EP 66: Rethinking Self-Care and Workplace Wellbeing with Dr. Michelle Barton

The Unburdened Leader

One of the biggest challenges to self-care is that it means different things to different people.

Is it bubble baths and facials? Nice vacations and or buying a coveted outfit or pair of shoes? Or is it advocating for reasonable wages and safe working conditions?

For some, self-care is a justification to splurge or just take a dang day off when a justification sadly should not be needed. For others, self-care is a means of survival and maintaining the capacity to keep moving forward when things feel bleak.

And all too often, self-care is now presented with an individualist lens that puts the onus firmly on us and ignores the systemic influences that get in the way of caring for ourselves, and the very real need for community and support in our lives.

Self-care is not a problem that can be solved through consumption or a prescriptive plan but is both an individual practice and deeply relational and connected to the communal.

So when I read an article by today’s guest about how we need to stop framing wellness programs around Self Care, I reached out and invited her to join me on the show.

Dr. Michelle Barton is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School with expertise in organizational and team resilience, managing uncertainty, and interpersonal effectiveness during adversity.

Drawing from wildland firefighting, high-tech entrepreneurship, expedition racing, and military operations, her research considers how groups make sense of ambiguous situations, how they coordinate, learn and share knowledge in the midst of confusion, and how they mitigate and recover from adversity. She is especially focused on the relational dynamics that enable these practices.

Dr. Barton’s research has appeared in many academic and practitioner journals and she has presented her work at venues such as NASA, the U.S. Army Medical Command, Johns Hopkins University Patient Safety Conference, and Boston Medical Center among others.

Listen to the full episode to hear:

• Why relationships and connectedness are actually the keys to resilience
• How popular framings of grit and resilience ignore our agency in the face of adversity
• Why we need to place the burden on systems and organizations for creating environments where we don’t need to be as resilient
• Why leaders who help their teams grapple with negative emotions collectively have better outcomes
• How to foster connection within organizations before there’s a crisis

Learn more about Dr. Michelle Barton:

• Michelle Barton, PhD, Faculty Page
• Connect with Dr. Barton on LinkedIn

Learn more about Rebecca:

• rebeccaching.com
• Work With Rebecca
• Sign up for the weekly Unburdened Leader Email

Resources:

• "Stop Framing Wellness Programs Around Self-Care"
• The Last of the Wine, Mary Renault
• Queen - “Don't Stop Me Now”
• Dark Winds
• The Princess Bride