Blast From The Past: Daring Leadership Part 6

Show Notes:

We are continuing to re-share a "Blast from the Past" series that I did back in Season 1 of Behind the Line. It was one of my favourite series and I think really important content for those who may have missed it the first time. The series takes a look at Brené Brown's work in her book, Dare to Lead, and discusses applications to helping professions where it is absolutely IMPERATIVE that we improve leadership and systems, because they are hella broken. I hope you'll share this series with your sphere of influence and that together we can make it different...

I am so thankful to T.C. Randall for joining me today, sharing his experience as an ER Nurse of 14 years now off on medical leave due to work-related PTSD. Our conversation today focuses on the impacts of broken systems to the very real people working to offer services and make a difference to our communities…people exactly like you. We also work to talk about our perspectives around what needs to change and where we can collectively work to transform the system from the inside out. 

T.C. Also discusses these topics and more in his book, The View From The Wrong Side Of The Day: A Story About Nursing, PTSD And Other Shenanigans. You can snag a copy of his book here, or get it on your kindle here! Learn more about T.C. by checking out http://www.wrongsideoftheday.com/ and http://www.tcrandall.net/. 

Some of my favourite discussion points that emerged during this conversation (where I got RILED UP!) and connected to the practical ways we can work to transform broken systems from the inside out included:

1.      Cultural Level Change:

a.      Reducing stigma around workplace mental health and wellness (speaking, clarifying, normalizing and supporting that no one comes out unscathed).

b.      Increasing efforts toward prevention and early intervention including training staff in how to assess their status and know the next steps (or who to talk to in an effort to find out the next steps).

c.      Normalizing support seeking, and clarifying ways to seek support and processes to access the appropriate support readily.

2.      Management/Upper Level Change: 

a.      Changing the tendency toward reactive band-aid solutions, working instead to identify preventative strategies to reduce load and support the greatest investment which is into the wellness of the PEOPLE doing the WORK.

b.      Engaging collaboratively (ie. LISTENING MORE THAN TALKING) with staff to understand the pressure points and actively working together to find creative solutions that actually work to solve the problems rather than juggling them.

3.      Public Awareness Level Change:

a.      Supporting information for the public around reasonable expectations and the challenges facing the parts of the system they may interact with the most.

b.      Supporting information for the public around ways to support the system on a broader level as well as the front line staff most directly impacted.

4.      Structural Level Change:

a.      Making support accessible (with fewer hoops and WAY more clarity around how to navigate the process). This is both a workplace-level challenge as well as a community-acc