more on treating the cause, which is one of the goals of naturopathic medicine, is finding root causes and treating them. And I just found that a lot of the root causes of stress related and chronic illnesses are work related stress. So I started working more in corporate spaces to help organizations and individuals start to prioritize well being.
Sarah
That’s great. And I mean, I hear that every day when I’m talking to people around kind of the burnout, the stress, the need for balance in their lives. So I love that you’re focusing on that and getting to the cause and working with organizations. So, like we had talked about, right? Retention is such a big issue if it’s constantly experienced and we don’t get at the root cause earlier. Absolutely. If you don’t ask the right questions, if you don’t dig and just honestly receive feedback, ask and receive the feedback and then act on it, it’s really hard to figure out what’s going on and then to fix that because before it becomes a huge problem and you start to lose top talent. Yeah. That’s great. One of the things I like to ask people is how do you find wellness? Because it can mean so many different things to different people. And sometimes we think of it really narrowly. But I would love to kind of understand your definition of wellness.
Dr. Mead
Sure. I define wellness as harmonious function both internally and externally. And by internally, I mean mind and body. And when I say function, I mean does this work well? Does this promote survival and joy and peace and all the things that we really want happiness. So mentally that would mean positive thoughts, thoughts that keep us motivated and are true and are well framed so that we can function in our lives and care for ourselves and the people in our communities. And physically, do all of our physical systems work well together? Do they play nicely together? Because we are an association of microbiota and physical parts of our bodies and different systems that are supposed to intertwine and work and really interrelated. So are all those pieces working together in our bodies physically so that we can metabolically function? So that’s internally and then externally I think community is a big part of wellness too. Are we functioning in our relationships in a way that promotes health and harmony and then also sort of a sense of a connection with something bigger than we are. So a sense of purpose that starts within and moves outside of us. So ways that we can contribute to community and to values that matter to us. So that internal and external harmonious function is what I define wellness as. That’s great. And as you talked about community and purpose, part of that can come from your own individual things you do outside of work. But a lot of that could also come from work, right? Yeah, absolutely. And hopefully it would dovetail very well with who you are and what you consider important. And hopefully the organization that you’re working with aligns with that so that your work is just like an extension of what you feel like your purpose is in the ways that you feel you can contribute.
Sarah
That’s great. Yeah, and it’s such a big part of the total wellness picture. So we kind of hit on this already as far as like burnout, stress, balance being things that we’re hearing about. I know you hear about it. I hear about it with our clients. How can business leaders and individuals focus on wellness to reduce these things in our daily lives?
Dr. Mead
Yeah. I would say to begin with a mindset of prevention and not assume that it’s not going to happen to me, it’s not going to happen to us or I’ll do some damage control once I get there. We really need to start prioritizing wellness and putting as part of our routine little opportunities to reflect and course correct if we’re getting off of our ideal path as an organization or as an individual. So that requires a lot of self awareness, it requires a lot of reflection, asking for feedback, being open, being vulnerable. But until we get to a point where we start to prioritize that process, it’s going to be really hard to just magically find wellness around every corner. Like wellness and happiness are things that we create. So if we don’t intentionally create them and create processes like organizations have processes for everything, right? The ones that work well, there’s a process for communication, there’s a process for delivery of goods and we need that same sort of ideology to be applied to wellness and well being too.
Sarah
Yeah and when you work with organizations, say you have an organization and maybe through an employee survey they found that they have a lot of stress, a lot of burnout. People are out of balance. They maybe are having a retention issue like how would you coach them or how would you work with them to kind of identify the cause and put something in place that could improve?
