As social sector organizations face increased change and uncertainty, leaders often find themselves pulled in many different directions. It can be challenging to find the time and attention to focus on wellbeing — or anything — yet wellbeing is critical to sustain individuals, teams, your organization, and the communities you serve. Whether or not you’re in a formal position managing others, you can make a difference in the wellbeing of leaders at your organization and, in turn, the continued impact of your mission.

Join us to explore strategies for increased wellbeing at work in this interactive session designed specifically for those working in the social sector at nonprofit, education, and public health organizations.

What You’ll Learn

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• The impact of disruption on team and leader wellbeing
• The 6 research-based components of wellbeing for leaders of others
• Tips for how to apply these components in your role and organization
• How supporting wellbeing can support your mission and impact

The post Wellbeing for Leaders in the Social Sector appeared first on CCL.

What’s your current relationship status with burnout? Do you wish you could break up for good? You’re not alone.

Across the globe, individuals, organizations, and communities are experiencing increased stress and uncertainty — and as a result, employees are dealing with burnout at unprecedented levels.

The impact is staggering. A recent study from Mental Health America reports that 75% of workers are struggling with overcoming burnout, leaders at all types of organizations are being pulled in multiple directions in the face of physical, mental, social, and economic upheaval. With long hours and less funding, many nonprofit and health leaders, especially, are dealing with burnout themselves, and so may not feel equipped to offer their teams strategies to become more resilient and effective.

Leaders approaching or experiencing burnout may feel physical symptoms, cynicism about work, emotional exhaustion, and reduced performance.

Sound familiar? Remember, it’s not you. It’s burnout.

In the face of perpetual crisis, leaders must adapt, not just react. Explore our guide to Leadership in Disruption to learn how leading with culture, vision, and collective agility helps organizations thrive through complexity.

Get the Guide

How Organizations Can Support Their People in Overcoming Burnout

What can organizational leaders do to support their workers in dealing with burnout, and in tandem, address turnover rates? Senior leaders can bring intention and attention to creating the conditions for everyone to bring their best selves to work and foster an environment that supports their people and the communities they serve.

For the nonprofit and public health sectors in particular, philanthropic organizations and foundations can play several essential roles. First, grantmakers, executive directors, and senior leaders can consider their own personal and professional practices and how those are contributing to how they show up for their constituents. Second, they can stop doing anything that doesn’t support creating and cultivating the conditions for nonprofit teams and organizations to flourish.

Whatever your industry, if you’re a leader, you can build your own resilience by stopping and starting these 6 things to help create the conditions for colleagues to overcome burnout and “burn bright” instead.

Advice for Dealing With Burnout

6 Tips for Leaders: What to Stop & Start Doing

1. Stop repeating the same things. Start trying something new.

Do you feel like you’re living the same day over and over, like your own personal Groundhog Day movie? In addition to fostering boredom, unexamined routines can also diminish energy and focus. Consider how much you might be mindlessly defaulting to behaviors reinforced by burnout, and what you might do differently today to shake things up.

Our brains actually thrive, and we feel happier, when we have novel experiences. Brain research has found that a rush of dopamine comes with any new experience. And it doesn’t have to be big to be effective — even small changes can help to create an immediate shift in energy and focus.

Make a commitment to trying new things as a way of helping you and your colleagues with overcoming burnout. It could be as simple as trying a new route on a morning walk. How might you encourage others to try something novel? Perhaps add “sharing new things tried” to your one-on-one check-ins or an upcoming team meeting and start creating space for colleagues dealing with burnout to share ideas with one another.

2. Stop holding your breath. Start an intentional breathing practice.

You might not even notice that you hold your breath or take very shallow breaths during the day, especially when you feel pressure. The moment we get anxious or stressed, we can assume some control and agency by breathing properly. Even less than a minute of intentional breathing can make a big difference. The research is clear: if we breathe shallow and fast, it causes our nervous system to up-regulate, and we feel even more tense and anxious. But if we breathe slowly, taking a deep breath with a focus on our exhale, it turns on our body’s anti-stress response. Breathing is convenient, free, and a fast way to ground into a state of calm.

