Latest / Authentic Living / Mental Health for Leaders and the ROR: Return On Relationships (Part II) with Dr. Ronke Komolafe

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Mental Health for Leaders and the ROR: Return On Relationships (Part II) with Dr. Ronke Komolafe · Authentic Living

• 0:01
  Welcome to authentic living with Roxanne, a place where we have as conversations about
• 0:08
  things that really matter in our lives.
• 0:11
  And now here's your host, Roxanne Derhodge.
• 0:36
  Our interview last week was so good that we decided to turn it into a 2 part series.
• 0:41
  If you missed last week, you'll find the link in the show notes.
• 0:45
  It's not mandatory that you listen, we wanna make sure that you don't miss out on this
• 0:51
  amazing conversation.
• 0:53
  Hi, everyone.
• 0:54
  It's Roxanne Durach.
• 0:55
  Thanks for tuning in again this week with authentic living with Roxanne.
• 0:59
  Today, I have privilege to have, a colleague, that has so many similarities, in the field of
• 1:07
  mental health, coming on today.
• 1:10
  Her name is Roxanne.
• 1:12
  Kamal.
• 1:13
  Lafte.
• 1:14
  Am I saying that wrong?
• 1:15
  So pronounce it properly.
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  Kamalafi.
• 1:19
  Kamalafi.
• 1:20
  I like that's that's really pretty when you say it the way you say it.
• 1:23
  Kamalafi.
• 1:25
  Rocky and I are both, Forbes, council members.
• 1:31
  I am the chair and I was lucky enough.
• 1:33
  I think I met, Rocky about about 8 months ago now when, I believe she was already a member
• 1:39
  and I was probably just beginning myself.
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  So today, what we're gonna talk about is mental health.
• 1:46
  I was tired of always having computer screens in front of me.
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  I needed to disconnect, and that really helped energize me.
• 1:55
  For some people could be going camping.
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  I've even done it where in my own house, I would turn off my internet for a week.
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  Or for, you know, or for a few days and tell my family to call me and, like, I message, and it
• 2:08
  feels like a vacation.
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  I never knew telling off your internet could really feel like you were on vacation.
• 2:14
  Well, I think I think that's a great point.
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  And, you know, I think that, you know, having chose the field that I didn't quite young,
• 2:24
  that's what they don't teach you in grad school, first of all.
• 2:26
  They touch on how you care of yourself, but it was something I I when I worked with a Metro
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  talk, please, like I said, it was the first, job that I had out of university.
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  And what it showed me was that this, you know, being my head was the most important space that
• 2:46
  I need to really, really listen to that space because I was, you know, you're you know, when
• 2:51
  you're in crises, you know, you're you're in, you're you're, you know, you're the first
• 2:55
  responder.
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  You're first up.
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  And I at that point, I was part of a team that was the first responders dealing with the
• 3:01
  victims of crime.
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  So oftentimes the crime had just occurred.
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  The the scene was barely cleaned up, and we were there, on-site to help the victims of
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  crime.
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  And, of course, your body and your brain, Rocky is wired for that, and I'm wired for that.
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  You know, a bit of a, you know, I think you have to be a bit of adrenaline junkie to do a
• 3:20
  bit of what I did.
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  But slowly, what it started to show me was like I would be on on on, and I worked probably 10
• 3:27
  out of 31 days because they knew the impact on human beings.
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  And then when we dealt with difficult cases, I lit it literally took me sometimes 24 hours
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  just to come back down.
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  So you think about that cyclical elements of, you know, the human capacity.
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  We are wired for short term bouts of stress but it's the prolonged effect, which is what you
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  were describing, that at that point, you're trying to replenish by all the things that
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  should give you that bump back.
• 3:58
  And and you you're just not getting able to kind of, find that timing again because you
• 4:03
  need to just go you've gotten so deep you know, with, depletion that it takes you a while just
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  to be able to build back up.
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  And I think finally, unfortunately, unfortunately, with the pandemic, it has shown
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  all of us, in employees, leaders, CEOs, that we really we really, really need to start to
• 4:25
  listen to what people are needing when they say I really, you know, like, when you went to your
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  what guts it took to be able to go and say, hey.
