Checking Your Vitals

*Note: The following text is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.

Bill Berthel:
Welcome to. The Get Emergent podcast. This is where we like to discuss ideas and issues related to leadership, team and organizational development. We like to provide concepts and ideas that you can turn into pragmatic experiments to help you develop your higher potential in your work and in your leadership. And hopefully, you’ll find some better practices to apply in your work. I’m Bill Berthel.

Ralph Simone:
And I’m Ralph Simone.

Bill Berthel:
Ralph, thank you, checking your vitals.

Ralph Simone:
Yeah, baby. You know, unfortunately, or fortunately, I’ve had a lot of chance to interact with the medical community over the last four or five years. And, you know, each time you go in for an appointment, even a non annual physical. Right. You’re gonna have blood pressure taken, temperature, pulse, some cases, reflexes, balance. If it’s part of a broader exam, you would have blood work done. And, you know, so, really kind of checking these vital indicators as to your overall health and well being.

Bill Berthel:
Yeah. So the purpose is, right, a, few metrics that we would expect to be at a certain level of performance that suggests health that suggests good health or is there an indicator of something maybe going on?

Ralph Simone:
Yeah, either case. And as I was thinking about this, I was thinking, all Right, well, I’ve now, with all these devices that are available, I’ve taken that as an individual. and I don’t wait to do it just in an appointment. I’m checking my heart rate, my temperature, my oxygen, blood pressure, almost on a daily basis to really make sure that I am as ready for the challenges and the opportunities of the day as I could be. And so that got me thinking that there are vitals that we should check as leaders for ourselves and our organization, so that we could intervene and make modifications to things before they become a problem.

Bill Berthel:
I love it. A quick wellness check, right?

Ralph Simone:
Yeah, yeah.

Bill Berthel:
We can take the temperature. We can check the pulse. We can check maybe the blood pressure, something like the stress levels or what’s the healthy level of pressure for the team or the organization? I love this idea,

Ralph Simone:
Bill. I’m reminded of my early days at Coopers and Lybrand, and I worked for a senior, I was going to say older senior consultant by the name of John Riley. And John was a wonderful mentor. And we had this huge project up in, Glens Falls, New York, in a paper mill. And we were there every week for a couple of years, two to three days a week. And the first thing he would tell me, he says, kid, you got to check the temperature. You got to see how are they doing? Are they making money? What happened the past week? How are the labor management relationships going? He would say, you got to check in that before we even start our work, let’s, get a a sense for where the pressure points are. Let’s get a a sense for how well things are going. And I thought it was really a good practice. And what I think we like to share with people is, as a leader of a team or of an organization, what are some of those vitals that you could be checking on a more regular basis to ensure the ongoing health of your organization?

Bill Berthel:
Checking the temperature, as the way you put it, kind of, some cultural elements. How is the business doing, and how are the people relating to how the business is doing? Maybe are they making money? Whats going on in the business? What other vitals can a leader check on their organization or their team or themselves?

Ralph Simone:
Well, earlier, I think you said this. When we check the pulse, I think thats the culture. I think we can check for the psychological safety thats the pulse. How comfortable are people asking and saying whatever is on their mind? But I think if we go back to the individual leadership level, a leader can check their own vitals in four areas. Part of our LeadFORWARD forward program, there are four sources of energy, and we actually have people check in on this on a monthly, weekly, and even a daily basis. That there’s the physical energy, and that relates to sleep, hydration, movement, stillness. But there’s the mental energy, which is around concentration and focus, which, by the way, is connected to the physical. Because if we’re not getting enough rest, if we’re not hydrated, if we’re not eating, we’re going to have a difficult time concentrating and focusing. There’s the spiritual energy. Is the organization really clear on their purpose and meaning, in what they’re in business for? And do people understand their connection to that? And then there is the emotional energy. Right. How are people feeling about the work? Are they feeling good about it? Are they challenged by it? Because that emotional energy really ties, I think, to engagement of people,

Bill Berthel:
And each of us as individuals can check in ourselves on that, right. We can have reflection and measurement on how well am I sleeping, hydrating, nourishment for the physical movement, for the spiritual. Thats really that force behind. Right. The meaning that my purpose in my leadership and in my work, we can internalize each of these.

