April 23, 2024 • 36 mins
Feeling the heat of burnout as your calendar flips to another year? You're far from alone, and this enlightening conversation with Juan Alvarado, a Gallup-certified strengths coach and military veteran, is here to offer you a fresh perspective on how to manage and mitigate the stresses of work life.
With Juan's deep well of knowledge, we tackle the burnout beast, emphasizing the critical role of intentional self-care and the surprising ways that investing in rest and recovery can leave us more revitalized than we ever imagined. We navigate the delicate balance between professional and personal life, emphasizing the often overlooked impact our work-centric mindset has on our families and our own well-being.
Juan Alvarado and I dissect the essence of workplace well-being, drawing a clear line between the superficial perks of wellness and the all-encompassing nature of true well-being. We put a magnifying glass on the importance of recognition and the power of simply asking your team members how they're holding up, a gesture that can do wonders for morale and personal fulfillment. A deep dive into financial stability and career satisfaction reveals how these elements are inextricably linked, and why hollow gestures of appreciation can't replace genuine, heartfelt acknowledgment in the eyes of employees.
Wrapping up our series, we step into the realm of purpose-driven leadership and its profound influence on the spiritual well-being of both individuals and teams. As we uncover the transformative power of connection to a larger goal, we share insights on crafting a journey plan for staff that aligns their contributions with the broader organizational vision. Juan imparts his wisdom on leading with intention, and we explore the impact that leveraging individual strengths can have on preventing burnout and promoting a culture where well-being is at the forefront.
Tune in to reframe your approach to leadership and discover just how impactful an environment that prioritizes the person behind the position can be.
Find more about Juan at:
Juan Alvarado | juan@weraizethebar.com
Website | https://weraizethebar.com/
LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/rtb-juan
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/r
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Order your copy of Jon's book at RedefineYourServantLeadership.com, and don't forget to utilize the additional resources, or purchase access to the Workbook and Coaching Videos.
Send your Leadership and Business questions to Jon at podcast@leadwell.com.
For more information visit https://leadwell.com
The Leadwell Podcast gives mission-driven leaders principled and practical advice to do just that, lead well.
In each episode, your host Jon Kidwell, interviews leaders with great stories, to share strategies that help leaders navigate complex, confusing, and often down-right challenging leadership, personal growth, business, and workplace culture situations.
Jon is a nonprofit executive turned coach, speaker, author, and CEO of a leadership development company. In working with nonprofits and businesses, big and small, he realized the unique challenges leaders face when they are committed to keeping the mission and people the top priority. Those leaders’ commitment to their principles and the people they lead, plus seeing the need for more leaders who strive to do the right thing, the right way, for the right reasons, is what inspired Jon to start a leadership development company dedicated to the success of mission-driven leaders a
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Leadwell podcast, the podcast
where we interviewmission-driven leaders who are
doing it well and we ask themwhat they're doing and how
they're doing so that you canlead your business and your
people well.
A recent study showed that overhalf of the workforce is
feeling burnt out and they areready to quit, and for leaders,
(00:21):
that percentage is even higher.
That's why today's episode isso important.
Juan Alvarado is a UnitedStates Army veteran who has
trained tens of thousands ofpeople in some of the most
high-stakes situations thatthere are.
He is a Gallup-certifiedstrengths coach and he works
with schools and schooladministrators to increase team
(00:42):
efficiency, strengthen theircommunication and develop
happier and more appreciatedemployees.
No-transcript coming on thisone.
(05:19):
I can't wait to dive in with ittoday, with you.
How are you my?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
friend, I'm doing well and blessed.
Thank you so much for having metoday.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
That is awesome.
So you and I have gone back andforth on this idea of being
well and burnout, and how do weas leaders kind of show that we
care about this?
How do we help people to makesure that we do those things?
And I honestly want to knowwhat brought it up.
For you, kind of this idea ofwell-being is important and we
(05:47):
got to keep people from beingburnt out at work.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, so it all started with just being engulfed
in Gallup Strengths and beinginvolved with the Gallup
organization and them doing somuch research on well-being, and
how do we continue to moveforward in this space?
And you know it goes to.
I think one of the stats thatthey had was it was crazy, I
(06:13):
think it was 97% of peopleexperienced burnout, and then it
was like 93% of peopleexperienced it this year and
when they did, when they had didthe assessment or the test, I
think at that time last year itwas, I think we were like four
months about this time, aboutfour months into the year, and
it's like how did you experienceburnout already when the year
(06:34):
just started?
But your bodies don't knowJanuary 1st compared to December
31st, right, your body justknows days and knows what it's
currently going through, and sothere's no reset, right?
That'd be awesome, that'd begreat If December 31st and then
January 1st, you're like oh, oh,forget everything you know,
(06:55):
unload everything, and thenyou're a brand new person.
But that's just, that's notreality.
And so just understandingpeople, right, understanding how
do I love others so much sothat they can become better and
just care about their wellbeing,and that's the whole sense of
it.
Right Is making sure that theirbeing is well.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, and I mean that Gallup survey basically said
that all of us are feeling itright and maybe there's the one
unicorn that is not so nine outof 10 of us.
What are you seeing in peopleLike what does this look like
actually being burnt out?
What does it look like withfolks when you are out and
around talking to people, andhow is it impacting the places
(07:42):
of work where we all are?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, I just finished hanging out with a buddy of
mine named Jeremy Anderson andwatching him do a keynote, and
he said something that wasastounding.
He had said you know, we giveour work our best, and then,
when we come home, we give ourfamily the rest, and that's
horrible, right?
How are we going to give anorganization who maybe cares
(08:06):
about us, maybe doesn't, andthen go back to the people who
love us the most?
Right, I think we can arguethat that our family loves us
more than the people who we youknow we work for, and then we,
they get.
They get everything else.
Um, and so what that looks likeis, um, like I teach on
complacency, right, how how to,how to combat complacency and
(08:27):
how to be intentional, and sohow to be an intentional leader,
how to be an intentional father, how do we lead intentionally?
But the next piece, or theunderlying part of that is how
do we intentionally care forourselves, how do we lead
ourselves?
And so I think complacency setsin just that way.
I think complacency sets injust that way, and I'm going to
do all that I can for myorganization, the people who cut
(08:50):
me a check because I get paid,and this is what I do, this is
my job, this is my work.
But then we don't see the samething in the payment of love and
appreciation, or even that inrest, when we come back to the
four walls that we live in andour family and those in those
loved ones.
And so what that looks like isgiving your work your best, and
(09:11):
then your family your rest, andand then we think that you know,
plopping on the couch orsleeping is is the best for us,
right, and rest is the bestrecovery.
And sometimes it's not Like I'msure that there's people
listening to this have had aneight hour rest, asleep eight
(09:32):
hours, and you're groggy,specifically now with the time
change.
Right, like you still sleptyour eight hours on Monday, but
you're like, oh my gosh, eighthours of rest doesn't mean rest.
But what is the difference inwhen you've gone to the gym,
when you don't want to, right, Idon't want to work out, I don't
want to get on the treadmill?
And then you do your 3045minute, let's say an hour,
(09:53):
workout, and you're like I feelreally good.
How come you feel really goodafter a strenuous workout more
than your eight hours of rest, astrenuous workout more than
your eight hours of rest.
It's just the intentionality oflet me work out the things that
I need to like decompress, letme let me push.
Let me like in weightlifting,let me let me push.
(10:17):
But it's not necessarily thepush, it's the, it's the um, the
negative, if you will comingdown slow and then being able to
push it again.
It's those repetitions and it'slike how do I get all of this
maybe built up anger,frustration, just out?
How do I push it out and thengain this good feeling at the
end?
And you know our mind right, wehave these endorphins, we have
(10:41):
thisification piece in our brainand it gives us dopamine.
Right, we get those dopaminehits.
And if you ask your mind, makeme feel better, it's going to
tell you go outside and go for awalk, right, get that vitamin D
.
It's like it's work.
So it's combating the quoteunquote laziness, if you will,
(11:05):
to say I just don't want to rest.
Sometimes your rest is anactual quote, unquote work,
working out like going outside,working on your relationships.
You know doing those things andI think we have rest wrong.
Now, don't get me wrong.