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  I'm I'm I'm on the way that now people are starting to say, you know, Nuno's
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  conversations.
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  We used to slight we have to really, really take seriously because people aren't able to
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  just come back and bounce back like they used to because they're they're depleted.
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  A lot more people have depleted.
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  Hence, why we're seeing such a surge in anxiety and depression as well.
• 4:54
  Yeah.
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  And I wanna touch on something, that you said about the pandemic, which out of my role in
• 5:01
  health care regulatory effects, right, assessing what the health care industry would
• 5:06
  look like from a regulatory perspective in a year 3 years 5 years.
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  In 10 years, looking at bill bills and laws that have been put in place and the policies
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  that need to be implemented, both on, Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial basis.
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  Right?
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  I think once the pandemic happened, in all reality, I remember as soon as the the March
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  20th, I remember writing a memo and sending to my marketing scene.
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  I'm like, hey, we need to get ready for telehealth.
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  Medicare just said, you know, services are shut down.
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  They're recommending telehealth.
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  This is gonna go state wide, 50 states, get ready, and they're like, you don't know where
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  talking about.
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  I'm like, okay.
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  It's part of my job.
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  Another assessment I did.
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  Yeah.
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  COVID is gonna last until 2021.
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  And they're like, what?
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  I'm like, hey.
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  Well, my from an economical perspective, we didn't just shut down the country.
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  There was already a plan in motion There were individuals who were experts who evaluated
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  this.
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  COVID and the impact of it will be, you know, all the grants 2021 December.
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  My analysis, I didn't even know it would go all the way to 2022.
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  Right?
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  Like, so let's prepare what we are going to do.
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  From a health care perspective to be okay.
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  Now my thought analysis, mental health, you shut people down, isolation, loneliness, one of
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  the key reasons people have depression, if have mental health issues, we will see a surge in
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  mental health conditions.
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  Let's keep And for myself, I texted all my friends.
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  I have quite a few friends in mental health, and I said, mental health issues are gonna be
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  on the rise.
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  What can we do as friends to support each other.
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  So we don't have that.
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  And my friend is like, we just have to all quarantine together and increase that social
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  lives and create a schedule.
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  Right?
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  We need to work out.
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  We are going to work from home.
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  We know that.
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  Grocery shopping.
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  How do we handle that?
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  And we develop the social schedule.
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  That everybody aligned to.
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  I think during the lockdown, that was the most social I saw, the most social interaction I
• 7:06
  have in my friends.
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  Right?
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  You were all available we were all safe.
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  Right?
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  Nobody was interacting outside of the group, so we knew we were safe.
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  Nobody was gonna get us, in contact with COVID.
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  But we did the assessment quick to ensure there was no oh, my 4th assessment was PTSD.
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  Mhmm.
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  People who did all of this will not only have mental health issues, but will have PTSD.
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  And people who are mentally healthy may have PTSD and not really understand its PTSD.
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  But what I'm seeing right now in in in the workplace and even with my colleagues and
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  friends is we call it the COVID PTSD.
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  I I get these calls every week.
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  I I would say at this point, maybe once or twice a month, it used to be every week.
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  But I would have professionals, health care professionals.
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  Executives tell me, hunky, I'm okay, but I'm not okay.
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  I don't know what's going Yeah.
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  Tell me.
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  And I'm like, oh, let's let's look at this.
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  This is COVID.
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  Oh, but, you know, during the quarantine, I did this, and I did that.
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  I'm like, it's not just about social or emotional isolation.
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  It's about the stress and the fear of the unknown that was impacted.
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  What did you do to prevent this to be from becoming a traumatic situation.
• 8:21
  I don't watch TV.
• 8:22
  So for me, as soon as I heard about COVID, I had to read all the regulatory requirements to
• 8:26
  make my prediction.
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  But I did I did this instead of doing this for 5 hour increments.
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  I will stop every hour and just meditate for like 5 minutes.
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  Because I'm like, uh-uh, what I'm reading and analyzing will not have a long time effect on
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  me.
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  Are you pleased to let that happen?