One simple practice for dealing with burnout is to anchor intentional deep breathing to something you do every day — maybe just before joining another online meeting, or as you transition from work to home tasks. You might experiment with expanding this practice to include everyone participating in a meeting you’re leading. Simply invite team members to breathe fully for one minute at the start, or take a pause for a “breathing break” in the middle.

3. Stop sending generic messages of thanks. Start personalizing gratitude.

Have you ever received a generic, “reply-all” thank you message that fell a little flat? You’re not alone. While the intent is positive and it’s better than no gratitude, it can lack sincerity and reduce the overall impact. Giving thanks will actually make you a better leader and personal notes that include specific details about the value of an individual’s contribution are far more effective than mass communications, research finds. Just 5–12 formal, individualized, sincere gestures of thanks per year can significantly cut an employee’s propensity to leave and help with overcoming burnout.

Take a couple of minutes and write a brief note (even just 2–3 sentences) to a person you’ve been meaning to thank at work. By doing so, you’ll not only share gratitude with the individual you’re sending the note to, but you’ll also be modeling this behavior for other leaders in your organization. Make it your practice to send your team members a brief but personalized thank-you note on a consistent basis.

4. Stop holding meetings by default. Start building an intentional meeting culture.

Meetings are a constant presence in our lives, and with the rise of the remote and hybrid workforce, they’re more prevalent than ever. Yet, meetings can be draining, feel like a waste of time, and force after-hours work. They can even feel isolating when there’s not an opportunity to connect. Meetings are critical to getting our work done, however, so take some time to really examine and update your organization’s meeting culture.

The next time you’re about to schedule a meeting, ask yourself the question, Is this meeting really necessary, or are we simply defaulting to a meeting because that’s how we’ve always done it? Consider whether you can handle the agenda via email or in a real-time messaging app, or explore shortening the allotted time. This allows people to avoid attending back-to-back meetings all day.

Lighten “Zoom fatigue” by making some virtual meetings audio-only when being on camera isn’t really necessary. Or, if it’s an option, suggest team members take the call while walking outdoors to incorporate some movement and fresh air. Bonus points if a walk-and-talk meeting can be done together in person. Meetings are a prime opportunity for connection, so make them count and use them to improve your organization’s virtual collaboration and communication practices.

5. Stop perpetuating a 24/7 work week. Start encouraging boundaries.

How have your boundaries around work and home shifted over the last few years? For many of us operating in a hybrid workplace context, we no longer “work from home” as much as we “live at work.” A boundaryless experience like this can take a serious toll on our health and contribute to burnout. Because of this shift, you may want to consider how you might be unintentionally creating expectations of working longer hours, including evenings and late nights, when your employees typically have been untethered from work.

If you or your colleagues are dealing with burnout, notice the communication patterns that have emerged for yourself and your team recently. If you find yourself often catching up on emails after hours or on weekends, reflect on this habit. How might you create or influence new expectations that support recharging and disconnecting from work? How can you actively support both a work ethic and a “rest ethic”? And what rituals can you start that signal to yourself that you’re “clocking out”?

Consider closing the laptop and leaving it in a designated workspace, collecting virtual or physical files and putting them away, or sending your team a friendly “I’m out and you should be, too” email at the end of the day or week, or when leaving on vacation. This will help your employees manage their work-life conflicts and increase their ability to unplug from work when the day is over or when they’re taking some much-needed time to rest and recharge.

6. Stop the early morning phone scroll and caffeine hit. Start your morning with intentional, mindful movement.

Do you check your phone before your feet hit the floor in the morning? Is making coffee or tea your next step after that? These behaviors, while very common, may be eroding your energy before your day even begins. Checking your email, social media, and texts as soon as your eyelids open quickly hijacks your attention and emotions, often triggering anxiety before you’ve even gotten out of bed. You’ve probably already heard the advice not to keep your smartphone in your bedroom — but turning off notifications, curbing social media use, and removing as many apps off your phone as possible are all helpful, too.