Sleep is great, gettingmassages is great, but there's
just a different way that youcan rest.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
So what I think I hear you saying is that there's
an activeness in this rest andrecovery process that, in fact,
checking out isn't going to giveme the things that I need to
combat burnout, isn't going togive me the things that I need
to combat burnout.
To be able to combat burnout, Ihave to actively engage in rest
(11:54):
and recovery so that I can beat my best.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Is that what I'm hearing you say there's a little
bit of a flip going on there.
Yeah for sure.
Gallup just did a poll and Iwanted to pull that up.
I'm actually going to be doinga training in Pennsylvania next
week on on wellbeing and, uh,one of the things that Gallup
shows is you're not, you don'tnecessarily um, combat, uh
burnout with what you think youwould normally.
(12:15):
You normally would, I wouldhave to pull, pull that up and
maybe I can give that, give thatto you, um, after this.
But um, but I mean, just thinkof, like when you were to go to
go get a massage, like, yeah,you're laying on the table but
your muscles are getting pushedand pressed or hot stones or
cupping.
It's extracting, like there'san active piece.
You got hit the nail on thehead there's an active piece to
(12:37):
your well-being and there's anintentional piece at that and we
can go over that in a second.
But yeah, it.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
It's so intuitive and yet it's counterintuitive,
right Like I mean, you and I, weboth have kiddos, we've talked
about that before and, like Iget home, I've I've done well
and worked hard and there's thispull to just veg right.
And like prepare myself to donothing but veg and then, like
(13:06):
you said, you go through theentire thing.
You get the next day coming,you wake up and you feel like
trash right, just just junk.
And yet those days where I hithome just as hard as I hit work,
and then I'm so tired that bythe time my head hits the pillow
and I wake up and I get rightback up and really start
actively moving through my dayagain.
(13:28):
For some reason it's almostlike that car is not in neutral,
it stayed in drive, but I feelbetter than when I tried to
actually park it and just let itbe.
Is any of that making sense?
And tell me about some of thatintuitiveness and then some of
those intentionality pieces Likewhat do we do in those, so that
(13:50):
we can kind of work it outourselves to make sure that we
are doing well and not gettingburnt out?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I did this just the other day.
I wanted to come home and plopon the couch and I did, and my
son was excited that baseballseason is coming back.
We're big basketball people, myboys play basketball, but we're
really, at heart, baseball fansand Dodgers had a spring
training game just the other dayand I just wanted to sit down.
(14:18):
I wanted to throw the game onand for me, my recovery, my
peace, is watching baseball.
There's just something about it.
It's almost like for somepeople it's golf, right, but for
me it's baseball.
To be able to watch that, myson was on the couch and I said
come here, even though everydad's dream probably is to watch
sports, maybe have a drink inyour hand, kick your feet up and
(14:39):
just relax and probably nod offin between innings.
No, that never happens.
Yeah, but my whole thing waslike my piece comes in building
relationships, right In deep,meaningful relationships.
So then my son came by me and Ithrew his arm around.
I would challenge you withkiddos, when you just want to
(15:01):
rest, sit with one of your kids,put your arm around them, have
that physical touch and thenbasically like my arms around
them and I'm watching, likewatch, look at this pitch.
Three, two pitch runners shouldbe running right.
There's two out.
They should be going across.
But this guy has walked two orthree people Can't find the
strike zone, watch the ball golike bottom left, and sure
(15:21):
enough, bottom left.
And he's like dad.
How did you know that?
I'm still resting?
But the communication, thequestions that are coming in,
like it's feeding me.
Is it quote, unquote work?
Yeah, it's work.
I didn't have to bring themover, I didn't have to put my
arm around them, but it's theintentionality piece of I know
that when you are hurt or you'restruggling, even for a man,
you're sometimes just that hugfrom your spouse or from your
(15:46):
kids.
There's something there.
It does something to again thedopamine hit of a physical touch
of consoling.
And we can do that when we'rehappy.
We can do that when we're mad.
We can do that a whole.
We might not feel like we needit, but like you don't need half
the stuff that you think thatyou need.
Right, you don't need thatdonut, you don't need that what
(16:07):
you need.
There's a difference betweenwhat you want and what you need,
and this is what I do, even inleadership.
I ask organizations what do youfeel that you want and they're
like, oh well, we need our staffto do X, y and Z.
And I'm like, okay, I'll giveyou what you want, but then this
is what you need.
And intentionally think aboutwhat we want versus what we need
.
It's two different things, likewith our kids.
(16:28):
I asked my son the other daywhen it comes to track so
they're in track season now whatdo you want?
He's like I just need to get afaster start off the blocks.
I need a faster start and Ineed a good middle, because his
kick is really well.
And I was like, okay, that'swhat you want, that's what you
think that you want, but whatyou need is a stronger mindset.
(16:48):
I'll give you what you want.
But then, as his father, I knowwhat we're going to work on.
I think that even happens inthe workplace or in well-being.
I just want to rest, that'swhat you want, but what you need
is vitamin D.
What you need is to go outsidewhat you need.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
So there's two different pieces Get what you
want, but also be honest withyourself and what you actually
need.
Yeah, that's huge, and I heardit that burnout isn't just like
we get tired of doing the work,that there's an emotional switch
where we've gone from beingfatigued to actually carrying a
lot of emotion around this, andall of what you were just
talking about was really some ofthose needs that we have, like
(17:34):
deep seat, right, physical,emotional, mental which is why,
when I was feeling lethargic,out of my order, I decided to go
for a run after breakfast,which I never do.
I always run in the morning,right.
That didn't happen that day andI just knew like I need that
thing to kind of combat all ofwhat's going on.
It was a physical thing.
There's this emotional piecethat all of a sudden starts to
(17:57):
reframe.
You talked about it in terms ofrelationship, so we're talking
to the individuals.
Now let's think about it Aleader's thinking.
I got to do this for me and I'mresponsible to my team so that
they can also do this.
How do I practically live itout myself but also kind of work
(18:19):
it into what's expected or thatI'm giving what my team needs
whenever they're there working?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, great question.
I think a lot of staff thereason why they feel burnt out
at work.
And we'll there's.
So there's five essentials towell-being.
Let me go here first.
There's a difference betweenwell-being and wellness.
Wellness is in one area.
So you have organizations likeoh, we're bringing in somebody
to help with wellness, and I'mnot no knock on those people,
(18:51):
but usually it's like breathe inand take a deep breath and
breathe out, and it's like cool,but rachel in accounting is
still on getting on my nervesand doesn't, still hasn't missed
a deadline and stuff.
So breathing is not going tohelp me.
But there's a, a wellness piece.
Wellness is one area, wellbeingis the whole being right, and
(19:11):
so I add a piece.
Gallup talks about fiveessentials to wellbeing.
I think that there's a sixthone and we can get into the
sixth one.
But when it comes to work,people want to be recognized and
acknowledged, seen and heardright, and a lot of times people
feel like I'm doing all thiswork, but am I even getting the
kudos, the high five, the pat onthe back, the acknowledgement
that I'm doing?
(19:32):
I just met with somebody todayand they're saying my boss asked
me why do you need thistraining?
Cause they're going to bring meinto to do a training with them
Gallup, strengths, finders,training and they're like, why
do you even need this?
And the two bosses are the twopeople that I've talked to like
my boss doesn't even know theextent of what I do and so
(19:53):
burnout sometimes it's like, doyou, do you even know what I,
what I do and how hard it is?
And so the acknowledgementpiece, the recognition piece, is
a big one, the first, the firstone, the first two kind of
linked together.
It's career wellbeing andfinancial wellbeing.
And I tell leaders and this iswhat I was, what I was alluding
to in that, in that beginningpiece, was I tell leaders just
(20:14):
to slow down, slow down, andinstead of asking the generic
question of hey, how's it going,or how are you doing, the
difference in slowing that,comment down hey, john, real
quick, today, before you getstarted, I want to know how are
you doing?
Yeah, you're not the manager,you're not the CEO, you are John
(20:37):
, how are you doing?
And just slowing that down, Imake the joke to tell that.
I tell leaders it's not a Joeyfrom friends thing hey, how you
doing?
Right, you'll get fired forthat, don't do that.
But when we just slow it downand think about the person and
this is where it comes into thecareer well-being piece is,
gallup says you know yourwell-being in your career when
(21:00):
you love what you do.
