Reigniting Curiosity
When my youngest daughter, Libby Perritt, was just under three years old, she would drive us crazy with her constant questioning of things; how does a car run, how does the engine work, why does it need gasoline? The barrage of how and why follow-ups to each answer always forced my wife and I to be on our toes when putting her to bed. I didn’t realize how critical that was to her development and zest for life until her university days and now her professional life in becoming a successful business owner and social media influencer. She uses this same approach in her coaching and counseling of young women and her growing engagement in ministry work.
Libby, along with her siblings, have presented us with five grandchildren with another one on the way. The oldest will be three in October and history is repeating itself. I love what curiosity does.
As the CEO of Johnson Health Center (JHC) and President of Impact2Lead, I spend a lot of time encouraging my employees and clients to own their destiny by unleashing their potential. In the last couple of years, not surprisingly, this has become more difficult to imagine for folks.
Dominating the workplace headlines now are increased burnout, stress, inability to cope with workplace demands, high disengagement and the list goes on. There are also countless remedies being offered by way of conferences, hiring highly paid consultants to magically fix the palace and recommendations to reduce the number of work hours in a week just to name a few.
I am not here to diminish any of these solutions nor to suggest there isn’t a problem because there is. I am a CEO, I live this every day. I think I speak for others in leadership positions when I say what we do is emotionally exhausting if we truly care. As a leader, you should truly care and be driven to help those who work for you find ways to ease their burden.
But how do we ease that burden you ask? If you read everything that hits your electronic devices, it’s on the organization to fix it all. I disagree with this blanket solution because in the instant gratification world where it’s 24/7 connection or bust, addiction to mobile devices has become troublesome and problematic in the workplace and on the highways. Stress has arrows from all angles. So, it’s not solely on the organization to fix it all however it is our responsibility to enable a culture that empowers its employees to control their narrative on the way to a destiny-oriented life. Listening to understand what their vision and values are and seeing how it aligns with the company vision and values have become essential.
The great resignation we are seeing now is a prime example of employees who have decided their direction and values doesn’t line up with the places they left. They want a better, more purpose driven experience. I still lead a CEO roundtable in Virginia for Federally Qualified Health Centers and staffing shortages remains top of mind and won’t be going away anytime soon.
For these reasons, I have moved our executive and leadership teams at JHC to reignite their passion around the good things that are happening in the workplace. It has been so easy to get lost in all the bad around us, after all, it’s everywhere you look and social media and the news outlets don’t let you forget it. But who controls the narrative here if you are in a leadership or staff position?
Decide today who will own your narrative and destiny. Encourage the good and where there’s bad, get curious on how to make it better. Drive some critical thinking and problem-solving skills deep into the organization. Start asking about the what and why. We are wired to want to do well, it just needs to be unleashed. Promote positivity and gratitude where you sit and be the one that influences others. Someone has to step up and do it now – let it be you. Make that impact, control the destiny and leave a lasting legacy.
To your impact,
Gary Campbell