• 8:41
  But I think COVID has created an environment of PTSD that people don't even understand.
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  Clinicians are not understanding have to even diagnose this because it's very different.
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  You know, I had somebody tell me, you know, they could easily bounce back.
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  They can feel they have the strength to bounce back.
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  But something is just not there.
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  They don't know why.
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  I'm like, COVID PTSD.
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  You're therapists, go figure it out.
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  And she came back about a month later.
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  She's like, You're right.
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  I have PTSD from COVID.
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  I'm still walking through it.
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  I'm nervous.
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  She's like, it's not depression.
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  It's not.
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  Anxiety.
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  It's not a phobia.
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  It's, I mean, PTSD, but it's not phobia.
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  It's not the type of anxiety that everybody's used to.
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  This is this is different.
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  So imagine, you know, mentally, you're going through, I'm not gonna go see my mom, stay
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  sick, and I'll have deathbed because of COVID, you know, some dad passed away.
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  Funeral is all virtual, but we are saying, we don't have COVID.
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  You know, you go through the grief.
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  I mean, they're different levels and stages of the PTSD people have as yourself as a result of
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  COVID.
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  Then there's that walk stress of, are people gonna lose your job?
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  Right?
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  People are getting laid off left and right, financial stress, health stress for the entire
• 10:01
  walks that we've never seen.
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  And there's the social media impact of edward.
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  People that get in a soft social media and there's a lot of fear and misinformation being
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  provided.
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  You get you watch your TV, which I don't watch TV, but every time I, you know, I I go to the
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  gym or something, something is on about COVID, and it's not positive.
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  It's always negative.
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  Long term effect, it's affecting everybody at work.
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  So I think for, employers, what I would recommend is asking and and and creating a
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  knowledge awareness.
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  To say we've had this.
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  This is what we are hearing.
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  Assist yourself and see if you have this and what resources you would need from You know,
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  you can bring a professional in to educate people about what this looks like, but
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  something has to be done, and each individual has to take ownership.
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  To say, what's this gonna look like?
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  You know, I was talking to a primary care doctor, a few months ago, and she was telling
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  me when you know, since COVID happened and now that they are aware of the mental health impact
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  of COVID, one of the things they do is they do alcohol usage and alcoholism.
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  Why not because of COVID?
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  They do alcohol screening.
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  They do anxiety and depression screening, which is like the medication prescribed for anxiety
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  and depression has gone up.
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  Yes.
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  We're addressing the symptoms.
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  Can we address the triggers causing the symptoms?
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  Because if we address the triggers causing the symptoms, then we can provide a more lifelong
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  solution that people don't have to be on medication.
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  Forever.
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  Right.
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  And that's the first option.
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  Right?
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  Like, people say, well, do I need medication?
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  And when you start to say it to them, it's okay me, you know, help me understand what you've
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  gone through.
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  Like, what are your relationships?
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  Like, you know, what what is your environment like?
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  What is your what would the people around you?
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  Your family, your park or your children, those types of things, what are your friendships
• 11:56
  like?
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  And they go, what does that all have to do with anything?
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  And I go, well, you know, we can we can go put you on the anti anxiety, which is gonna give
• 12:03
  you that temporary relief, which would maybe gonna make you feel a little bit less anxious,
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  but, ultimately, the the root cause still exists.
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  Right?
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  So I think having more of those discussions, I think people are more open to it now, and it's
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  nice to hear that the health care professionals are looking deeper because previously, you
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  know, it'd be like, when I was practicing, you know, years ago, doctors would say, well, what
• 12:26
  does that have to do with anything?
• 12:27
  It's a physical symptom.
• 12:29
  I'm like, well, it's the whole body and, you know, therapists were considered, you know, get
• 12:34
  out of your ivory towers.
• 12:35
  You you know, you're all about fluff and now look at us, you know, 25 years later and we're
• 12:41
  starting to finally integrate our body and our mind is 1 and the same.
• 12:46
  So if we look at an overall strategy of both, whether you go to the doc or you go to the
• 12:52
  therapist, you have to keep both you know, answer the continuum in mind.