You have all the equipmentneeded to do your job.
And one of those other thingsis like you have a best friend
at work.
I have a podcast with a pieceon that, on that about having a
best friend at work.
Like it could help you but itcan also hurt you.
(21:21):
Like be careful with that withthat piece.
But and what we want to do isyou want to rank yourself one
being horrible, four being thebest.
Where are you in careerwell-being?
The next piece on that forfinancial is I get paid or I
feel like I'm getting paid, whatI feel that is fair for what I
(21:43):
do.
And when you look at those twopieces and the other part of
financial well-being is I don'thave to worry about bills.
If I need to, we can go out toeat.
I don't have to like swipe andcross my fingers and be like, oh
my gosh, is it going to clear,right?
I don't have to move moneyaround.
We can get up and do whateverwe need Bills are paid, we're
happy.
Right when I cautionorganizations is, you have two
(22:06):
things that people say I don'tget paid enough for this, so
they're complaining more aboutthe work or the lack of
recognition or acknowledgement.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
The other piece is Hold on Before we go there.
What I think I just heard yousay which was powerful is what
is our initial response to that?
And it is I don't get paidenough for this, and I heard
like that's the word that popped.
And it is I don't get paidenough for this, and I heard
like that's the word that popped.
For me is pay, and so that'swhere I go to.
And what I think I heard yousay is I'm not always not always
(22:36):
sometimes right If that actualfinancial wellbeing is not there
, but I'm not always actuallyhitting what they're asking for.
You're saying it's on the secondpart of that, I don't get paid
enough for this.
And what they're asking forYou're saying it's on the second
part of that, I don't get paidenough for this.
And what they're asking for isrecognize what I do.
Pause and see me.
Pay might be a part of it, butit might actually just be that
(22:57):
I'm annoyed that all you want todo is throw money at me or that
you don't actually payattention to what I do.
Is that some of what's going on?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
there, absolutely, and I think the language that I
like to use on that piecebecause people will ask that
same question I love that youasked that and see, that is this
is where you get the phrasebuy-in.
Buy-in is still valuable.
Buy-in is not necessarily letme just throw some money at you.
I think a lot of things in theworkplace is where we get it
(23:25):
wrong.
Where we do pizza right, I'mgoing to buy everybody pizza
Cool, that's cool.
But don't think that and hangyour hat on.
This is how I'm going to makeeverybody happy.
Starbucks cards right.
I hate getting Starbucks cards,and here's the reason why I'm
not a big coffee person.
And even then, I'm the kind ofperson that likes coffee with my
(23:45):
sugar, right, like the sweeterthe better.
But I'm not going to line up atStarbucks, I'm not.
So my wife gets all theStarbucks cards that I used to
get in the workplace Like, hey,good job, and that was the other
piece, good job.
What the heck does that evenmean?
And so when we talk aboutrecognition, I talk about TSI
(24:07):
timely, specific andindividualized right, don't?
Don't wait until the Christmasparty, right?
Don't wait until theirevaluation at the end of the
year or in two weeks when it'scoming up, so I'll just talk to
them then.
Don't do it now.
Specific in don't just say,good job, what, what was it, hey
, when we, you know, were pushedout of the office, you couldn't
do X and you couldn't do Y.
(24:27):
The way you responded to thatand helped everybody else
through that hectic situation.
I loved that.
It showed your leadership.
You were able to connect withthat staff that I couldn't.
Thank you so much for thatspecific right.
And then individualized If youare going to kick out pizza or
you're going to kick outStarbucks cards or whatever,
(24:48):
find out if the person wouldrather have a Jamba Juice card
or a Subway card.
If you're going to do that.
Here's the other thing is Itell, like HR professionals when
they bring onboarding, ask whatdo you want?
What's your favorite drink,what's your favorite candy bar
and even then, what is youractual drink.
And some people have somecomplicated Starbucks orders.
(25:08):
But if I was to show up withthe specific Starbucks, let's
just say they need to sponsorthis episode because I've used
it like five times already.
But if I bring you yourspecific drink, two pumps of
this and no whip and upside downand all this other crazy stuff
that people have how do I knowyou how much like, how connected
(25:30):
is that?
And so be individualized withthat.
And then the other piece ofindividualization is do you like
public praise or do you likeprivate praise?
So if I can do that, then I'mhappy at work.
I'll add another layer to that.
When I was at the nonprofit thatI worked for, we poured into
people with their gallupstrengths.
(25:51):
Uh, if they were going toschool, we were giving them time
for, you know, finals, and ifthere's babysitting and covid
and all this other stuff, wewere helping them through.
A lot of people left their art,the employment, to go get paid
like a dollar or two more anhour.
Six months later they came backand said I'll take the dollar,
two dollar an hour pay cutbecause you guys treated me so
(26:13):
much better than where I'mgetting treated like, are you
guys hiring, so going back,bringing it full circle, buy-in
can be such much, can be morevaluable than the actual dollar.
Like, do you have buy-in for meand my family or my specifics?
But yeah, when you go and say Idon't get paid enough for this,
(26:35):
sometimes it's just theacknowledgement piece.
The financial part is, if billsare piling up, then you start to
say can I get a promotion?
Oh shoot, john's been in thisposition for three years.
He ain't going anywhere.
Let me go look somewhere else.
And so then they're activelylooking online for a new job.
Because the problem is notnecessarily the career, the
(26:57):
problem is the pay and basicallythe bills.
And so those first two things.
So grade yourself on a one tofour.
So the financial well-beingpiece is I get paid enough, I
don't have to worry about billsor anything like that.
Mark yourself one through four.
The other pieces are physicalwell being, social well being
(27:18):
and community well being.
Social well being is do I goout, do I have friends outside
of work?
And a lot of people will go outwith work people, but they
don't even end up talking aboutwork.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
You mean we need friends in work and we need
friends outside of work, where?
We don't talk about work.
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Absolutely.
And it's funny because peoplewould be.
And here's the piece If youreally look, when you said, uh,
the intentional piece, and Iwant listeners to understand
what you did and the the part ofgetting the phrase of I don't
get paid enough, like you hearthe word pay when you look at,
uh, like don't talk about workor having a best friend at work,
or it it's relationships, right.
(28:05):
And here's the other thing,like like go figure, you need to
, you need to have friendsoutside of work.
Like don't talk about work.
It's like you have todisconnect.
Uh, and I think the practicalthing that you can even do with
leaders, um, about what we cando for our staff stop emailing,
texting and calling your staffoutside of work hours, right.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
I understand this is a huge, huge one, right, I mean,
and because I felt the pain ofthis.
We have something we'd say atLeadwell we work hard and we
rest well, right, and then, wehave some boundaries in and
around those type of things.
But even to the extent that Ithink we need another layer,
because we have a weekend layerand we have a kind of dinnertime
(28:48):
layer.
But I'm even sitting hereconsidering, you know, after X
time per day, unless it's anactual emergency, just donezo,
right?
Same thing for in the morning,same thing for on the weekends,
because wherever we allow thoseboundaries to press to, we will
take up all of that space, right?
(29:10):
I always think about it interms of water.
If you and I just sit here atthis table, boom, just dump
water on there, it's goingeverywhere.
If I just say, well, I can getworking anywhere, anywhere,
however I want to, whenever Iwant to, it's going to go
everywhere, right?
And yet, if we put a glassthere and we dump that water in
there, well, it's refreshing, itcan cool us, we can drink it,
(29:33):
we can get hydrated and it, it,it works for us, right?
And and I I hear that inside ofwhat you are saying about there
has to be a disconnect,otherwise I'm I'm not even going
to be complacent, I'm just I'mgoing to be bitter, honestly, uh
and, and that's going to showup in in how I work, because I
(29:54):
never feel like I'm off, soyou're never going to get me in
an on setting and there's a wayto.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
I don't want to say fake it, because what?
Uh?
There's a way to go around this, because there's going to be
people that says I have to getwork done, I have to, especially
as a leader, like there's notenough hours in the day.
But here's the deal If you wantyour staff to disconnect which
is okay, but then you, as aleader, continue to send emails
at one in the morning, likethere's a thing called a
(30:20):
timestamp, like hello, like inyour email it'll say when you
sent it.
