#WISHRM24 Speaker Spotlight: Linda Golik

As a part of the WISHRM State Conference SMILE Team, I have the opportunity to connect with speakers and exhibitors and learn more about what to expect at the upcoming conference. Today I spoke with Linda Golik, a seasoned WISHRM Speaker, who will be presenting Creating Psychological Safety and Well-being for a Stronger Workforce.

Q & A with Linda:

1. Who should attend your session?

"So really this is an exciting session because I think that we really have the opportunity to think of health and well being an entirely different way, health and well-being has notoriously been in its own little silo over on the left-hand side of organizations.

And people would kind of do a checklist, you know? Do we have a Wellness committee or do we have that Wellness person but this session is way more about integrating these practices throughout your organization and the idea of connecting psychological safety to the health and well-being of our employee population is probably more important than it ever has been.

If you think about the highlight of mental health that came to the surface through COVID and other means, you know, we realize now more than ever people spend more time in their lives at work than they do anywhere else. And so if they don't feel psychologically safe in that environment, it's going to take a toll on their health and well-being.

And if you have employees in your organization that are being affected in that way, I can guarantee you, number one, they are not a highly engaged employee.

Number two, they're costing you money, both in productivity and in health concerns. So it's really we can do each other and ourselves a great big favor by really looking at how are we treating our employees, what does that look like and it really starts with our leadership, you know really talking to leaders, educating leaders, helping them connect these practices and these ideas.

So I think that my session is just really great for anyone, whether you're a leader, you're not a leader.

If you care about the people in your organization, if you're having any kind of problems with retention in your organization, if you're having a hard time hanging onto employees, this is a session you're going to want to see because it's going to give you some really practical tips and inspiration to making some simple changes within your own teams."

2. What is something attendees might not know about you?

"I have kind of an interesting background in that I originally was a communication major that wanted to be a broadcaster and I quickly realized that TV was not the place for me. So I loved news and current events, but I didn't like the negative environment that TV was and so looking back, it kind of was the early seeds of knowing that psychologically safe environment was really important to me and me, thriving to be the best version of myself that could be.

So I got into more of the media world I worked for for many years doing media production, but I always had something inside of me that was sparked in terms of health and well being. I had discovered Weight Watchers had a young age and I became a weight Watcher leader and that was just kind of a fun part time job for me. But more than anything, it just inspired me to help others really live as the best versions of themselves, so I kind of had this diverse background. I decided to go back to school to get a degree in health and Wellness promotion so that people would find me credible as a source to work in the Wellness world. So I bring a little bit of everything to the table. I bring broadcasting media marketing in the heart of Weight Watchers and that community based support. So kind of all those little tidbits together actually make up the position that I currently have. I almost feel like I was really blessed that this position just really aligned with everything that I was and also my organization is sparring enough to look at the strengths of individuals and let them choose pathways that they feel strongly about. And so we really try to align our strengths with our work and that ends up being a win win both for us and the organization. So just kind of just kind of a neat dynamic that we have going on."

3. What is your biggest tip or your top tip for fostering psychological safety in this new environment of a remote/hybrid world?

"So no matter what work environments people are in, they are still human beings at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. No matter how you are managing your workforce or no matter how your organization is structured, we're all human beings and human beings have basic needs and some of these needs. I think we just need to be reminded of so people want to be heard and they want to be seen.

So what are you as an organization doing to make that happen? What does that look like? I saw a recent presentation by Kristen Hadeed and she is a real passionate presenter on relationships, especially in the workplace and one of the things that she does in her meetings is she asks people at the beginning of the meeting. She asked them on a scale of one to 10 to rate themselves both in the work environment and in their personal lives, and people don't have to share if they don't want to. But it gives people the space and the platform to just say, hey, I'm a three in my personal life right now because my mom is sick and OK, now we can bring up some empathy right now.

That's an activity that brings forth empathy in our team and people are understanding what what is maybe going on with that. So I think it's just really about being intentional of your people or human beings and remembering to try and do things to keep them connected. Often those businesses, of course, we're all very busy and we all have a lot to do and we have these lists that we want to get done.

But people first put the people first.

What are you doing to address the people to care for the people, to listen and see the people that you're working with and that can look different in different teams and organizations. But I just invite people to really give that some thought. Think about yourself - how do you like to be seen? How do you like to be heard from? Try some of that stuff out remotely and in person and just start to build that culture."

4. What is the biggest barrier or obstacle you're seeing with organizations that are struggling to improve that trust and safety within their own cultures?

"Yeah, I honestly think the biggest barrier that people tell themselves is time.

They say it's a time issue, they say we don't have the time to do that activity.

We don't have the time to spend this time in the meeting here hearing how people are personally, but I would challenge you to put that against the data of what it costs you every time a person walks out the door.

So every time somebody leaves your organization and you have to bring someone new in and you have to train them and you have to get them on this feed, what does that cost you? Would you have been better off spending time more time nurturing those current employees so that they stay with you?

They're highly engaged. They wanna stick with your organization and they feel passionate and purposeful in your organization so they're doing great work. To me it's almost like a bank account. Sometimes we got to put that money in first. We got to put the money in before we spend it, and often people just wanna go to the spend part, right?

That's how we're wired, but really, think of your people as an investment.

And the more you put into them, I think the more you're going to get out in the future."

5. What are some of your favorite resources or media on psychological safety?

"So there's a great book - Amy Edmondson has done a ton of research on psychological safety, and she wrote a book called The Fearless Organization. So at Bellin, we actually have a cultural team and that was the first book that we read to kind of get us all on the same page of what we wanted and how to align with the goals of what our cultural movement would give us, what we were looking for and her book was a really good resource. Kristen Hadeed's stuff is great because she's all about human beings and just the relationships at work. A fun little statistic is that we will spend more time in our workplace and our lifetime than we will anywhere else except for sleeping. So when I'm talking to leaders and I'm talking to organizations about why that workplace culture matters so much, that is the startling statistic in that people are gonna spend more time than they do anywhere else, more than they spend with their families. You know, all these types of things. So we owe it to ourselves. We owe it to them to really make our workplaces the best that they can be."

6. Anything else that WI HR Professionals and People Leaders should know?

"I know that you know human resources has certainly had a lot of challenges. You know, especially in the last five years with COVID, I want you all to know that even if you're feeling burnt out, even if you're feeling uninspired right now in your work, I would just ask you to come to my session and we're going to inspire each other.

We're going to lift each other up.

We're going to be in this together like all hope is not lost and there are some. Honestly, I will tell you there are some very simple things that you can do that don't have to cost a lot of money that don't have to take a lot of the time.

That is also going to make your life easier. You know, if we all instill these amazing work cultures, we're all going to be happier and healthier, and we're all going to have more joy and work.

So I would just ask you to, you know, potentially come and visit my session or reach out to me on LinkedIn or however you want to find me. And I'd love to talk to you more and help you figure out what that can look like in your organization."

Meet Linda:

As Bellin Health’s - Linda Golik has over 20 years experience in multimedia and health and wellbeing. She is responsible for leading Bellin Health’s Lifesaver Wellbeing Program, as well as an internal cultural change program called "Civilitas." You can see her on local news segments, at community events, on stage as a key note speaker, or on her two podcasts "Mental Health Moments" and "Prescription For Life."