Mental Wellness with Lori Barr

Being in a competitive environment like tech sales can be draining. Over time, this can have a serious impact on our mental health. With the current markets and economic uncertainty, it can be difficult to stay positive. Especially when facing rejections and the challenges associated with hitting goals.

So, how can you stay motivated? The answer is, to keep your mental well-being a top priority. Do a regular self-check of where you are and how you are feeling, and communicate your boundaries with those around you.  

Workplace mental health consultant, Lori Barr (Empathic Communications) shared practical tips for how to protect your mental well-being while balancing demanding sales careers.

Leadership must be intentional about psychological safety.

As a leader, you have to ask yourself "how are we embedding mental wellbeing into company culture?" Incorporate systems to better support your employees. Provide resources and programming to address mental wellness. Maintain open communication and transparency. These are all ways to create a safe environment for your employees. Without this support, your company will lack psychological safety, which is the ability for employees to show up as they are, ask questions, and be open. Psychological safety is trust.

Quiet quitting is boundary setting.

Today's culture often values DOING more than BEING. Employees have struggled to properly set boundaries and advocate for their own mental health. "Quiet quitting" can be viewed as a new generation of employees feeling more empowered to identify their priorities and communicate their boundaries. This speaks to psychological safety. If organizations feel this is some type of "revolution," it most likely means their employees don't feel safe bringing their concerns or boundaries to their manager.

If you can name it, you can tame it.

When it comes to managing our emotions or stress, the most important thing we can do is pause. In this pause, take a moment to consider what is causing you to react and why you are feeling the way you feel. Sit in those feelings. Once the feeling has been named, you'll be better prepared to address it and move forward.

So, what is the key to managing mental wellness, professionally and personally? Keep an open line of communication. Not just with your manager, but also with your team and the people around you. If you are feeling stuck or demotivated, rely on your network to find support or get advice. Lastly, take the time to pause. Learn to set boundaries, and celebrate all wins, big and small.

Want to learn more? You can stream the full event recording here.

Thank you to all of the WISE partners for making this event possible and our panelists for sharing their time and advice.