• 12:56
  And I always go that you can start off, you know, being mentally unwell, but you can swing
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  all the way up to mental illness if you don't address it based on the duress or the, you
• 13:05
  know, the impact of traumatic events like, things like COVID or the traumas that people
• 13:11
  have already been through prior to COVID.
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  Whatever what is happening to that percentage of people now where this this general mistrust
• 13:19
  2 of others.
• 13:20
  I don't know if you've experienced that, but a lot of people goes, you know, my partner just
• 13:24
  got COVID.
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  He just went away.
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  He's like, I wanna know who gave it to me.
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  I'm like, how is that possible?
• 13:31
  He goes, well, I was fine and I was home and I'm like, unless you can find a needle in a
• 13:36
  haystack, you're not gonna find this.
• 13:38
  He goes, well, somebody I'm like, yeah.
• 13:40
  Obviously, somebody gave it to you.
• 13:42
  When you got on a plane, you were playing ball, all that stuff, but you still see that general
• 13:48
  sense of who did it kind of thing, which is that complete macro of a lack of trust.
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  And if we are not trusting, we're not feeling safe, which makes that whole element of
• 13:59
  dysregulation go to an exponential level even further.
• 14:03
  Right?
• 14:03
  Our alarms bells are going off all the time.
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  And we're not shutting off to go back to to the parasympic or the relaxed state.
• 14:12
  So to your point, what you're saying post, you know, COVID PTSD, I could, you know, maybe
• 14:18
  there will be that definition of what it looks like and how it's different.
• 14:22
  Or what similarities it has to anxiety and depression.
• 14:25
  I think, that's an important topic for sure.
• 14:29
  Yeah.
• 14:29
  And I think, you know, to touch it, what he said about trusts.
• 14:33
  Right?
• 14:33
  Trust is very important, and that's one of the big COVID took away from us.
• 14:38
  So here's a typical COVID scenario.
• 14:40
  Right?
• 14:42
  You, you, you're going to the grocery store.
• 14:45
  People no longer felt comfortable touching the carts.
• 14:48
  Right?
• 14:49
  We had to, you know, grocery stores had to wipe it down for us, then we wipe it down ourselves,
• 14:54
  you go to the grocery store, you're trying to touch something, and you somebody else touched
• 14:59
  it before, you know, people come into the house, they jump straight and put everything
• 15:03
  washer and washer.
• 15:05
  I mean, the level of insecurity, feeling unsafe, you know, we we all went to even though
• 15:10
  I didn't go to the physical and social and emotional isolation.
• 15:13
  I went through that.
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  It's a social.
• 15:15
  Of course.
• 15:16
  You mean socially on safe.
• 15:18
  6 feet.
• 15:18
  Oh my god.
• 15:19
  Your fluffy clothes.
• 15:20
  Your mask is not well put in.
• 15:23
  You know, I mean, you touch I mean, the level
• 15:26
  Or you're coughing public.
• 15:27
  Like, I have allergies, and I remember every time I coughed, even now when I'm traveling
• 15:31
  again, and what happens to me is because when I'm under the mask, when we had to wear them on
• 15:36
  the planes, my throat would get drier because of my so I would like to load up on my
• 15:41
  antihistamines before getting on a plane and still I would cough because of the, you know,
• 15:46
  the carbon monoxide under the the mask.
• 15:48
  And then you would you'd see people looking at your movies.
• 15:53
  Yeah.
• 15:53
  You know,
• 15:54
  Yeah.
• 15:54
  And human beings are meant to embrace and love upon each other and feel safe and secure.
• 15:59
  That one of the things we need for our nervous systems.
• 16:02
  Right?
• 16:04
  But yet, we are not able to have that even at the grocery store.
• 16:08
  Gas station beholding the handle of the gas station.
• 16:11
  Gas stations had to give us napkins and hand sanitizer at least in Arizona.
• 16:15
  I can't speak for all the other states But in that, in Arizona, Arizona did a fantastic job
• 16:22
  with COVID, you know, in the extent of the prevention.
• 16:25
  Now everybody would agree with that, but what I mean by that is compared to other states,
• 16:30
  because I got to travel quite a bit during COVID, In comparison to other states, Arizona
• 16:35
  had hand sanitizers and uninstall the stores.
