Tending to Well-being

No matter what acronym involving diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice you might be using, human well-being must be at the core of this work.  Without the centering of human well being at the core of what we are trying to do – than we have made chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips or a chicken and rice dinner with the the chicken. We are missing the main point. So here’s my question to you. How does your DEI work, your DEI strategic plan tend to human well-being. Where does it fit into your daily practices and how can you support it for those you work with? 

Daily “workplace” practices: 

Here are a few ideas to implement to center human well-being in your daily practices. 

• Take breaks: make taking a minimum of 5-10 minutes between meetings the norm 

• Make “meal breaks” normal and celebrated 

• Make taking a walk, getting outside taking 10-1000 minutes okay and even celebrated

• Start each meeting with 5 minutes for people to refill their coffee/tea/water or use the restroom and come back 

DEI Strategic plan and/or your Overall strategic plan 

• Build into all timelines time off or slower progress on work because of  holidays, rest, and the unexpected (sickness, world events, pandemic changes, shifts in business etc)

  • This will help you see that projects take longer than the you might think 

  • Allows for everyone working on all projects to take breaks have vacations and be away from projects 

  • Shows respect for time off and time away 

• Create overarching goals that include the many steps you’ll need to take to reach the goal. Think SMART goals but add to that list – every possible task that goes into accomplishing each step 

  • This helps you see that you’re making progress even when the goal hasn’t been met yet 

  • This helps you note where you’re hitting challenges or impasses and may need support 

  • This helps you see that it’s not straight line from a to b it’s a long winding road and you’re working through a lot ot get towards that shift or change 

  • Make sure to include the the steps the parts of human well-being that will be centered 

I hope you’ll join me that this time in ensuring that you and those around you are taking the time to change  deadlines, move calendars and timing around, to offer a little more spaciousness, to allow for breaks to be possible and to tend to one another as humans.