So then you're going to havepeople that say wait a minute,
if I'm supposed to follow yourlead and you don't want me to do
, you really want me to lead.
It's almost like thestereotypical situation of a
husband and wife or likeboyfriend and girlfriend is like
no, go ahead, go out with yourbuddies, go out.
Are you mad?
No, I'm not mad, go ahead andgo.
It's like how?
(30:48):
So?
I don't want to say again fakeit, but you can time your emails
If you were one of those peoplewho cannot disconnect and
that's where you get most ofyour work done, cause some
people are morning people, somepeople are eating people.
Send a, put a timer on that, orschedule the email to go out at
eight in the morning and thensend it out.
So what now that you're workingat one or two in the morning as
the boss, if that's what youwant to do and that's where you
find cool?
But don't put that on yourstaff either.
(31:10):
So put a schedule in there,yeah that's great, the schedule
is great.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
I always think about I don't know about you, juan,
but I have work that I need todo that really doesn't involve
anybody else.
And then there are those thingsthat we have to ping back and
forth and maybe we got to workon it together.
Maybe we have to work on it oneafter the other, but it
involves communication and I cando some of those things at
times when others are availableand I can do the work that only
(31:37):
I can do at times when I'mavailable and I might be on and
trying to get some of that workdone.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
I would also caution you andask you you are available to do
it because it doesn't involveanybody else at work, but does
it involve, uh, in a, in asideway, uh, somebody at home?
So if you're at home and you'redoing that work and outside of
your door they're waiting fordad to show up, is it really
(32:06):
costing you more than what youthink?
It is Right, yeah, so great,great reminder.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
So you have taken us through career and financial,
social.
Uh, we talked about physicaland uh, and then there was that
one more, plus the wand special,so I can't remember the fifth
one, and then the wand special.
So what do we still have aswe're considering well-being?
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Community, well-being Community well-being.
Yeah.
So then do you know?
The simple one is like do youknow your neighbors, right?
So if you live in a home, doyou know three or four neighbors
in front, two or three to yourleft and right?
If you're an apartment buildingor a duplex complex, whatever,
do you know the people above you, below you and across and left
and right from you?
Or is it just high Like I cantell you?
(32:48):
Here's the crazy part is mebeing transparent.
Jesse, next door, great guy,has his family living with him.
I know that he's going throughmedical stuff I don't want to
say his stuff out here in theworld, but he's going through
some stuff.
And then a neighbor, jose,across the street.
I know him.
What he does he brings us fruitand all kinds of stuff.
It's great.
(33:09):
My other neighbors I know ofthem.
I don't know them, and so it'slike the friendly nod or down or
up, depending on where you'refrom, and the hand wave, but I
don't have meaningfulconversations with them.
The other two I do.
Hey, how's your mom and dad?
Hey, how are the kids?
Hey, how's the vacation?
How's this?
And so it does something to us.
(33:29):
It's a relationship piece again, right?
So do you know the people thatyou live around.
And then the second layer tothat is are you doing something
in your community?
So, are you volunteering?
So, like for me, at church, Ihelp out with the high school
youth.
My wife, on Sunday mornings,helps out with the nursery.
She just loves having thelittle babies in her hands, and
(33:50):
so I'm like get your fix, we'redone, but get your fix over
there.
It's a great solution.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Sounds wonderful.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
But yeah, right, but it's, it's what am I doing for
my community.
So I mean, it could be, youknow, serving or cleaning up the
neighborhood, or you knowhowever you see fit, but do you
do this in the community thatyou live in?
So what we do is when we getall of those and we rank
ourselves one through four, onebeing horrible for being the
best.
And here's the key If you are athree or lower in two or in in
(34:25):
two categories, you are gettingyourself on the fence of burnout
.
Three or more, You're.
You're on the other side of thefence.
You're going to be experiencingburnout.
So if you're less, so, ifyou're less than a three, so two
or one, or you know, in threeor more areas, you, if you're
less so, if you're less than athree, so two or one or you know
in three or more areas you'reyou're experiencing burnout.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
So that's huge, because I'm sitting here
thinking like I don't know that.
I would have immediately lookedand thought, oh, I'm missing
the mark.
If there's only two that arethree or below like that, I'm on
the fence.
So what I think I heard you sayis anyone that's listening
should go through and those fiveareas just write it down on a
piece of paper, score yourselfone to four, how you doing in
(35:07):
financial, career, physical,relational and community
wellbeing and then, as you lookback over it, if you are at
three or below in more than twocategories, that should send up
the signs that this is somethingthat I should start paying
attention to so that I don'tkeep going down the path of
(35:31):
getting to a place where I feelburnt out.
Is that what that?
Speaker 2 (35:34):
is Absolutely, and a lot of these play into each
other, right, so I can join likesocial.
I can join, like, for me, amen's group at church or a
softball community league, right, so I can get my social in
there, maybe, maybe in thatrunning around, you know the
baseball diamond, softballdiamond or whatever I'm getting
(35:55):
physical done as well, and so itit'll trigger one another
getting physical done as well,and so it it it'll trigger one
another.
Same thing with community and,excuse me, um, career and
financial.
Uh, but you know, you hang outwith, you have a guy's night,
you hang out and they're likehey, uh, I need to start working
out.
Hey, I'm going to the same gym,you want to work out together,
and so now we're it, it justfits Right, um, and so big
(36:16):
levers get more than one thingdone at a time.
I love it, and they play off ofeach other.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
So yeah, very cool.
And so what's this six one?
This is like the secret six onethat we can't leave before we
hear this one, what is, what isthe other component, that that
you say plays into our wellbeing?
Speaker 2 (36:33):
I'm a big believer is that, um, we're in a world
bigger than ourselves and wealways need to find purpose and
everything that we do there'spurpose.
I go to work for my family, Imake money for my family, or I
go to the gym for my physicalhealth, so that I can hang out
with my kids, or, one day,grandkids, things like that.
There's always something biggerthan us, and I tell leaders
(36:54):
that you should have a journeyplan for your staff.
We're going from a to B as anorganization, and this is where
you stand in a journey plan foryour staff.
We're going from A to B as anorganization, and this is where
you stand in our journey andthis is what you bring to the
table.
So everybody wants somethingbigger than themselves.
I'm a man of faith and I thinkthe sixth thing is a spiritual
well-being.
Now, for those people who arelistening that don't believe in
(37:16):
faith or God, then it could bethe universe or crystals or
whatever is bigger than you andyour field, but for me, for me
and my story and my family, it'shaving a personal relationship
with Christ, and so for that,there's times where it's like,
there's times where I feel likeI can't talk to anybody, but I
can pray.
(37:36):
There's times where I just feellike I need to stay in silence,
but you know, I feel like God issaying, like lean in on me and
just worship.
And so for me it's, there'ssomething out there that's
bigger than me and it's a beliefsystem right.
So everyone has their beliefsystem.
So lean in, leaning in on yourbelief system and having this,
this spiritual side of things,has changed my life completely
(37:57):
and to me, I think that that'sone that fits into every single
piece.
That sixth one could be in yourcareer, it can be in financial,
it can be in physical, it canbe in a community or in social,
and I think that's a huge,pivotal piece for people.
Are you living in purpose, onpurpose, for something that's
bigger than you?
Speaker 1 (38:18):
That is awesome, juan .
Thank you so much for guidingus through that Everybody.
What we're going to do is we'regoing to put some of the
resources that Juan talked aboutin the show notes.
So if you are a leader andyou're sitting there thinking,
how do I engage my team, how canI get over some of this
complacency?
How do I keep them from burningout?
I want my people to be well sothat we can do work well and
(38:39):
live well.
If that is what you arethinking, go through that
assessment with your team, sitdown and actually go through it
and then talk through it.
Work these ideas in and takeJuan's advice to engage your
folks, to keep them from beingburnt out, to retain them at
work out, to retain them at work, engage timely, engage with
(39:06):
specifics and make it special tothem.
And when you do, you're goingto be able to create an entire
organization where everybody canbe well.
Juan, before you go, I have toask you what does it mean to you
to lead well?
Speaker 2 (39:19):
I think, take it all the way back to intentionality.
I have a saying that says wehave to fill our gaps with
intention because if we don't,they're going to place us in
tension.
So if we want to lead well,just be just.
Again, what is?