Ralph Simone:
I think often we do work for an organization that I really think has a grand mission, a mission that a lot of people could get excited about supporting because its tied to keeping our country and our allies safe and strong. Years ago, they had this beautiful video m that was inspiring and it was aligning and it was clarifying. And I asked people, how often do you show this at the beginning of a meeting or an event or, all hands? And the answer was, well, we’ve showed it once. And I was thinking that sometimes we lose sight of why we’re here.

Ralph Simone:
And I think it might be good for a leader to say, you know, how often are we reminding ourselves and others of why we’re here, what our purpose is, and how this particular activity supports that purpose?

Bill Berthel:
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. That’s those check ins on a regular basis. Right. To check those vitals in our leadership and our well being. Or there’s an indicator, hey, I could brush up on something here. Maybe I’m nothing as focused as I could be. What might the cause of that be? What other vitals would a leader check in on?

Ralph Simone:
Here’s one that I think a leader anybody in the organization can check on. So we’re learning that many people, not all, but feel overwhelmed. They feel like they have more to do than time to do it. And I think from an emotional check in, get them looking at the activities and relationships that are energy gaining in energy draining. So those are emotional, those are the quality of those activities. And particularly if it’s an activity that’s energy draining, is it something you could stop doing? Is it something that someone else could do? And it would be energy gaining for that individual.

Bill Berthel:
Right, right.

Ralph Simone:
Is it something that we could do, apply innovation to and do very differently, or is it something that we could automate? And so I like to get people that feel like they have too much to do to take a look at all of those activities and which ones make them feel better and which ones make them feel not so good or drained. I think it’s another.

Bill Berthel:
I love this idea. I was working with a leader recently, and she was really protecting her team. She was taking on some of the work that was, from her perspective, energy draining and her experience. She was being drained by it. And as we were talking about some of these tasks, and one of her goals was to delegate more, the natural question came up, how would you delegate some of these tasks to others? And she was holding this belief that it would be draining for them as well until she gave herself permission to experiment with that. It turned out to be energy gaining for some of her direct reports, because it was new to them, it was exciting and different work. We might think it’s draining for us, and that means it’s going to be draining for everyone. We could really challenge ourselves in that because it’s surprising. What is energy gaining for somebody else that may be more mundane to us?

Ralph Simone:
Oh, absolutely. And I think we often don’t explore that. And that’s why this, you know, checking the vitals is a strategic pause.

Bill Berthel:
It is.

Ralph Simone:
It’s a strategic pause. And, they’re indicators of how vibrant we are and how what we’re currently doing is serving us. And this is, you know, why we want to strongly encourage people to take these vitals. So we’ve talked about the physical, even the mental. I mean, I think mental. This concentration and focus. I mean, just pay attention to how much energy and concentration you have at 03:00 p.m. And there are studies that suggest that’s the least productive time of day.

Bill Berthel:
Right. For most people.

Ralph Simone:
Yeah. And so what are you scheduling during those times? And how could you re energize yourself? What could you build in that could be something that would create connection and revitalize the whole organization?

Bill Berthel:
Yeah. So maybe the work that’s going to be most cognitively taxing could be not at 03:00 p.m. or maybe if I want to tap into my full creativity, figure out what window in my day would be optimal for that.

Ralph Simone:
Absolutely. I’m recalling the break at 03:00 p.m. that one of our clients down in Miami had. And they did the cuban coffee. And so they took that least productive time of the day, and they ritualized it, and they use it as a way of fostering social and emotional connection among other colleagues.

Bill Berthel:
And a little injection of caffeine.