• 16:38
  You know, so you're walking in.
• 16:40
  There's a hand sanitizer.
• 16:41
  There's a disinfectant.
• 16:43
  You know, some states were just like, don't come in.
• 16:45
  We don't have any.
• 16:46
  Just don't show up.
• 16:47
  No.
• 16:48
  Arizona was open.
• 16:49
  Right?
• 16:49
  So they had the rail mass the user hand sanitizer rule going on, which helped a little
• 16:55
  bit, but it was it still made all of us feel unsafe.
• 16:58
  I mean, in 2020, I'm wearing masks in America.
• 17:01
  Are you kidding me?
• 17:02
  I would have paid 1,000,000 of dollars in 2019.
• 17:06
  To tell you that would never happen.
• 17:07
  Not in America.
• 17:08
  We have to Yes.
• 17:09
  Maybe not.
• 17:09
  You know, maybe other parts of the world, but not not you're so right.
• 17:13
  Not in not in America.
• 17:14
  But we've
• 17:15
  got that.
• 17:15
  So this dialogue about mental health, that's, you know, it's something that should have been
• 17:20
  happening.
• 17:21
  I would say, you know, 15 years ago, and it's, you know, 5 years ago, we knew it, but now it's
• 17:26
  it's it's a non negotiable.
• 17:28
  So for employers listening out there or senior teams, And and some of them, I'm sure, have
• 17:37
  done a lot of things.
• 17:38
  I'm gonna assume that a lot of environments have gone on, made sure they had your EAP
• 17:43
  services and flex benefits and all those things.
• 17:46
  What are some of the recommendations?
• 17:48
  Now people are probably still seeing this impact we're talking about.
• 17:51
  Okay?
• 17:52
  What what might be a couple of things that you might tell them to consider or questions to ask
• 17:57
  themselves that they look at their committees, their wellness committees, their health and
• 18:02
  benefits, the short term and long term disability and just just overall health
• 18:07
  strategies for the environments that they're in.
• 18:10
  How do you feel when you're about to get to work?
• 18:12
  You're not getting to the computer in the morning or driving to work?
• 18:15
  What's your level of insight Most employers don't wanna know that.
• 18:19
  There's a risk to that.
• 18:20
  There's a liability risk to asking that question, but the immediate supervisors can ask
• 18:24
  it in a one on one.
• 18:26
  Right?
• 18:26
  I used to when I have a a lot of people reporting to me, everyone on one started or
• 18:31
  ended with, are you happy?
• 18:33
  You can rephrase it in a way.
• 18:35
  It doesn't cause liability.
• 18:36
  To get the feedback, you need to better support that, right, because it looks different for
• 18:41
  everybody, and a company cannot implement all the services it needs.
• 18:45
  But acknowledging and hearing the voice of people does begin healing in people as opposed
• 18:50
  to ignoring people.
• 18:52
  Does that make sense?
• 18:53
  So if somebody tells you they have anxiety coming to work, or they don't wanna come to
• 19:00
  work, Why?
• 19:03
  Maybe it's traffic, not actually the work.
• 19:06
  You know, I I used to, That was the time I, not everybody works remotely, right, but at least
• 19:12
  the people I work with.
• 19:15
  Back then, I used to tell my employees before COVID ever wake up in the morning, you don't
• 19:19
  feel like driving, you have the right spot from home, way before COVID.
• 19:22
  Just all you have to do is text me.
• 19:25
  Don't just decide to work from home.
• 19:27
  Text me.
• 19:28
  Email me.
• 19:28
  Don't call me.
• 19:30
  Text me or email me.
• 19:31
  Let me know you're working from home.
• 19:33
  That's all I need, so I'm not looking for you, we're expecting it to be present in the meeting
• 19:37
  that you're calling it in calling in for.
• 19:40
  It just helps to be more cohesive as a team.
• 19:43
  Send an email to me and the rest of the team so we know where you are.
• 19:47
  Because for me, that was a feedback I got from one of my employees.
• 19:51
  You know, the anxiety of getting stuck in traffic for for an hour a half.
