Well-being at First AML
I joined First AML about 6 months ago, as the Chief of Staff. It’s a pretty unknown role in New Zealand, but usually involves some combination of filling in gaps at the company, planning and communicating (1-1, 1 to many) to keep everyone aligned towards common goals, and amplifying the team’s ability to do their jobs.
At the heart of my role is deeply about people, and the majority of my work so far has been plugging in some gaps we have on the People & Culture side. When I joined I was employee #37, and since then added about 30+ more people. You can imagine what doubling headcount does to our internal processes and communication!
If you look at my previous working experiences (law, VC, customer success and operations), you may wonder - what do I know about people and culture? As I stepped more into the function, I wondered that myself.
But since spending the past few months living and breathing P&C, from anonymously surveying our ~60 person team to doing 1-1 chats with every individual, reading many books and blogs, as well as seeking out experts to talk to and interviewing heaps of candidates, this is what I think doing good P&C comes down to:
opportunity to be your full and best selves at work
… which also means feeling supported, heard and valued.
However, you can’t have either of the above without first looking after well-being in the workplace.
There’s no way you could be performing at your best, or engaging with your colleagues fully, if there’s something else niggling away at you. Maybe you’re coping with an injury, maybe you’re dealing with some family issues, or maybe you’re trying to ignore some negative thoughts that keep resurfacing.
Life is hard, and there’s a lot that goes on in our personal lives which may affect us at work.
Recently I was speaking to a workplace psychologist who has been helping people perform better for over 20 years, including some of New Zealand’s top business leaders. She mentioned that in the past 5 or so years it’s become increasingly rare to meet a client who doesn’t suffer from anxiety, depression, burnout, or issues with drugs or alcohol.
This is the modern reality we are operating within. I’ve had friends go through variations of all of the above, so I take my own well-being quite seriously - well-aware that it could become fragile and therefore needs preemptive care.
How do I take care of well-being for myself?
When you’re looking after well-being, you’re also building resilience. There are a few things that I’ve tried and stuck with:
Counselling
Firstly, I’m a huge advocate for therapy and counselling. It’s not for everyone, but when you find someone who helps you unpack your ideas, challenge you on self-limiting beliefs, work through some hard issues etc… it can be pretty transformative.
I have a wonderful therapist in Amsterdam that I started seeing a few years ago. We don’t talk much anymore, but I have 5 different friends now using the same therapist and benefiting from her counsel so I guess you could say my advocacy is working.
Building a strong support group
Luckily I also have a super supportive group of friends/family that I can go to verbalise the thoughts that pass through my head. They are great listeners, ask helpful questions and it’s reassuring just to know they are there for me.
Mindfulness
I’ve just finished an 8 week Mindfulness Stress Based Relief course, which was helpful to notice how our mind reacts to stimuli and realising that we are not our thoughts.
Strolls
Ever since I was a graduate lawyer many years ago, I have been a huge fan of going for walks after lunch. It does the mind wonders! And even on a busy day with back to back meetings, I make sure I go for that sunny walk to refresh the mind and soul (the busy days are usually when I need it the most).
Before joining First AML, I spent the past 2 years working in Amsterdam where it often rained. The Dutch actually have a word for how a walk in brisk wind relieves stress: “uitwaaien”. Luckily my office was connected to a huge Uniqlo store (multi-storeyed) so when the weather was awful I would just go in and walk up and down Uniqlo.
It’s often the simple small stuff that makes a difference. As long as you remember to regularly preserve its sanctity!
How can we support well-being at work?
Taking care of well-being at work can look like this:
Taking breaks - playing bananagrams at the office during lunch
It also looks like this:
Someone in our Engineering team being open about how they’re feeling in a daily standup on Slack.
At First AML we try to support good well-being by:
opening up the space for people to be comfortable talking about how they’re feeling
encouraging employees to reach out to external and confidential counsellors, completely free for employees via the Xero Assistance Program
weekly guided meditation sessions in our office
social netball fun
lots of strolls (for ice cream, coffee, shifting parking to avoid the warden etc), spontaneous picnics on our sidewalk lawn, and very little eating at our desks.
When speaking to the CEO of a well-being company recently, she made the observation that many companies offer well-being initiatives as a box ticking exercise. Unfortunately there is no magical silver bullet to solve for well-being, and what works for one person may not be useful for someone else. However, we can try our best to create an environment where people feel supported through the unpredictableness of life.
One of our team members was going through a difficult time in their personal life recently and he said that during those challenging times coming back to work he felt really supported and touched by the random acts of kindness he received from his colleagues. He commented that it’s a choice to show genuine interest in how your colleagues are doing, and he was really grateful that at First AML we’ve managed to cultivate a ‘culture of caring’.
That was pretty moving to hear, and I hope everyone who joins the FAML-y feels similarly supported.
If you have any other ideas on well-being, or you’ve seen something work well at your company - I’d be keen to hear how you’re approaching it :)
