Transitioning back to the workplace

Welcome back to The Work Well Podcast. Season Two is now live and we’re thrilled to share with you the first episode of the season with Su Carty, an international leader in performance. As a speaker consultant and coach, Su works with business owners who are struggling with disconnect and conflict, leaving them with a stress-free united team who own their performance and produce outstanding results. 

Su began her career as a psychiatric nurse, specialised in child and adolescent mental health. She holds a master's degree in cognitive behavioural therapy. Su was, on another note, the first women's development manager for World Rugby. In that role, she led the growth of the women's game globally from 4% of the population to 25%, and in 2018, became the first Irish female appointed to the World Rugby Council.

In this episode, we’ll discuss mental health and the transition back to the workplace from both the individual perspective and the organisational perspective. We’ll discuss what to expect regarding workspaces as we move past the lockdown stage and there’s also a profound reflection from today’s guest Su Carty.

Everyone has a role to play; everyone is important.

Su was retired from nursing for some years, but when the COVID-19 pandemic started, she decided to answer Ireland’s Call. It wasn’t an immediate reaction though, at first she didn’t feel that it was someone like her that was needed “It's not me they’re looking for” she said to herself. For Su, this was an all too familiar thought, and she quickly realised that she did have something to offer, so now she’s working twelve hours shifts three times a week!

“I suppose this has been a pretty amazing opportunity to reconnect and get back to where I started. I've realised how much I loved it, and I'm really enjoying it now. I'm really connected with how much I want to make a difference in that whole area for people” Su says as she reflects on how good it is to recognise the value we can offer as individuals at this time.

Su also remarks on the mental challenges that the pandemic has brought to the work environment. She highlights that no one could be prepared for a period like this, none of us had this experience before in our lifetime, and it is imperative to “allow yourself to breathe”.

How organisations should deal with the return to physical workspaces

Organisations and leaders will have to deal with a fair amount of mental challenges as we transition from the lockdown to whatever the new normal will be. And for Su, having a clear mind is fundamental for leaders to overcome this period themselves and help those who report to them. “In the first place to look at yourself. How are you doing? Where are your anxieties? Where are your stresses, where are you concerned, and just have a look for yourself [...] you need a space that they can come to you with whatever they're dealing with, and that you have that space where they can come to you”.

Acknowledgement is essential at this time too; we feel better when we don’t pretend to have everything under control. It is good to accept challenges for what they are and allow yourself to be supported. So, creating an environment of openness where support can be asked and offered will be of help to conquer mental health difficulties attached to the return to physical workspaces.

What will workplaces look like in the near future?

We all know things will not go back to how they were, and the workplace is no exception. Some adapted and discovered the great potential in remote work; others couldn’t adapt very well and are looking forward to getting back to the physical workplace. And we’re all thinking about how organisations will react when it is safe again to share a physical space. 

For Su, it will vary significantly from one company to the other as she thinks that leaders should consider both the performance and the comfort of their employees to make that decision. “Getting the input from your staff when you know some people work brilliantly remotely. And it's important to acknowledge that some people not so much. There are some people where this period has really been tough on them because sitting on their own in the corner of their bedroom, or wherever they might be to do the best they can, just doesn't suit them. So I'd be very mindful of that as well”.

In the end, it makes perfect sense to be open to all the possibilities. We shouldn’t miss the opportunity to make changes for the better and fall back to work as usual just because everything has opened up.

Lessons from the pandemic

A lot has happened, we’ve learned new ways to make the world work, and that is great. However, for Su, there is one crucial lesson that we should all keep in mind after we overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is to value the important things in life. We close the interview by sharing this fantastic and reflective words from Su Carty: 

“My biggest hope from all of this is we take what's most important with this, that actually we've learned what's really important, what we really value like each other, our families, spending time with them, what really matters. That we look after nature around us and we could see when nature is given some time it flourishes. I think people noticed birds singing where they didn't realise there were birds, the little things that are important in life. I think people are a lot more connected and present to that now. And my hope would be, look, we're going to get busy. And it's not like we're going to be sitting around listening to the birds all the time, I get that too, right. But that we do spend that time just noticing that we've learned what's important to us and that we don't move too far away from that again”.

You can stream or download the episode right here or you can watch the video of our chat through this link.

You can connect with Su on Twitter and LinkedIn or visit her website www.sucarty.com