• 19:55
  And it's not her fault.
• 19:56
  It's because one of the key couldn't sleep, or she's on her way to walk.
• 20:01
  She was called back from the daycare, something.
• 20:04
  It's okay.
• 20:04
  So I think the flexibility and asking employees how they're doing and what they need.
• 20:09
  We can't meet everybody where they are, but we can do the best that we can, you know, the the
• 20:15
  EAPs, I think EAPs are great.
• 20:17
  I used the EAP for a couple of my employees.
• 20:20
  Had an employee come into my office one time and she, as soon as she opened the door, was
• 20:24
  like, oh, no.
• 20:25
  You're about to have a panic attack.
• 20:27
  And she's like, no.
• 20:28
  I'm good.
• 20:29
  3 days later, she comes comes into my office that has a panic attack.
• 20:32
  Literally, she could not agree that she was in her office, she brought in, and I could tell.
• 20:38
  This was gonna happen.
• 20:39
  I started coming, and I kept trying to, you know, she had the blood going up.
• 20:42
  But as soon as it happened, she had a safe place to go.
• 20:47
  And, you know, we did everything we could for her to be okay.
• 20:50
  I had another employee who came to my office in tears one day, and I'm like, she started to
• 20:55
  talk, and I'm like, well, you're talking about this very to know.
• 20:58
  I'm okay hearing it, but are you gonna be comfortable with me in 2 weeks?
• 21:02
  So let's have you talk to EAP first.
• 21:05
  And after that, if you still feel like talking to me, I'll be all all ears, because I feel
• 21:09
  like the ear, if you would have helped her process a motion, well, where by the time she
• 21:14
  talks to me, she would not be, not have regrets or feel like she had divulged too much
• 21:22
  information to point.
• 21:23
  Too many personal information and for her to back up yet.
• 21:26
  And it's knowing having that bridge.
• 21:28
  Right?
• 21:28
  Like, when I worked as an executive, that was majority of our training.
• 21:32
  Right?
• 21:32
  Like, how do you support and deliver to the EAP?
• 21:36
  Make sure they get the right support.
• 21:37
  Do the proper appropriate follow-up, but so, ultimately, they can come back to work and be
• 21:43
  able to focusing in on performance with with having, you know, the ability the function.
• 21:48
  So I think you're you're absolutely right.
• 21:50
  So just something as simple as how are you doing?
• 21:53
  How how are you doing?
• 21:54
  Yeah.
• 21:54
  Same building.
• 21:56
  You know, it's interesting as leaders.
• 21:59
  Right?
• 21:59
  We go into meetings and we just wanna speak.
• 22:01
  We wanna tell people what's going on.
• 22:03
  Bring them up to date.
• 22:04
  You know, make sure they're aware it's great and it's excellent.
• 22:08
  Let your employees also speak.
• 22:10
  Have them leave the meeting.
• 22:12
  You know, let them let them lead their peer to peer discussion about how they're doing as
• 22:18
  opposed to a leader doing it.
• 22:19
  Right?
• 22:20
  Because, you know, I love going to lunch with my employees.
• 22:23
  They don't like going to lunch with me.
• 22:25
  They're like, oh, no.
• 22:26
  It's lunch with the boss.
• 22:28
  I mean, exactly.
• 22:29
  For me, it's going to launch with my employees.
• 22:32
  Right?
• 22:33
  The professional relationship is already there.
• 22:35
  I'm comfortable with them.
• 22:36
  They're not comfortable going to lunch with me.
• 22:39
  And it took me a year to find out.
• 22:41
  Oh, you guys don't like a regular Tuesday lunch.
• 22:44
  You should have told me.
• 22:45
  Okay.
• 22:45
  And I would like to take maybe 2 or 3 people as opposed to the entire team.
• 22:49
  So what I did was I just changed it to a monthly launch with everybody.
• 22:53
  Then I let them plan it, and I show up, and I don't even speak.
• 22:57
  You know, I let them just chit chat, or we would have happy hour where they're more
• 23:01
  relaxed, and I make sure I'm not leading.
• 23:05
  I step back and let them be themselves.
• 23:08
  Right?