Ralph Simone:
Yeah. Which got them over the hump for the rest of the day. But I thought that was brilliant.

Bill Berthel:
Yes.

Ralph Simone:
Now, did they come across that by checking the vitals? I don’t know. But, you know, this is where you get up, take a walk. Right. If you were finding your heart rate higher, you could start to do some intentional breath work. So this whole idea of checking the vitals is so that we can be optimally performing so that we can have our full energy to work on the activities that matter most, when they matter most.

Bill Berthel:
Yeah, that’s really great. I’m looking at it, actually, right here in my office space. I have six different questions that I routinely go through for just this purpose. And the first one is purpose. What am I a part of? And that I attach to the spiritual energy. Right. It’s meaning. There’s purpose in that. Identity is really important. Who am I? And not just the titles. Going three levels deeper in who am I? I think about the relationships that I have and the different identities I have, right? Not just husband, father, coach, business partner. Where else can I go with that? Because often in that reflection, I check what’s most vital to me, what’s important, my beliefs and my values really grounding for me. And again, that’s probably spiritual from a cognitive perspective. What are my capabilities and what am I willing to learn? So that’s the cognitive recharge. Emotional. emotional. What will I do differently? How can I challenge how I’m feeling and what, you know, not just what I’m doing, but how I’m feeling differently. And then where I am is really important. There’s an environmental factor. Am I in a place that I’m able to contribute, enjoy? That charges me and energizes me.

Ralph Simone:
Well, environment matters. And because environment matters, one of the vitals that leaders can check, is the environment we’re utilizing conducive to. The outcomes we’re after.

Bill Berthel:
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It took me a long time to accept that one personally, Ralph. because I felt like I could get anything done anywhere. I had that possibility mindset.

Ralph Simone:
Sure.

Bill Berthel:
It turns out the environment really does affect how we show up.

Ralph Simone:
And look. I like the idea that you want to believe that you can get anything done anywhere, but some environments are more conducive. This is why you five s a shop floor. When you’re lean manufacturing, you’re changing the environment to improve the flow. And flow is vital. Cycle time is a vital measure in an organization. What can we do to increase those metrics? We’ve got to check our vitals. You know, weve got to look for the bottlenecks. Weve got to look for the areas that are blocking that flow.

Bill Berthel:
Absolutely. And I think the idea of vital checking, you mentioned it as a strategic pause. I think doing it on a regular basis is as equally important. Right. So its beginning of day, end of day, some type of routine, just as you likened it to visiting the medical profession, they do it at the beginning of every visit. Where will you look for the opportunity to insert the strategic pause to check your vital?

Ralph Simone:
Yeah, see, I’m enamored with this word vital because vitality, or if someone hasn’t seen you in a while and they said, you look vital, I mean, that’s really empowering. It’s really, and I think that because we ignore some of these things in our organizations, we start to become less vital. We start to become tired, we start to become overwhelmed. And it shows then in our performance and in our culture.

Bill Berthel:
So I just had to look up the definition. Right. Vitality, a term used to describe a person’s ability to live, grow, and develop. That’s the work we do. No wonder this word is so, for us, Right?

Ralph Simone:
Yeah, it’s beautiful. It’s a beautiful word.

Bill Berthel:
So check your vitals.

Ralph Simone:
So I’m going to check my vitals today, and I think it leads to action, and it leads to action and experimentation that drives those to be at a higher level.

Bill Berthel:
Ralph, thank you,

Ralph Simone:
Thanks, Bill,

Bill Berthel:
And thanks for listening. We hope you enjoyed this episode and that you’re looking forward to more. And you can listen to a new podcast two times every month here at Get Emergent or wherever you listen to your podcasts. And, if you pick something up, you’re going to apply and try in your leadership and your work today. Let us know how that goes and just reach out to us at support@getemergent.com. Or you can reach out directly to me or Ralph, thank you. Thanks for listening.