Who do I need to be for thisother person walking into?
You know that room or space.
So how do I be the man that Ineed to be for this other person
(39:40):
walking into?
You know that room or space.
So how do I be the man that Ineed to be or the father that I
need to be?
Right Keyword father to my son?
How do I be the husband to mywife?
How do I be the leader ormentor to the staff that's
hurting?
So how do I lead withintentionality?
When you can lead withintentionality, you'll lead well
.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Juan Alvarado, to lead well, we need to lead with
intention so that we do not leadin tension.
Where can people connect withyou and all the work that you do
on?
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Yeah, so we raise the bar, raised with the Z, we
raise the barcom, and then, uh,raise the bar CEO on uh
Instagram and then, uh, it'shyphenated or smaller RTB-Juan,
so for raise the bar RTB-Juan onLinkedIn.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Awesome and I follow Juan all over social.
He puts up wonderful videos andhe does great keynotes, as I
follow him, as he goes all theway around the country.
So y'all need to connect withhim and have him come speak to
your organization and bring someof this focus on strengths,
burnout and well-being to whereyou work.
Juan, thank you so much forbeing here.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
(40:44):
My friend, thank you,appreciate you.
Everybody else thank you forbeing here.
Lead on and God bless myfriends, be well.
Welcome to the Leadwell podcast, the podcast
where we interviewmission-driven leaders who are
doing it well and we ask themwhat they're doing and how
they're doing so that you canlead your business and your
people well.
A recent study showed that overhalf of the workforce is
feeling burnt out and they areready to quit, and for leaders,
(00:21):
that percentage is even higher.
That's why today's episode isso important.
Juan Alvarado is a UnitedStates Army veteran who has
trained tens of thousands ofpeople in some of the most
high-stakes situations thatthere are.
He is a Gallup-certifiedstrengths coach and he works
with schools and schooladministrators to increase team
(00:42):
efficiency, strengthen theircommunication and develop
happier and more appreciatedemployees.
No-transcript coming on thisone.
(05:19):
I can't wait to dive in with ittoday, with you.
How are you my?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
friend, I'm doing well and blessed.
Thank you so much for having metoday.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
That is awesome.
So you and I have gone back andforth on this idea of being
well and burnout, and how do weas leaders kind of show that we
care about this?
How do we help people to makesure that we do those things?
And I honestly want to knowwhat brought it up.
For you, kind of this idea ofwell-being is important and we
(05:47):
got to keep people from beingburnt out at work.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Yeah, so it all started with just being engulfed
in Gallup Strengths and beinginvolved with the Gallup
organization and them doing somuch research on well-being, and
how do we continue to moveforward in this space?
And you know it goes to.
I think one of the stats thatthey had was it was crazy, I
(06:13):
think it was 97% of peopleexperienced burnout, and then it
was like 93% of peopleexperienced it this year and
when they did, when they had didthe assessment or the test, I
think at that time last year itwas, I think we were like four
months about this time, aboutfour months into the year, and
it's like how did you experienceburnout already when the year
(06:34):
just started?
But your bodies don't knowJanuary 1st compared to December
31st, right, your body justknows days and knows what it's
currently going through, and sothere's no reset, right?
That'd be awesome, that'd begreat If December 31st and then
January 1st, you're like oh, oh,forget everything you know,
(06:55):
unload everything, and thenyou're a brand new person.
But that's just, that's notreality.
And so just understandingpeople, right, understanding how
do I love others so much sothat they can become better and
just care about their wellbeing,and that's the whole sense of
it.
Right Is making sure that theirbeing is well.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, and I mean that Gallup survey basically said
that all of us are feeling itright and maybe there's the one
unicorn that is not so nine outof 10 of us.
What are you seeing in peopleLike what does this look like
actually being burnt out?
What does it look like withfolks when you are out and
around talking to people, andhow is it impacting the places
(07:42):
of work where we all are?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, I just finished hanging out with a buddy of
mine named Jeremy Anderson andwatching him do a keynote, and
he said something that wasastounding.
He had said you know, we giveour work our best, and then,
when we come home, we give ourfamily the rest, and that's
horrible, right?
How are we going to give anorganization who maybe cares
(08:06):
about us, maybe doesn't, andthen go back to the people who
love us the most?
Right, I think we can arguethat that our family loves us
more than the people who we youknow we work for, and then we,
they get.
They get everything else.
Um, and so what that looks likeis, um, like I teach on
complacency, right, how how to,how to combat complacency and
(08:27):
how to be intentional, and sohow to be an intentional leader,
how to be an intentional father, how do we lead intentionally?
But the next piece, or theunderlying part of that is how
do we intentionally care forourselves, how do we lead
ourselves?
And so I think complacency setsin just that way.
I think complacency sets injust that way, and I'm going to
do all that I can for myorganization, the people who cut
(08:50):
me a check because I get paid,and this is what I do, this is
my job, this is my work.
But then we don't see the samething in the payment of love and
appreciation, or even that inrest, when we come back to the
four walls that we live in andour family and those in those
loved ones.
And so what that looks like isgiving your work your best, and
(09:11):
then your family your rest, andand then we think that you know,
plopping on the couch orsleeping is is the best for us,
right, and rest is the bestrecovery.
And sometimes it's not Like I'msure that there's people
listening to this have had aneight hour rest, asleep eight
(09:32):
hours, and you're groggy,specifically now with the time
change.
Right, like you still sleptyour eight hours on Monday, but
you're like, oh my gosh, eighthours of rest doesn't mean rest.
But what is the difference inwhen you've gone to the gym,
when you don't want to, right, Idon't want to work out, I don't
want to get on the treadmill?
And then you do your 3045minute, let's say an hour,
(09:53):
workout, and you're like I feelreally good.
How come you feel really goodafter a strenuous workout more
than your eight hours of rest, astrenuous workout more than
your eight hours of rest.
It's just the intentionality oflet me work out the things that
I need to like decompress, letme let me push.
Let me like in weightlifting,let me let me push.
(10:17):
But it's not necessarily thepush, it's the, it's the um, the
negative, if you will comingdown slow and then being able to
push it again.
It's those repetitions and it'slike how do I get all of this
maybe built up anger,frustration, just out?
How do I push it out and thengain this good feeling at the
end?
And you know our mind right, wehave these endorphins, we have
(10:41):
thisification piece in our brainand it gives us dopamine.
Right, we get those dopaminehits.
And if you ask your mind, makeme feel better, it's going to
tell you go outside and go for awalk, right, get that vitamin D
.
It's like it's work.
So it's combating the quoteunquote laziness, if you will,
(11:05):
to say I just don't want to rest.
Sometimes your rest is anactual quote, unquote work,
working out like going outside,working on your relationships.
You know doing those things andI think we have rest wrong.
Now, don't get me wrong.
Sleep is great, gettingmassages is great, but there's
just a different way that youcan rest.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
So what I think I hear you saying is that there's
an activeness in this rest andrecovery process that, in fact,
checking out isn't going to giveme the things that I need to
combat burnout, isn't going togive me the things that I need
to combat burnout.
To be able to combat burnout, Ihave to actively engage in rest
(11:54):
and recovery so that I can beat my best.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Is that what I'm hearing you say there's a little
bit of a flip going on there.
Yeah for sure.
Gallup just did a poll and Iwanted to pull that up.
I'm actually going to be doinga training in Pennsylvania next
week on on wellbeing and, uh,one of the things that Gallup
shows is you're not, you don'tnecessarily um, combat, uh
burnout with what you think youwould normally.
(12:15):
You normally would, I wouldhave to pull, pull that up and
maybe I can give that, give thatto you, um, after this.
But um, but I mean, just thinkof, like when you were to go to
go get a massage, like, yeah,you're laying on the table but
your muscles are getting pushedand pressed or hot stones or
cupping.
It's extracting, like there'san active piece.
You got hit the nail on thehead there's an active piece to
(12:37):
your well-being and there's anintentional piece at that and we
can go over that in a second.
But yeah, it.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
It's so intuitive and yet it's counterintuitive,
right Like I mean, you and I, weboth have kiddos, we've talked
about that before and, like Iget home, I've I've done well
and worked hard and there's thispull to just veg right.
And like prepare myself to donothing but veg and then, like
(13:06):
you said, you go through theentire thing.
