How to take care of yourself in turbulent times?

Insights and advice from Yana Vanivska-Savruk, expert in leadership and team development, organizational development and HR consultant, business coach and HRD

The topic "Self-care. The HR View " is one of the most relevant topics for discussion in terms of building organizational processes and staff training.

The organization and processes are built on the team and its potential. And each team member will be able to work efficiently and devote themselves to work or other processes only when they are "filled".
It takes courage to start the journey of caring for yourself or your employees in an organization. Yes, you did not imagine it. It is courage and the absence of fear.

Your fear will be about how you will be perceived, whether it will be selfish, and whether it is okay to talk about your needs.
You need to not have a fear that you, as an employer, are overprotective of employees, such care is a waste of money, and employees may not perform well and quit.

And the answer to these fears or questions is the words of Eleanor Roosevelt: "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

At the initial stage of self-care, this may indeed look like a beautiful dream: employees are mentally healthy, take care of themselves, and, therefore, feel great at work.

So what is the plan to make this dream come true?

1. Emphasize everyone's responsibility to take care of themselves. As HR, you can provide tools and be there for them, but it's up to the employee to choose what they take away from the experience.
2. Educational work: video lectures, podcasts, movies, inviting an expert, etc. It is important to establish a systematic approach.
3. Together with the team , choose the most effective tools of care. For example, group or individual meetings with a psychotherapist, an application form where you can mark your mental state, or watching movies together on Fridays.
4. Track the dynamics of changes during feedback or one-to-one meetings.
5. Communicate about changes in general team meetings.

"In my experience, the best solution for an organization to take care of its team was to install a coffee machine in a shelter. Sounds interesting, doesn't it?
However, there are much more global solutions, such as retreats once a year. The tools should be tailored to your team." 

"What is my experience?

In taking care of myself and my team, I use a positive psychotherapy approach, namely body support (physical activity/energy), activity (intellectual energy), social connection (emotional energy), and soul (spiritual energy). However, this takes into account the peculiarity of my team and the analysis of requests."

So be brave in your decisions in taking care of yourself, because it is an investment that brings results on our long journey.