We must learn how to manage emotions or they will manage us and that won’t end well. I have a sense that emotional reactions are a little quicker to surface for many of us than 4 years ago. We can go from 0-60 in an emotional nano-second. How do we rebuild a reserve and get back in the driver’s seat of regulating our emotional temperatures so that we can navigate with less cortisol flooding our systems?

Our phones require regular upgrades to function properly. IT folks tell us, “When you get that reminder, do the upgrade.” Consider this final 2023 post focused on belonging as your “auto-notice” pop-up reminder to reboot. The end of the year is always a good time to reflect, so here are some update prompts. Shut down for a while and consider the following to be ready to restart YOU, version 2024.

A friend of mine went to a clinic visit with his wife recently to support her in getting screened for depression. The medical assistant came out to the waiting room to get them - with blue hair, a nose ring, multiple tattoos, and a gender vague name tag to match their demeanor. Walls went up automatically.And yet… This MA showed care and concern, even sharing that they had “been where you are” with depression, reassuring my friends that they had come to the right place for help. In the end my...

My colleague (and dear friend who nurtures my belonging), Cella Hartline, and I stopped at the beautiful Copper Falls for a hike to break up a long work road trip this month. I kept seeing so many metaphors in nature for leadership that it almost felt trite, but at the risk of appearing so, I’m going ahead with this. The natural world presented a template for exploring how leaders can increase a sense of belonging. Here is what I saw, and some questions for you to ponder as a leader...

Which would you rather work on today?___Building a clinic addition to serve more of your community’s medical needs, or___Building capacity for your community to address the factors that impact health beyond the medical building (like housing, child care, access to healthy food, and other social determinants of health.While building a clinic may be more in your direct line of responsibility, your community needs you to bring your talents outside the healthcare walls. The need goes both ways, esp...

The 2023 posts here have focused on how you can create an environment of belonging for others. What about your accountability for creating your own sense of belonging?

I listened to this year’s Leadership Residency CEO Panel with an ear to messages of belonging. Some of their best pieces of advice fit perfectly with this theme.

At the beginning of the pandemic, healthcare workers were hailed as heroes. It was a far fall to be toppled off that pedestal when the collective fatigue and discouragement left some of the public looking for a place to lay blame for the woes of the world.

Did you have that experience as a freshman in high school where it seemed like the upper classes didn’t even know you existed? I’m guessing that feeling invisible to the cool kids is one thing that hasn’t changed over time. This memory floated up following a response to my January post, The Like Button. A manager wrote: “I think I’m on the right track in establishing a sense of belonging in my department, but I occasionally hear comments from employees about not feeling appreciated by the...

As we muddle our way through this challenging world, knowing we are not alone can make all the difference. Love it or hate it, social media is part of how we connect now. Rare is the person who will admit it, but probably rarer yet is one who has never done it: checked your “likes.” I think what we are seeking in the like button is the human need to be seen, the need to belong.