You get the next day coming,you wake up and you feel like
trash right, just just junk.
And yet those days where I hithome just as hard as I hit work,
and then I'm so tired that bythe time my head hits the pillow
and I wake up and I get rightback up and really start
actively moving through my dayagain.
(13:28):
For some reason it's almostlike that car is not in neutral,
it stayed in drive, but I feelbetter than when I tried to
actually park it and just let itbe.
Is any of that making sense?
And tell me about some of thatintuitiveness and then some of
those intentionality pieces Likewhat do we do in those, so that
(13:50):
we can kind of work it outourselves to make sure that we
are doing well and not gettingburnt out?
Speaker 2 (13:58):
I did this just the other day.
I wanted to come home and plopon the couch and I did, and my
son was excited that baseballseason is coming back.
We're big basketball people, myboys play basketball, but we're
really, at heart, baseball fansand Dodgers had a spring
training game just the other dayand I just wanted to sit down.
(14:18):
I wanted to throw the game onand for me, my recovery, my
peace, is watching baseball.
There's just something about it.
It's almost like for somepeople it's golf, right, but for
me it's baseball.
To be able to watch that, myson was on the couch and I said
come here, even though everydad's dream probably is to watch
sports, maybe have a drink inyour hand, kick your feet up and
(14:39):
just relax and probably nod offin between innings.
No, that never happens.
Yeah, but my whole thing waslike my piece comes in building
relationships, right In deep,meaningful relationships.
So then my son came by me and Ithrew his arm around.
I would challenge you withkiddos, when you just want to
(15:01):
rest, sit with one of your kids,put your arm around them, have
that physical touch and thenbasically like my arms around
them and I'm watching, likewatch, look at this pitch.
Three, two pitch runners shouldbe running right.
There's two out.
They should be going across.
But this guy has walked two orthree people Can't find the
strike zone, watch the ball golike bottom left, and sure
(15:21):
enough, bottom left.
And he's like dad.
How did you know that?
I'm still resting?
But the communication, thequestions that are coming in,
like it's feeding me.
Is it quote, unquote work?
Yeah, it's work.
I didn't have to bring themover, I didn't have to put my
arm around them, but it's theintentionality piece of I know
that when you are hurt or you'restruggling, even for a man,
you're sometimes just that hugfrom your spouse or from your
(15:46):
kids.
There's something there.
It does something to again thedopamine hit of a physical touch
of consoling.
And we can do that when we'rehappy.
We can do that when we're mad.
We can do that a whole.
We might not feel like we needit, but like you don't need half
the stuff that you think thatyou need.
Right, you don't need thatdonut, you don't need that what
(16:07):
you need.
There's a difference betweenwhat you want and what you need,
and this is what I do, even inleadership.
I ask organizations what do youfeel that you want and they're
like, oh well, we need our staffto do X, y and Z.
And I'm like, okay, I'll giveyou what you want, but then this
is what you need.
And intentionally think aboutwhat we want versus what we need
.
It's two different things, likewith our kids.
(16:28):
I asked my son the other daywhen it comes to track so
they're in track season now whatdo you want?
He's like I just need to get afaster start off the blocks.
I need a faster start and Ineed a good middle, because his
kick is really well.
And I was like, okay, that'swhat you want, that's what you
think that you want, but whatyou need is a stronger mindset.
(16:48):
I'll give you what you want.
But then, as his father, I knowwhat we're going to work on.
I think that even happens inthe workplace or in well-being.
I just want to rest, that'swhat you want, but what you need
is vitamin D.
What you need is to go outsidewhat you need.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
So there's two different pieces Get what you
want, but also be honest withyourself and what you actually
need.
Yeah, that's huge, and I heardit that burnout isn't just like
we get tired of doing the work,that there's an emotional switch
where we've gone from beingfatigued to actually carrying a
lot of emotion around this, andall of what you were just
talking about was really some ofthose needs that we have, like
(17:34):
deep seat, right, physical,emotional, mental which is why,
when I was feeling lethargic,out of my order, I decided to go
for a run after breakfast,which I never do.
I always run in the morning,right.
That didn't happen that day andI just knew like I need that
thing to kind of combat all ofwhat's going on.
It was a physical thing.
There's this emotional piecethat all of a sudden starts to
(17:57):
reframe.
You talked about it in terms ofrelationship, so we're talking
to the individuals.
Now let's think about it Aleader's thinking.
I got to do this for me and I'mresponsible to my team so that
they can also do this.
How do I practically live itout myself but also kind of work
(18:19):
it into what's expected or thatI'm giving what my team needs
whenever they're there working?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, great question.
I think a lot of staff thereason why they feel burnt out
at work.
And we'll there's.
So there's five essentials towell-being.
Let me go here first.
There's a difference betweenwell-being and wellness.
Wellness is in one area.
So you have organizations likeoh, we're bringing in somebody
to help with wellness, and I'mnot no knock on those people,
(18:51):
but usually it's like breathe inand take a deep breath and
breathe out, and it's like cool,but rachel in accounting is
still on getting on my nervesand doesn't, still hasn't missed
a deadline and stuff.
So breathing is not going tohelp me.
But there's a, a wellness piece.
Wellness is one area, wellbeingis the whole being right, and
(19:11):
so I add a piece.
Gallup talks about fiveessentials to wellbeing.
I think that there's a sixthone and we can get into the
sixth one.
But when it comes to work,people want to be recognized and
acknowledged, seen and heardright, and a lot of times people
feel like I'm doing all thiswork, but am I even getting the
kudos, the high five, the pat onthe back, the acknowledgement
that I'm doing?
(19:32):
I just met with somebody todayand they're saying my boss asked
me why do you need thistraining?
Cause they're going to bring meinto to do a training with them
Gallup, strengths, finders,training and they're like, why
do you even need this?
And the two bosses are the twopeople that I've talked to like
my boss doesn't even know theextent of what I do and so
(19:53):
burnout sometimes it's like, doyou, do you even know what I,
what I do and how hard it is?
And so the acknowledgementpiece, the recognition piece, is
a big one, the first, the firstone, the first two kind of
linked together.
It's career wellbeing andfinancial wellbeing.
And I tell leaders and this iswhat I was, what I was alluding
to in that, in that beginningpiece, was I tell leaders just
(20:14):
to slow down, slow down, andinstead of asking the generic
question of hey, how's it going,or how are you doing, the
difference in slowing that,comment down hey, john, real
quick, today, before you getstarted, I want to know how are
you doing?
Yeah, you're not the manager,you're not the CEO, you are John
(20:37):
, how are you doing?
And just slowing that down, Imake the joke to tell that.
I tell leaders it's not a Joeyfrom friends thing hey, how you
doing?
Right, you'll get fired forthat, don't do that.
But when we just slow it downand think about the person and
this is where it comes into thecareer well-being piece is,
gallup says you know yourwell-being in your career when
(21:00):
you love what you do.
You have all the equipmentneeded to do your job.
And one of those other thingsis like you have a best friend
at work.
I have a podcast with a pieceon that, on that about having a
best friend at work.
Like it could help you but itcan also hurt you.
(21:21):
Like be careful with that withthat piece.
But and what we want to do isyou want to rank yourself one
being horrible, four being thebest.
Where are you in careerwell-being?
The next piece on that forfinancial is I get paid or I
feel like I'm getting paid, whatI feel that is fair for what I
(21:43):
do.
And when you look at those twopieces and the other part of
financial well-being is I don'thave to worry about bills.
If I need to, we can go out toeat.
I don't have to like swipe andcross my fingers and be like, oh
my gosh, is it going to clear,right?
I don't have to move moneyaround.
We can get up and do whateverwe need Bills are paid, we're
happy.
Right when I cautionorganizations is, you have two
(22:06):
things that people say I don'tget paid enough for this, so
they're complaining more aboutthe work or the lack of
recognition or acknowledgement.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
The other piece is Hold on Before we go there.
What I think I just heard yousay which was powerful is what
is our initial response to that?
And it is I don't get paidenough for this, and I heard
like that's the word that popped.
And it is I don't get paidenough for this, and I heard
like that's the word that popped.
For me is pay, and so that'swhere I go to.
And what I think I heard yousay is I'm not always not always
(22:36):
sometimes right If that actualfinancial wellbeing is not there
, but I'm not always actuallyhitting what they're asking for.