As for your unexamined caffeine routine, simply delay it a bit. When you wake up, the energizing hormone cortisol is at its peak — adding caffeine on top of that is like throwing a match on a fire that’s already crackling. You’ll experience a greater caffeine boost by waiting an hour or 2 if you can.

Replace that immediate screen time and caffeine jolt with a little movement — a quick walk, some yoga, or even just stretching — and then something mindful like journaling, reading, or listening to music for a few minutes. Then, hydrate with water before you caffeinate. Give it a try for a few days and see if your energy improves and if these practices help with overcoming burnout.

When you assess personal habits and default organizational practices that may be aggravating stress and burnout, you can start building a culture that values resilience and gives employees permission to take care of themselves. Be mindful about recharging and modeling those behaviors for your team, and say goodbye to dealing with burnout for good.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

As a nonprofit ourselves, we’re guided by purpose and fueled by passion, and we understand the need for strong, resilient leaders who are able to support themselves and their teams in dealing with burnout. Create the conditions for employees to bring their best selves to work with our resilience-building solutions, or partner with our nonprofit leadership experts to help build a more resilient organization for your people, your mission, and the communities you serve.

The post It’s Time to Break Up With Burnout. Here’s How. appeared first on CCL.

Building healthier societies around the globe requires investment in public health leadership. Public health leaders at all levels — from grassroots community change agents to senior executives at governmental agencies and nongovernmental organizations — face massive challenges, including navigating systemic barriers, disparate and siloed systems and services, resource constraints, polarized political ideologies, and helping the public understand and trust complex information.

Our research has identified the top 6 most important competencies for public health leadership — as well as the proven solutions for developing them. We’re committed to providing research-based development for public health leaders, organizations, and communities seeking to solve some of society’s most vexing health challenges.

Download Report

The post Building Public Health Leadership Capacity for Greater Health Equity appeared first on CCL.

This prestigious award is presented annually to an individual who is a strong advocate for NurseTRUST and who is known for leadership in their organization and community, for high standards, and for leading through challenging times.

Named in honor of Dr. Shirley Chater, a renowned nurse, healthcare leader, and advocate for nursing leadership, the Shirley Chater Enduring Leadership Award recognizes individuals who embody Dr. Chater’s spirit of leadership, innovation, and dedication to developing nurse leaders to improve nursing, health, and healthcare.

Williams served as Deputy Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows program from 2009 until 2015 and was instrumental in helping lead alumni ENF members in the transition and creation of NurseTRUST. Williams continues to serve as a leader in their ongoing work.

This recognition is even more special for Williams, as it’s traditionally awarded to nurses.

“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for this award and the opportunity to serve this community. Shirley’s legacy calls us all to be beacons of enduring leadership. I call on each of you to embrace the journey of leadership with courage, humility, and compassion,” Williams stated during her award acceptance speech.

“Andi not only embodies Dr. Chater’s spirit of leadership, innovation, and dedication to developing nurse leaders, she also epitomizes CCL’s mission to advance the understanding, practice, and development of leadership for the benefit of society worldwide. She served as an instrumental leader at CCL for the RWJF ENF program for nearly a decade, and her leadership was critical to the creation and success of what is now NurseTRUST.org,” said Lynn Fick-Cooper, Chief Equity and Societal Impact Officer.

“To be the first recipient of this prestigious award who is not a nurse herself is a testament to Andi’s unique brand of leadership and deep commitment to the nursing profession. She is the most compassionate, creative, resilient leader I have ever had the privilege to work with across my career.”

The post CCL Societal Impact Group Leader Honored by NurseTRUST appeared first on CCL.

