Episode 28: Stay Interviews

Webinar: How to Reduce Unnecessary Veterinary Workplace Stress with Mary Ann Baynton - YouTube

Hello my friends, Welcome to episode 28. Today I wanted to share an idea that I heard on a webinar with Mary Ann Baynton that was organized by the Canadian Veterinarian Medical Association in honour of Canadian Mental Health Week in May. It’s an exceptional training and I will put a link in the show notes so you can listen yourself if you have the time.

So there was one idea from this webinar that I wanted to share with you. This webinar was focused on veterinarians whose statistics indicate that it is a high-risk profession for mental health distress. So one topic that Mary Ann discussed was that often in the workplace people have exit interviews and sadly this practice is too little too late.

We are seeing a lot of distrust and dissatisfaction in the workplace right now and asking people what we could have done differently as they walk out the door often isn’t helping us know what changes need to be made and in reality, they may not tell you what the company actually needs to change because they are gone. It doesn’t help them if you do make a change and they may not want to burn any more bridges on their way out so they may just say that everything was fine when really it wasn’t. When really major changes were needed. Employees really needed support that they were not getting.

So the idea that Mary Ann shared was “stay interviews”.

Now a couple of things to keep in mind. If I didn’t have a very trusting relationship with my manager and they asked me some of these questions I would for sure lie! I wouldn’t dare tell the truth and I even think I would get pretty defensive. And if I was struggling at work with some of the practices I am not sure this would help me stay especially if no changes were made and these were asked of me by someone I didn’t trust completely.  So she suggested that if there isn’t a really strong trusting relationship there – some of these questions might better be asked by a third party who can hold space for the honest answer and who can then compile the answers together to see where the trends are and where changes need to be made.

But what I actually want you to do is take control of your own experience. I want you to do a stay interview with yourself. I want you to have an extra level of awareness so that you can have a mindset that allows you to love your job and keep it or to move on to add value where you might decide to go but you will know how to evaluate your job and contribute in a way that you are proud of.

So are you ready!

Stay interview Questions! Write for 10 mins on each of these questions. Expand your Brain!

1.       What is it about this place that you like now? And what else? What else? What wouldn’t you want to lose if we made some changes?

2.       What needs to change to make this a great place to work for YOU!? If start complaining, say understood. Now want needs to change – what could we do? Come up with your own solutions. Don’t just come up with problems – come up with solutions. Make them practical, reasonable, specific – what else? What else?

3.       What are you willing to do to contribute personally to the work environment that you want to have? How would we measure it? Draw out specific behaviours, that would contribute to the kind of environment.

4.       What if you are having a bad day, how do you want people to respectfully remind you that you are not aligned to this agreement we have and what do you want them to do if you do not change? Progressive discipline leading to termination

It is a huge mistake to accommodate bad behavior, in the name of mental health. If you are so sick that you can’t behave properly then you need time off. If you are so caught up in your idea of how things are that you can’t treat people kindly then you do need some time away. I know this might sound really harsh and we often get so defensive but if we think about these things before and have good answers to these questions then in heated moments, we have a plan to fall back on.

One of my new favorite sayings that I have recently heard is that When emotions are high intelligence is low.

Taking the time to answer these questions when emotions are low (so intelligence is high) can allow us to have some ideas and things in place so that when emotions get high, we have structures to help us work through them. And those structures can be taking a step out of the barn and taking 3 breaths before you come back in.

Anyway, so once you answer these questions.

Decide who you are going to be in your work environment. Make an agreement with yourself about who you are going to be. How you are going to remind yourself to be that person when things get tough?

Make a conscious decision.

How are you going to show up?

I can’t change your boss. I can’t change your coworkers. But we can change your mindset and perspective so that you are choosing to be the change.

You can hold yourself accountable in a very kind and respectful way.

You can take care of your coworkers. You can take care of yourself.

You can apologize and take the initiative.

This work isn’t about getting it right all of the time.

It’s about becoming aware of when we got it wrong. It’s about loving ourselves through those times. It’s about learning from the tough situations

We truly can be a support to ourselves and to others in whatever situation we find ourselves in.

So take some time this week.

Answer these questions.

They can be about your work, your family, our friendships.

Knowing the answers to these questions is incredibly powerful. Then we can actively be working toward contributing toward a better environment.

It will be fun.

Have a wonderful week.