You're saying it's on the secondpart of that, I don't get paid
enough for this.
And what they're asking forYou're saying it's on the second
part of that, I don't get paidenough for this.
And what they're asking for isrecognize what I do.
Pause and see me.
Pay might be a part of it, butit might actually just be that
(22:57):
I'm annoyed that all you want todo is throw money at me or that
you don't actually payattention to what I do.
Is that some of what's going on?
Speaker 2 (23:03):
there, absolutely, and I think the language that I
like to use on that piecebecause people will ask that
same question I love that youasked that and see, that is this
is where you get the phrasebuy-in.
Buy-in is still valuable.
Buy-in is not necessarily letme just throw some money at you.
I think a lot of things in theworkplace is where we get it
(23:25):
wrong.
Where we do pizza right, I'mgoing to buy everybody pizza
Cool, that's cool.
But don't think that and hangyour hat on.
This is how I'm going to makeeverybody happy.
Starbucks cards right.
I hate getting Starbucks cards,and here's the reason why I'm
not a big coffee person.
And even then, I'm the kind ofperson that likes coffee with my
(23:45):
sugar, right, like the sweeterthe better.
But I'm not going to line up atStarbucks, I'm not.
So my wife gets all theStarbucks cards that I used to
get in the workplace Like, hey,good job, and that was the other
piece, good job.
What the heck does that evenmean?
And so when we talk aboutrecognition, I talk about TSI
(24:07):
timely, specific andindividualized right, don't?
Don't wait until the Christmasparty, right?
Don't wait until theirevaluation at the end of the
year or in two weeks when it'scoming up, so I'll just talk to
them then.
Don't do it now.
Specific in don't just say,good job, what, what was it, hey
, when we, you know, were pushedout of the office, you couldn't
do X and you couldn't do Y.
(24:27):
The way you responded to thatand helped everybody else
through that hectic situation.
I loved that.
It showed your leadership.
You were able to connect withthat staff that I couldn't.
Thank you so much for thatspecific right.
And then individualized If youare going to kick out pizza or
you're going to kick outStarbucks cards or whatever,
(24:48):
find out if the person wouldrather have a Jamba Juice card
or a Subway card.
If you're going to do that.
Here's the other thing is Itell, like HR professionals when
they bring onboarding, ask whatdo you want?
What's your favorite drink,what's your favorite candy bar
and even then, what is youractual drink.
And some people have somecomplicated Starbucks orders.
(25:08):
But if I was to show up withthe specific Starbucks, let's
just say they need to sponsorthis episode because I've used
it like five times already.
But if I bring you yourspecific drink, two pumps of
this and no whip and upside downand all this other crazy stuff
that people have how do I knowyou how much like, how connected
(25:30):
is that?
And so be individualized withthat.
And then the other piece ofindividualization is do you like
public praise or do you likeprivate praise?
So if I can do that, then I'mhappy at work.
I'll add another layer to that.
When I was at the nonprofit thatI worked for, we poured into
people with their gallupstrengths.
(25:51):
Uh, if they were going toschool, we were giving them time
for, you know, finals, and ifthere's babysitting and covid
and all this other stuff, wewere helping them through.
A lot of people left their art,the employment, to go get paid
like a dollar or two more anhour.
Six months later they came backand said I'll take the dollar,
two dollar an hour pay cutbecause you guys treated me so
(26:13):
much better than where I'mgetting treated like, are you
guys hiring, so going back,bringing it full circle, buy-in
can be such much, can be morevaluable than the actual dollar.
Like, do you have buy-in for meand my family or my specifics?
But yeah, when you go and say Idon't get paid enough for this,
(26:35):
sometimes it's just theacknowledgement piece.
The financial part is, if billsare piling up, then you start to
say can I get a promotion?
Oh shoot, john's been in thisposition for three years.
He ain't going anywhere.
Let me go look somewhere else.
And so then they're activelylooking online for a new job.
Because the problem is notnecessarily the career, the
(26:57):
problem is the pay and basicallythe bills.
And so those first two things.
So grade yourself on a one tofour.
So the financial well-beingpiece is I get paid enough, I
don't have to worry about billsor anything like that.
Mark yourself one through four.
The other pieces are physicalwell being, social well being
(27:18):
and community well being.
Social well being is do I goout, do I have friends outside
of work?
And a lot of people will go outwith work people, but they
don't even end up talking aboutwork.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
You mean we need friends in work and we need
friends outside of work, where?
We don't talk about work.
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Absolutely.
And it's funny because peoplewould be.
And here's the piece If youreally look, when you said, uh,
the intentional piece, and Iwant listeners to understand
what you did and the the part ofgetting the phrase of I don't
get paid enough, like you hearthe word pay when you look at,
uh, like don't talk about workor having a best friend at work,
or it it's relationships, right.
(28:05):
And here's the other thing,like like go figure, you need to
, you need to have friendsoutside of work.
Like don't talk about work.
It's like you have todisconnect.
Uh, and I think the practicalthing that you can even do with
leaders, um, about what we cando for our staff stop emailing,
texting and calling your staffoutside of work hours, right.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
I understand this is a huge, huge one, right, I mean,
and because I felt the pain ofthis.
We have something we'd say atLeadwell we work hard and we
rest well, right, and then, wehave some boundaries in and
around those type of things.
But even to the extent that Ithink we need another layer,
because we have a weekend layerand we have a kind of dinnertime
(28:48):
layer.
But I'm even sitting hereconsidering, you know, after X
time per day, unless it's anactual emergency, just donezo,
right?
Same thing for in the morning,same thing for on the weekends,
because wherever we allow thoseboundaries to press to, we will
take up all of that space, right?
(29:10):
I always think about it interms of water.
If you and I just sit here atthis table, boom, just dump
water on there, it's goingeverywhere.
If I just say, well, I can getworking anywhere, anywhere,
however I want to, whenever Iwant to, it's going to go
everywhere, right?
And yet, if we put a glassthere and we dump that water in
there, well, it's refreshing, itcan cool us, we can drink it,
(29:33):
we can get hydrated and it, it,it works for us, right?
And and I I hear that inside ofwhat you are saying about there
has to be a disconnect,otherwise I'm I'm not even going
to be complacent, I'm just I'mgoing to be bitter, honestly, uh
and, and that's going to showup in in how I work, because I
(29:54):
never feel like I'm off, soyou're never going to get me in
an on setting and there's a wayto.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
I don't want to say fake it, because what?
Uh?
There's a way to go around this, because there's going to be
people that says I have to getwork done, I have to, especially
as a leader, like there's notenough hours in the day.
But here's the deal If you wantyour staff to disconnect which
is okay, but then you, as aleader, continue to send emails
at one in the morning, likethere's a thing called a
(30:20):
timestamp, like hello, like inyour email it'll say when you
sent it.
So then you're going to havepeople that say wait a minute,
if I'm supposed to follow yourlead and you don't want me to do
, you really want me to lead.
It's almost like thestereotypical situation of a
husband and wife or likeboyfriend and girlfriend is like
no, go ahead, go out with yourbuddies, go out.
Are you mad?
No, I'm not mad, go ahead andgo.
It's like how?
(30:48):
So?
I don't want to say again fakeit, but you can time your emails
If you were one of those peoplewho cannot disconnect and
that's where you get most ofyour work done, cause some
people are morning people, somepeople are eating people.
Send a, put a timer on that, orschedule the email to go out at
eight in the morning and thensend it out.
So what now that you're workingat one or two in the morning as
the boss, if that's what youwant to do and that's where you
find cool?
But don't put that on yourstaff either.
(31:10):
So put a schedule in there,yeah that's great, the schedule
is great.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
I always think about I don't know about you, juan,
but I have work that I need todo that really doesn't involve
anybody else.
And then there are those thingsthat we have to ping back and
forth and maybe we got to workon it together.
Maybe we have to work on it oneafter the other, but it
involves communication and I cando some of those things at
times when others are availableand I can do the work that only
(31:37):
I can do at times when I'mavailable and I might be on and
trying to get some of that workdone.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yeah, absolutely.
I would also caution you andask you you are available to do
it because it doesn't involveanybody else at work, but does
it involve, uh, in a, in asideway, uh, somebody at home?