• 23:08
  But I realized they're not as comfortable And as a leader, I don't know why.
• 23:14
  It's not that I you know, because I asked if it's not that I'm a bad leader or they feel
• 23:17
  uncomfortable, but they wanna have that level respect and professional relationship with me.
• 23:21
  And for me, I had already had that with them.
• 23:24
  It's natural.
• 23:25
  It's, you know, I'm even unaware of it because it's so normal.
• 23:29
  But for them, almost I don't wanna be overly, overly comfortable with her to the point where,
• 23:35
  you know, I say or do something wrong, which, you know, I'm like, to
• 23:39
  have that healthy, happy, kind of buffer between them and you.
• 23:45
  And then also to allow them the space so that they could just be ready, ready open.
• 23:49
  Uh-huh.
• 23:49
  With your peers.
• 23:50
  Yeah.
• 23:51
  Yeah.
• 23:51
  What's up here?
• 23:52
  And and let's see about it.
• 23:53
  What's out there?
• 23:54
  There's some social media sites.
• 23:57
  That are very great.
• 23:59
  We all use Slack.
• 24:01
  We use teams.
• 24:02
  We use different levels of engagements as a leader, jump on and socialize with them.
• 24:08
  Having them feel a sense of safety really matters because state, COVID made us feel
• 24:12
  unsafe.
• 24:13
  Right?
• 24:13
  So if we're looking at long term effective COVID in a workplace, it's now making employees
• 24:18
  feel safe.
• 24:19
  Right?
• 24:19
  Now the the unsafeness that everybody's filling out there is the layoffs happening.
• 24:23
  Right?
• 24:23
  We see all these big companies that we think are financially viable, laying people up.
• 24:30
  As a leader, you may have limited control over that, but let your employees know you care.
• 24:34
  Let them know you they can feel safe with you.
• 24:37
  And that comes in with just being able to have a conversation on slack.
• 24:42
  I walked through the, great data recently every morning she would check-in.
• 24:46
  At least every day, because sometimes she's in meetings for 5, 6 hours, you can.
• 24:50
  But she would check-in how's everybody doing?
• 24:51
  This is how my day is, and she'll send an emoji you know, it could be a happy insights just
• 24:56
  that emoji, but.
• 24:58
  Yeah.
• 25:00
  Yeah.
• 25:00
  Would that people open up and then people would tell you, oh my god.
• 25:02
  I'm on my cup of coffee or no.
• 25:04
  I had to go meditate.
• 25:05
  No.
• 25:06
  I had to go run for, like, 3 minutes.
• 25:08
  You know?
• 25:08
  And then you can easily reach.
• 25:10
  I'm like, are you okay individually?
• 25:12
  But she opens and provides that safe harbor for people to really talk.
• 25:18
  So I think there's lots of programs out there.
• 25:20
  You need to engage with professionals.
• 25:22
  For really, this is the area of expertise.
• 25:26
  Everybody's creating a wellness, you know, team, but if you're assessing the teams you're
• 25:31
  bringing in, right, what's their strategy?
• 25:34
  How did they evaluate your strategy?
• 25:36
  What's their short and long term outcome?
• 25:39
  How how employees engage in this.
• 25:41
  Right?
• 25:42
  So I think there's a lot the employees need to do, but it's not a cookie cutter.
• 25:47
  It's
• 25:48
  a program.
• 25:51
  Well, Ronki, this has been amazing.
• 25:52
  So I I need to be able to tell you that Ronki and I, have a lot of similarity, but what we're
• 25:58
  also gonna be doing is we're gonna be doing an event together coming up, on May 8th, and So
• 26:06
  March 8th.
• 26:07
  Oh my goodness.
• 26:08
  I just had a brain freeze there.
• 26:10
  March 8th, and it's, rocky.
• 26:13
  Tell tell them the the title and the time, and then we'll be putting out a lot more social in
• 26:20
  the next week about the So tell everyone a little bit about the event and then we'll wrap
• 26:25
  up things on this end.
• 26:27
  Oh, thank you so much, Roxanne.
• 26:29
  So the event is about women.
• 26:31
  March 8 is women's international day as women.