Dr. Mead
Yeah, that’s a good question. So it depends on how much they trust the results of the survey. I think it can be difficult for people on teams to answer as honestly as they would otherwise if they feel like their manager is going to read this or they’re going to know exactly who they are if they’re identified. So I am a big fan of an anonymous survey which my team and I will provide and then working with leaders to figure out exactly what they want to know. But then giving space for people to just event a little bit and to really explain where are the issues with work life balance for you. Some people will say it’s their manager, some people will say it’s caregiving, some people will say that it’s just workload and the general hustle culture or whatever it is in that organization. So you really do need to give people space to share more open and honestly and to feel safe doing that. So there needs to be like a psychological safety around even the way that you ask questions and get feedback. So that’d be the first thing. And then once you do have some good data as to what some of the causes are, I think an important thing is to start to build trust, right? So a lot of times people will send out surveys, organizations will send out surveys and that’s it. People take the time to fill out the survey and they never hear anything else about it. Nothing changes and you’re going to end up with more of a retention issue if you ask people for feedback and then you never act on it and that can lead to more burnout because now people are feeling more cynical about their workplace like, oh, they asked but they never did anything. And that kind of sends you into a tailspin like, what am I even doing here? They don’t really even care about my wellness well being and maybe they start to look somewhere else. So first is making sure people feel safe to answer questions and then to build trust to let people know. We have heard you. Here are some of the results of our survey. Here are some of the major themes and we’re going to work with you to figure some of this out. So do you have some suggestions? Some of this came out of the survey. If not, let’s have another listening session so that we can have some suggestions. But just that open, honest communication I think makes a big difference. So that people can start to feel like, oh, my leaders really care and they’re going to do something. And then shortly after to have a plan. It doesn’t have to be even just making a next step is a good plan. And then from then on to just keep it top of mind nd have everyone in the organization involved. It’s not so much this is something we’re doing for you, it’s more this is something we’re doing with you. So all hands are on deck. And then people can start to feel a sense of responsibility as well in contributing to the well being of the entire culture. I’m going to make this suggestion because I know not only I would benefit, but someone else will also benefit. And now I trust that the leaders are going to act on it. So just always building trust through communication and acting, right? So always just acting even in that small way. And then reassessing too, because I think a lot of times resources and funds are wasted on initiatives that aren’t meeting people’s needs anymore or potentially were never meeting people’s needs if they were just sort of this blanket, let’s just try this, because other organizations are trying it, right? So maybe they’re not meeting people’s needs anymore or they’re only partially meeting people’s needs, but resources are still being funneled in that direction and therefore wasted and you’re not getting the results that you need. So reassessing regularly. Is this working? Do we need to revamp it? Do we need to try something different? And again, just a continuous process of communication, feedback, vulnerability?
Sarah
Yeah, I love so many things that you pointed out there. One, creating the safe space for people to really share. I think that was huge. Like the psychological safety. Because if that’s not there, you’re not going to get good results when you ask for feedback. Acting on it is so key in any instance, right? And especially here, because you start to lose the trust or faith in people that anything will change right, with the responses. And then I love too, because I think there are so many products and tools and things out there that as a leader you could try right, from a wellness perspective, but you may waste funds, it may not be what your team needs. And so I love that you pointed that out and constantly assessing and reassessing and making sure that it’s meeting the needs of the team.
Dr. Mead
Yeah, and I think too, that can sound overwhelming for a lot of leaders. That is a lot of questioning, answering and checking back in and feeling vulnerable because you want to feel like you’re doing the best for people, but you’re also running an organization. So I think it’s really important to have someone or someone who are in charge of that. And with the Pandemic, I think that became more apparent that with everyone just becoming more aware of their need for mental health and for boundaries and for support around that, they started speaking up, I think with to leaders, which is really good, but then there weren’t a lot of systems in place to support that need anymore. And then HR departments are becoming completely overwhelmed and feeling like they need to support everyone, not only in their own role, I think of onboarding and compliance and all the things that HR is amazing at, but now also figuring out everyone’s individual well being meet. So I think it’s really important to have someone who is in charge of that. And that’s part of why I started to shift a bit of our focus as a team and in my consulting is there isn’t really someone in that role. So that’s something we’ll do, sort of factionally, is we’ll just come in and be in charge of that for you so that you don’t have to feel overwhelmed with everything. But you do have this liaison between leadership and teams to figure out what’s working, what’s not working. You have that quick turnaround on reassessment, but also a point person who people can trust and will keep confidence, but also make sure that the ball keeps rolling in the direction of helping people meet their individual needs.
Sarah
Yeah, I love that. And HR in particular has been through a very challenging time. I mean, many people have, but all the things that HR has been expected to COVID was brand new and then the great resignation and then now the economic environment. And we speak to HR leaders all the time and they’ve just got so much on their plates and they want to do more. But there’s just a balance issue. Right, and so having a resource like your team or yourself to help is huge.
Dr. Mead
Yeah, it’s a lot to ask, right. It’s a whole new role and there’s not one person who’s in charge of that. And that just means that a lot less of it gets done because it’s easy to say, well, I thought so and so is doing that, or the other person is doing that, or we’ll get this committee together when all the schedules line up in three months. It’s just like this is not showing up as a priority just because there’s so many other needs that are ahead of it just to keep your business going and that is all normal and natural. But to maintain your business functioning and being productive, you really do need to find a way to prioritize that well being. Otherwise you’ll just start, you continue like bleeding talent and you won’t be able to get as far as you don’t just lead with well being.
Sarah
Yeah, absolutely. And that leads me into our next question was really around kind of what common challenges and themes in employee wellness are you seeing? And obviously time and is huge, but yeah, anything else that comes to mind for you?