The panel focused on understanding structural racism as a fundamental contributor to health inequities affecting policies and practices in housing, education, immigration, environment, employment, and other social determinants of health. This discussion explored the impact of structural and interpersonal racism as a public health issue, attempt to challenge the notion of a homogenous Latino identity, while celebrating the diversity of the community.

By reclaiming our lived experiences and narrative, this discussion equipped participants with strategies and tools to dismantle harmful, racist, and oppressive policies and practices that hinder the ability to live healthy lives and thrive in a multicultural society.

The post Marcia Dawkins Moderates Panel for UnidosUS 2023 Conference appeared first on CCL.

The Global Fund was created 20 years ago to fight the world’s 3 deadliest epidemics: HIV, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria. Programs supported by The Global Fund have saved 44 million lives since 2002, proof that global commitment and community leadership can force the world’s deadliest infectious diseases into retreat.

Since 2002, the Global Fund has  disbursed more than US$50 billion to respond to HIV, TB, and malaria and for programs to strengthen systems for health across more than 155 countries, including regional grants, which makes it one of the world’s largest funders of global health.

The Global Fund contends with rapid change and uncertain operating environments every day. To achieve its strategic objectives, the Global Fund needed to master more adaptive ways of leading. Indeed, learning and leadership development was identified as one of the 7 pillars of the organization’s People Strategy.

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The organization’s intention was to create a flagship leadership program — called “Elevate” — that would trigger a step change in their ability to adapt as a collective. Adaptive leadership was judged to be essential for the Global Fund in its fight to end the epidemics. To take the organization to the next level in enabling the organization’s mission, they sought high-impact learning interventions for their leaders.

Solution

The Global Fund engaged CCL and its partner the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) to design and deliver the Elevate program. The partnership’s discovery work with the Global Fund determined that, individually, many Global Fund professionals were highly adaptive leaders. It was the organization’s collective capacity to adapt that needed unlocking. Together CCL, GCSP, and the Global Fund designed a multi-module and multi-modal program that would focus on developing collective practices to support a more positive and adaptive culture. Participants included the Management Executive Committee as well as their direct reports, and mid-level managers. In total, the Global Fund’s 180 most senior people managers embarked on Elevate.

With a learning journey spanning 4 modules across 2 ½ years, Elevate engages participants through multiple modalities:

• 1-day workshops
• Assessments
• Individual coaching
• Experiential simulations
• Momentum boosting clinics
• Short agility bursts

The Global Fund is nearing deployment of Elevate’s fourth module. Module 1 focused on Mental Agility and introduced the Theory of Change. This set the scene for Module 2, where the focus was on People Agility and challenged participants to build, nurture, and role-model a climate of psychological safety, trust, collaboration, and personal growth. Module 3, fully virtual, was titled Change Agility and focused managers on the adaptive requirement to navigate paradoxes that are not problems to solve, but tensions to lead.

Results

Across the first 3 modules, the Global Fund is witnessing positive behavioral shifts among participants:

• Leaders trying new things and feeling accountable
• Indicators of speaking up are emerging
• Instances of cross-unit collaboration initiated
• Role modeling by senior executives generating greater impact, and
• Adoption of practices recommended by the Elevate cohort by the senior team to help lead the most critical tensions.

Participants report a positive impact of Elevate across 10 out of 11 key indicators relating to individual and collective learning agility. Module 4, Results Agility, is focused on helping participants consolidate their myriad individual acts of leadership into focused collective practices that generate a cultural step change.

When COVID-19 emerged, the pandemic presented Elevate participants and organizers with the ultimate adaptive challenge at the mid-point of the program. Fortunately, Elevate was always conceived as an adaptive program for targeting adaptive outcomes. The flexible approach to design has allowed CCL and GCSP to walk in step with the Global Fund’s shifting internal and external realities and tune its solutions to continuing to grow the adaptive leadership that matters most today.

Participants Say

The post Accelerating Collective, Adaptive Leadership at The Global Fund appeared first on CCL.