Look after yourself

Our regular columnist Natalie Barker, Head of Transformation at Southern Cross Health Insurance, gets to grips with self-care for herself and her team.

This morning I booked myself a massage appointment. I have a troublesome shoulder, and, on advice from a suite of healthcare providers over the years, I manage it through stretching and strengthening exercises. When I saw my physio last year, she told me I should book in for a regular massage every two or three weeks as well. It’s taken me six months to get around to booking my first appointment. Why did it take me so long?

I’m lucky to work for a health and wellbeing organisation. At Southern Cross Health Insurance, our very purpose is to empower Kiwis to live their healthiest lives. That applies to our employees as much as our customers. Caring for the wellbeing of our people is part of our DNA.

We have an incredible employee wellbeing programme, Switch2well, that encourages us to take care of ourselves physically, mentally and even financially. It offers rewards for Fitbit steps, participation in health checks, seminars, and for taking part in regular health-related challenges. We can join meditation sessions, boot camps at the local park, andhave access to financial planning, EAP coaching and counselling.

We also offer ‘live well’ leave so our people can look after themselves during work hours. We can take a day’s worth of leave each year for medical appointments and other life admin. We’re removing barriers so our people can prioritise their health and wellbeing.

So why did it take me six months to book my massage? Why didn’t I prioritise looking after myself when I have so much support to do so?

We’ve been tackling this question in my team. It started at the beginning of the year when we shared our new year goals and noticed a strong wellbeing theme. For example, we listed goals such as going for lunchtime walks, listening to motivational podcasts, training for running events, putting work problems aside during family time, all focused on our wellbeing and all seemingly simple to do.

It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of work and home life and not quite get around to the activities that help us keep well. We realised that, to achieve ‘wellbeing’, we need a little more ‘welldoing’ in our habits.

Someone challenged me recently to think about why we’re successful in our work. It’s not just because we’re good thinkers, it’s also because of what’s in our heart. And you can’t bring your mind and emotions to work and leave your body behind. So if we want to be successful and want our teams to be successful, we need to take a holistic view of what we contribute to our work.

In my team, we’ve decided that our wellbeing goals should have as much importance in our work conversations as our performance and development goals. We’ve made sharing them a regular event, using our team meetings to check how we’re doing. It was after one of those conversations that I booked my massage, a phone call that took two minutes and was prompted by telling my team I had sore shoulders and hadn’t done anything about it.

As a leader, if I really care about my team’s wellbeing, whether it’s their physical, mental, spiritual, financial or relationship health, I can actively encourage them to make it a priority. I can create an environment that allows my team to share openly with each other, using the power of conversations and perspective to bring about positive change for all of us.

And I can finally go get that massage.

Natalie Barker is Head of Transformation at Southern Cross Health Insurance. She has been leading people for 15 years and believes that leveraging people’s strengths and passions is the best way to drive engagement and get stuff done.