Dr. Mead
Yeah, workloads are really high, especially when retention rates are lowered. Then people who are still in the organization are picking up the sock of the people who have left. Right, so then you’re having really high workloads, and I think there’s just been so much anxiety in corporate world and business world over the past several years with so many changes, that there’s just so many people who are dealing with mental health concerns and can’t fully communicate that don’t have the support to best take care of themselves outside of that and are in this environment that is so hectic and so strained and so driven to survival for the organization, but they themselves are struggling to survive. And then it’s just kind of feeding that burnout pipeline because we’re just human, there’s just so much we can do. Even if you’re so passionate about your work and you feel like you’re making a positive contribution, there are just so many hours in the day and it’s really easy to get to that point of exhaustion even if you’re not at the point of burnout. So I’d say workloads and just cultures that are not prioritizing well being really just prioritizing productivity and profit. Burnout is definitely on the rise and I think it’s important to define burnout accurately. Right. Like the World Health Organization has three specific criteria. So workplace burnout comprised of fatigue and exhaustion that isn’t relieved with rest and then a sense of cynicism towards your work and then a sense of ineffectiveness of your work too. So it’s just like I’m tired, I don’t even know what I’m doing here and I don’t think I’m doing that great of a job. Right, so there’s like this misalignment of values and a mistrust of the organization or the leaders and a sense of just overworked and exhausted. And then because of those two things, I think it’d be easy to just feel like I’m not even doing this well anymore. Your heart’s not in it. So those are the things. But each person can be in a different part of that spectrum. Some people are just tired because it’s just so much work but they love being there and they’re doing a good job still and some people just really don’t like being in this space. This isn’t working for me. Leadership says one thing and does another thing. I don’t even know what the values of this organization are if they align with mine. There’s just a mismatch there. And then there’s just some people who maybe don’t feel like they’re doing a good job because they don’t have the proper mentoring or the right training or everyone has just been so busy putting out fires that no one has checked in with them. So there are different ways to be experiencing that workplace stress. But burnout is when all of those things come together. And I’m seeing more of that and more of that in women, too. And often, like in senior women. I think there was a might have been McKinsey report that came out not too long ago that said like 43% of women were starting to feel burnt out. And I think 45% of them said that people who’ve quit in the past twelve months was because or women who quit in the past twelve months said it was because they were having a hard time with work life balance. So a lot of organizations are starting to have more burnout, more burnout in women, and then they’re starting to leave, which is leaving a huge gap in the diversity of leadership of organizations and leading to, I think, more burnout because women do a lot in the workplace. That is not just their role. They do a lot of mentoring, they do a lot of di work, they do a lot of community outreach because these are things that women tend to just naturally gravitate towards. So organizations are losing a lot of those aspects that make the culture a positive place to be and it’s becoming a really big problem.
Sarah
Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. I think that’s so important to notice and to rectify because that has long term impacts on women in the workplace in general. Right?
Dr. Mead
Yeah. There’s been a lot of progress made for women in the workplace over several years. And I think just in these past few years with COVID and so many needs colliding so many women leaving the workplace or reducing their hours because of childcare, because of elder care, when all those things were available and then taking the time off and having to reevaluate and realizing that the workplace that they were working in was not a healthy culture and having to reinvent themselves. But it’s leaving like this gaping hole that we will have to really figure out a way to build that to restore women’s faith in the workplace, to support the many hats that women wear and to really, again, lead with well being in mind and build trust in every opportunity. That’s great. Yeah. And to close out what is one final thing you would want to leave with leaders to help them foster a culture of well being. To remember that there is no one size fits all wellbeing solution. And to really focus on individual being. There are things that in general are great. Flexible work schedules, scheduling emails so that people don’t get emails in the middle of the night. Using what I love to promote is like nonviolent communication in the workplace and also working as leaders on our own well being. It’s very difficult to support other people in the well being if we’re not well. You can’t give what you don’t have. So making sure that leaders are prioritizing their own well being as individuals, and then from that experience, it’s much easier to have empathy for other people who are struggling or needing some extra support or a little bit of leeway. When you know what that feels like and you act on it in a way that’s positive, you can say, absolutely, I understand, take that time off. Let’s move things here and there so that you can have this experience that I enjoy. But if you don’t have that, then you don’t understand when people need that, break those extra five minutes, that time to pick up their child and take care of their parents. So focusing on individual well being as a leader, but then also knowing that each person is in a unique situation and has unique needs that need to be met and figuring out a way partnering with organizations and other professionals to make sure that people are having their individual needs met and are feeling seen and heard in their workplace.
Sarah
Yeah, no, I think that’s great. I love that you pointed out the leader modeling that right for them themselves. And that shows, I think, our leader, our CEO Mikaela, is so great at that and sharing when she’s taking a break. So modeling, that is huge because it gives everyone else the ability to do the same things for themselves.
Dr. Mead
Yeah, you give permission to people to take care of themselves when they see you doing it too. It’s normalized. And that hasn’t been the case in corporate and businesses in a very long time, probably ever. So I think there’s a good wave of better modeling, but we still have some ways to go.
Sarah
Yeah. Well, thank you so much. This was super informative and I know just very practical and actionable. And while it’s a lot of work, it’s so important, it’ll really reap benefits for companies and individuals to focus on this.
Dr. Mead
Absolutely.
Sarah
Yeah. Great. Thank you
Dr. Mead
Thank you.
Sarah
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