• 26:35
  Women have a lot in common, not just by being women across the world and having different
• 26:40
  family or masculine features and workplace experiences, but we wanna support each other.
• 26:47
  Empowered women and power each other.
• 26:49
  Right?
• 26:49
  That's the slogan I always love to say.
• 26:51
  So our focus on our event is remaining leadership, how to pave the way forward.
• 26:56
  How do we empower each other to continue to succeed in our personal and professional lives?
• 27:01
  How do we pave the way forward for the for the women come in?
• 27:05
  Behind us.
• 27:06
  And for the ones who are our peers who have not had the same leadership opportunities that that
• 27:10
  we've had, and how do we continue to graciously appreciate that we have paid it forward for us.
• 27:17
  Right?
• 27:18
  So this event is really, I think it's the speakers who are going to be speaking.
• 27:22
  There's one of the most exciting part of the events they're coming with real life
• 27:26
  experiences of what it needs to be a woman in leadership and how they paved it forward or
• 27:31
  plan to continue to pave it forward.
• 27:34
  And we'll be touching on mental health on workplace, environment and how to succeed in a
• 27:40
  place where you're the only woman or the youngest woman or the oldest woman or You're
• 27:44
  just feminine.
• 27:46
  How to really be able to express yourself as a woman and the way it is acceptable and not seen
• 27:52
  as being bossy or being seen in a negative way, how do we as women strengthen ourselves
• 27:59
  mentally socially professionally succeed.
• 28:02
  So we'll talk to you in a lot of topics.
• 28:04
  So, I hope you'll be always continuing too.
• 28:07
  And then
• 28:07
  Yes.
• 28:08
  We'd love, yeah, we'd love to see you all there, and it's going to be March 8, 12 pm,
• 28:15
  central time and to look out on socials, and you'll see, the ability to go on the link and
• 28:22
  sign up.
• 28:23
  So what what am I hoping that you got today and what did I get?
• 28:28
  I think it's as simple as we are whole beings.
• 28:32
  We are not just our bodies.
• 28:33
  We are also our minds, and we have to get back as best as possible or we all, as individuals
• 28:40
  and leaders, need to think about safety and that lens that we have not recaptured since
• 28:46
  what we've gone through post COVID.
• 28:50
  Try to ask the simple things, the basic things that maybe you would have learned as a child
• 28:54
  when you met someone, a basic smile, or how are you doing today, or what is new.
• 29:00
  Sometimes those basic things might open the door to some opportunities that may be standing
• 29:06
  right in front of you, but you not may not be aware So, be gentle and kind, as much as you
• 29:13
  can, and, you know, once that's oftentimes what all that people need to just be able to start
• 29:19
  to open up.
• 29:20
  So, Rocky, thanks so much again.
• 29:22
  Thank you.
• 29:23
  Thank you.
• 29:23
  Thank you for spending your time.
• 29:25
  And for everyone for listening in if you're needing any more information, reach out to me
• 29:31
  at Derhodge com and be willing to, share any kind of support that you're needing and also
• 29:38
  Ronki's information, Ronki, where can they get a hold of you if they're needing to connect
• 29:43
  feel free to email me.
• 29:45
  You can find a LinkedIn, Doctor.
• 29:46
  Aki Kamalafi, a LinkedIn, or you can email me at info at p as in Paul, b as in boy, h as in
• 29:55
  house, a, and I'll be more than happy.com.
• 29:58
  Sorry.
• 29:59
  Info@ibpa.com, and I'll be more than happy to answer any questions to provide any help you
• 30:04
  need.
• 30:05
  And all those, pieces of information will be in the show notes as well.
• 30:10
  Thank you again, everyone.
• 30:11
  Have a great week, and we'll chat with you next week.
• 30:13
  Take care.
• 30:15
  Thanks for tuning in to authentic living with Roxanne, creating the space for positive,
• 30:20
  healthy change.
• 30:21
  Roxanne is a kino speaker, psychotherapist, and coach to work with Roxanne, visit
• 30:28
  roxannedurhaj.com/blueprint.
• 30:32
  We'll see you next time.
• 30:33
  An authentic living with Roxanne.