So if you're at home and you'redoing that work and outside of
your door they're waiting fordad to show up, is it really
(32:06):
costing you more than what youthink?
It is Right, yeah, so great,great reminder.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
So you have taken us through career and financial,
social.
Uh, we talked about physicaland uh, and then there was that
one more, plus the wand special,so I can't remember the fifth
one, and then the wand special.
So what do we still have aswe're considering well-being?
Speaker 2 (32:26):
Community, well-being Community well-being.
Yeah.
So then do you know?
The simple one is like do youknow your neighbors, right?
So if you live in a home, doyou know three or four neighbors
in front, two or three to yourleft and right?
If you're an apartment buildingor a duplex complex, whatever,
do you know the people above you, below you and across and left
and right from you?
Or is it just high Like I cantell you?
(32:48):
Here's the crazy part is mebeing transparent.
Jesse, next door, great guy,has his family living with him.
I know that he's going throughmedical stuff I don't want to
say his stuff out here in theworld, but he's going through
some stuff.
And then a neighbor, jose,across the street.
I know him.
What he does he brings us fruitand all kinds of stuff.
It's great.
(33:09):
My other neighbors I know ofthem.
I don't know them, and so it'slike the friendly nod or down or
up, depending on where you'refrom, and the hand wave, but I
don't have meaningfulconversations with them.
The other two I do.
Hey, how's your mom and dad?
Hey, how are the kids?
Hey, how's the vacation?
How's this?
And so it does something to us.
(33:29):
It's a relationship piece again, right?
So do you know the people thatyou live around.
And then the second layer tothat is are you doing something
in your community?
So, are you volunteering?
So, like for me, at church, Ihelp out with the high school
youth.
My wife, on Sunday mornings,helps out with the nursery.
She just loves having thelittle babies in her hands, and
(33:50):
so I'm like get your fix, we'redone, but get your fix over
there.
It's a great solution.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
Sounds wonderful.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
But yeah, right, but it's, it's what am I doing for
my community.
So I mean, it could be, youknow, serving or cleaning up the
neighborhood, or you knowhowever you see fit, but do you
do this in the community thatyou live in?
So what we do is when we getall of those and we rank
ourselves one through four, onebeing horrible for being the
best.
And here's the key If you are athree or lower in two or in in
(34:25):
two categories, you are gettingyourself on the fence of burnout
.
Three or more, You're.
You're on the other side of thefence.
You're going to be experiencingburnout.
So if you're less, so, ifyou're less than a three, so two
or one, or you know, in threeor more areas, you, if you're
less so, if you're less than athree, so two or one or you know
in three or more areas you'reyou're experiencing burnout.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
So that's huge, because I'm sitting here
thinking like I don't know that.
I would have immediately lookedand thought, oh, I'm missing
the mark.
If there's only two that arethree or below like that, I'm on
the fence.
So what I think I heard you sayis anyone that's listening
should go through and those fiveareas just write it down on a
piece of paper, score yourselfone to four, how you doing in
(35:07):
financial, career, physical,relational and community
wellbeing and then, as you lookback over it, if you are at
three or below in more than twocategories, that should send up
the signs that this is somethingthat I should start paying
attention to so that I don'tkeep going down the path of
(35:31):
getting to a place where I feelburnt out.
Is that what that?
Speaker 2 (35:34):
is Absolutely, and a lot of these play into each
other, right, so I can join likesocial.
I can join, like, for me, amen's group at church or a
softball community league, right, so I can get my social in
there, maybe, maybe in thatrunning around, you know the
baseball diamond, softballdiamond or whatever I'm getting
(35:55):
physical done as well, and so itit'll trigger one another
getting physical done as well,and so it it it'll trigger one
another.
Same thing with community and,excuse me, um, career and
financial.
Uh, but you know, you hang outwith, you have a guy's night,
you hang out and they're likehey, uh, I need to start working
out.
Hey, I'm going to the same gym,you want to work out together,
and so now we're it, it justfits Right, um, and so big
(36:16):
levers get more than one thingdone at a time.
I love it, and they play off ofeach other.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
So yeah, very cool.
And so what's this six one?
This is like the secret six onethat we can't leave before we
hear this one, what is, what isthe other component, that that
you say plays into our wellbeing?
Speaker 2 (36:33):
I'm a big believer is that, um, we're in a world
bigger than ourselves and wealways need to find purpose and
everything that we do there'spurpose.
I go to work for my family, Imake money for my family, or I
go to the gym for my physicalhealth, so that I can hang out
with my kids, or, one day,grandkids, things like that.
There's always something biggerthan us, and I tell leaders
(36:54):
that you should have a journeyplan for your staff.
We're going from a to B as anorganization, and this is where
you stand in a journey plan foryour staff.
We're going from A to B as anorganization, and this is where
you stand in our journey andthis is what you bring to the
table.
So everybody wants somethingbigger than themselves.
I'm a man of faith and I thinkthe sixth thing is a spiritual
well-being.
Now, for those people who arelistening that don't believe in
(37:16):
faith or God, then it could bethe universe or crystals or
whatever is bigger than you andyour field, but for me, for me
and my story and my family, it'shaving a personal relationship
with Christ, and so for that,there's times where it's like,
there's times where I feel likeI can't talk to anybody, but I
can pray.
(37:36):
There's times where I just feellike I need to stay in silence,
but you know, I feel like God issaying, like lean in on me and
just worship.
And so for me it's, there'ssomething out there that's
bigger than me and it's a beliefsystem right.
So everyone has their beliefsystem.
So lean in, leaning in on yourbelief system and having this,
this spiritual side of things,has changed my life completely
(37:57):
and to me, I think that that'sone that fits into every single
piece.
That sixth one could be in yourcareer, it can be in financial,
it can be in physical, it canbe in a community or in social,
and I think that's a huge,pivotal piece for people.
Are you living in purpose, onpurpose, for something that's
bigger than you?
Speaker 1 (38:18):
That is awesome, juan .
Thank you so much for guidingus through that Everybody.
What we're going to do is we'regoing to put some of the
resources that Juan talked aboutin the show notes.
So if you are a leader andyou're sitting there thinking,
how do I engage my team, how canI get over some of this
complacency?
How do I keep them from burningout?
I want my people to be well sothat we can do work well and
(38:39):
live well.
If that is what you arethinking, go through that
assessment with your team, sitdown and actually go through it
and then talk through it.
Work these ideas in and takeJuan's advice to engage your
folks, to keep them from beingburnt out, to retain them at
work out, to retain them at work, engage timely, engage with
(39:06):
specifics and make it special tothem.
And when you do, you're goingto be able to create an entire
organization where everybody canbe well.
Juan, before you go, I have toask you what does it mean to you
to lead well?
Speaker 2 (39:19):
I think, take it all the way back to intentionality.
I have a saying that says wehave to fill our gaps with
intention because if we don't,they're going to place us in
tension.
So if we want to lead well,just be just.
Again, what is?
Who do I need to be for thisother person walking into?
You know that room or space.
So how do I be the man that Ineed to be for this other person
(39:40):
walking into?
You know that room or space.
So how do I be the man that Ineed to be or the father that I
need to be?
Right Keyword father to my son?
How do I be the husband to mywife?
How do I be the leader ormentor to the staff that's
hurting?
So how do I lead withintentionality?
When you can lead withintentionality, you'll lead well
.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Juan Alvarado, to lead well, we need to lead with
intention so that we do not leadin tension.
Where can people connect withyou and all the work that you do
on?
Speaker 2 (40:07):
Yeah, so we raise the bar, raised with the Z, we
raise the barcom, and then, uh,raise the bar CEO on uh
Instagram and then, uh, it'shyphenated or smaller RTB-Juan,
so for raise the bar RTB-Juan onLinkedIn.
Speaker 1 (40:23):
Awesome and I follow Juan all over social.
He puts up wonderful videos andhe does great keynotes, as I
follow him, as he goes all theway around the country.
So y'all need to connect withhim and have him come speak to
your organization and bring someof this focus on strengths,
burnout and well-being to whereyou work.
Juan, thank you so much forbeing here.
It's been an absolute pleasure.
(40:44):
My friend, thank you,appreciate you.
Everybody else thank you forbeing here.
Lead on and God bless myfriends, be well.
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