June Membership Breakfast: Cultivating a Thriving Workforce

At the Orange County Chamber of Commerce’s Monthly Membership Breakfast held on June 13, 2019, guest speaker Mim Senft, President & CEO of Motivity Partnerships, shared her insights on cultivating a thriving workforce.

Senft – who has more than 20 years of corporate experience in project management, benefits design and wellness program strategy and implementation – shared strategic ways for both leadership and the workforce to more effectively use their time, understand when recovery/rest time is needed, and move into a more productive way of working to avoid burnout. To watch a video of Senft’s presentation in its entirety, please scroll to the end of this post. 

After getting attendees on their feet for a quick stretch, Senft shared the following:

  • When it comes to thinking about a thriving workforce, it starts with you as a leader. You can’t ignore your own health and wellbeing. Don’t isolate yourself as a leader. Your workforce is watching you. They think, “if my leader never leaves their desk, I’ll never leave my desk.” It’s up to you to set a healthy example.
  • The care-giving piece is huge in terms of the impact to the workforce. Culture only truly changes when leadership shows they care about their staff. You want your employees to feel heard, have the support they need, and know about the resources that are available to them.
  • Recovery time is important. On average we receive 140-180 emails a day, every single day. Each time you stop a project to check an email, it takes 10-20 seconds to refocus back on what you were working on. You will check 36 times an hour, on average. This is new for us. Unless someone’s life depends on that email, try challenging yourself to put one hour on your calendar where you aren’t checking. Ask yourself, is it more important to check every email as soon as it comes in, or to focus on the project – or the person – I’m sitting with.
  • We’ve all checked emails and taken calls while on vacation. Challenge yourself to take a real vacation and unplug. No phone calls. No emails. Unless its a true emergency. Trust that the team you’ve built can function without you. You set the example as a leader that it is OK to take a vacation and come back refreshed. Now your team will be encouraged to do the same.

In conclusion, Senft urged attendees to “take a minute and think about what your sense of purpose truly is for you, wherever you are in life. It’s going to be different for each and every one of you. How does that make you feel? When you’re going through your crazy days, come back to that sense of self; to your purpose.”

To watch Senft’s presentation in its entirety, press play on the video below.