The Happy Healthy Nonprofit:
Linking Self-Care and Wellbeing to Impact
Beth Kanter, Master Trainer, Speaker, Author
Santa Barbara
July 12, 2017

@kanter
www.bethkanter.org
Beth Kanter: Master Trainer, Speaker, Author and
Nonprofit Thought Leader

• Nonprofit Professionals
• Understanding Burnout and Self-Care
• Self-Care World Café
• Nonprofit Organizations
• Leadership and Employee Engagement
• Nonprofit Case Studies
• Tech Wellness Tips in the Nonprofit Workplace
Slides, Links, and Handouts:
http://bethkanter.wikispaces.com/SB-1
Agenda
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Poll
What is your nonprofit’s
experience with wellbeing in
the workplace?
Not discussed
Employees are encouraged to
do it on their own
There are periodic activities for
wellness or wellbeing
Our nonprofit has a
strategy/plan/policy for a
comprehensive program
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Beth
399
Beth’s Story: Why A Book on Self-Care
Healthy Range
>150
Test Results

Too Much of This …

Too Much of That

A Little Bit of That

Way Too Much of This ….
Working nights and weekends
Sleep deprivation
No vacation or down time

Test Results
150

Where do you
find the time in
your work day?

Allen Kwabena Frompong
Black Lives Matter
NYC

Burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and
physical exhaustion that occurs when we feel
overwhelmed by too many demands, too few
resources, and too little recovery time.

The Symptoms of Burnout
Emotional
Exhaustion
Cynicism
Detachment
Fatigue
Loss of
enjoyment
Insomnia
Pessimism
Forgetfulness
Impaired
concentration
Isolation
Detachment
Increased illness
Loss of appetite
Lack of
Accomplishment
Anxiety
Apathy
Hopelessness
Depression
Increased irritability
Anger
Lack of productivity
Poor performance
And burnout is sneaky!

The 4 Stages of Nonprofit Burnout
Passion
Driven
Passion
Waning
Passion
Challenged
Passion
Depleted
Take Assessment
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Share Pair
What is your stress trigger? How do you react?

What’s Your Personal Chaos Index?

Self-Care: Many Ways To Put On Oxygen Mask
Self-Care is about revitalization. It includes any deliberate and
consistent habits you create to enhance your overall well being.

Tip: Protect Your Sleep

Sitting Is New Smoking

Beverly Trayner-Wenger
List of Standing Desk Resources
http://bethkanter.wikispaces.com/walk
Stand Up At Work

Tip: Walk More

We have no downtime
52% of smartphone owners check their phones
a few times an hour or more.
Behavior Addiction

Tip: Organize Mobile Phone To Avoid Addiction
• Notifications from people
• Customized notifications
• Tools on home screen
• Scramble Apps
• Remove or move work apps into folders on 3rd or 4th
screens during non-work hours

Tip: Use “To Do” System That Works for You

Tip: Unplug regularly & often

TIP: Schedule Solo Time at Work

Take A Real Vacation
http://www.projecttimeoff.com/ People who took more than 10 of their vacation days had
a 65.4% chance of receiving a raise or bonus.

Self-Care Plan
Practice Goals
Sphere 1:
Self
-Get 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
-Eat more fruits and vegetables every day.
-Get to 10,000 steps per day walking.
Sphere 2:
Others
-Make a regular date with my partner and/or children –
one-on-one – to give my relationships attention.
-Divest myself of negative influences, moving
consciously away from people who bring me down.
Sphere 3:
Environment
-Stop what I’m doing at least once a day to go outside.
-Clear clutter from my office desk
Sphere 4:
Work and Money
-Take comp time when I’m attending work-related
evening events.
-Stand up from my desk every 15 minutes to stretch and
walk around.
Sphere 5:
Tech
-Set up a charging station at the front door for all of
my/my family’s digital devices.
-Keep all my digital devices out of my bedroom and off
my dinner table.

Your Self-Care Plan Is Not One-Size Fits All

The Self-Care Cafe

How It Works
• Each table has a table cloth (flip chart paper) and
markers for note-taking
• Each table will have a host
• There will be two rounds of discussions, with focus
questions
• Table hosts will remain at their table, others will
move to a different table after each round
• Table hosts will summarize the discussion at
beginning

Round 1:
What types of self-care activities do you think would
work for you? (Use checklist)

Round 2:
What support do you need from work, family, or others?
What help do you need to get started?

Let’s Harvest the Ideas from the Conversations

1 Make It
Tiny
2 Find A
Spot
3 Train
the Cycle
The Secret to Creating New Self-Habits That Stick!
BJ Fogg: Tiny Habits Framework

A Simple Way To Practice Mindfulness At Work
-Two Minutes of Focusing on Breath
-Two Minutes of No Agenda

Creating A Mindfulness Habit Trigger

Mindful Moment
What one self-
care habit do you
want start
tomorrow?

Share Pair

Exchange Mobile Numbers with your Accountability Buddy

Summary
• Self-Care is not just about kale smoothies and
massages, it is part of doing the work
• Burnout is sneaky, understand if you depleting
your passion for social change without refueling
• The self care requires intentional habit change
• Pick one small self-care habit that you can create
and build into your life today and courage others in
your organization to do the same!

From Self-Care to WE-Care
● Culture
● Employee Engagement
● Programs and
Activities
● Nudges and Cues
● Policies, Strategy

Avoid Quick Fixes

Wellbeing Is Embedded in the Culture

Crisis Response Network:
Listen and Engage Employees to Shift the Culture

Listen and Engage Employees to Shift the Culture
1: Functioning
Do people have what they need to do their job?
2: Feelings
Do people feel appreciated and respected?
3: Friendship
Do people feel connected to one another?
4: Forward
Do people feel like they have opportunities for growth?
5: Fulfillment
Do people feel like they are inspired and working towards a
higher purpose?
Laura Putnam – 5 F’s Framework

Tip: Create Space for the Conversation

United Way in South Dakota: Moving Together
• Twice daily all staff
walk or movement
• Started with listening
and engaging with
employees
• Wellness coaching and
experiment 10 years
ago
• Now part of culture

Interfaith Youth Core – Bottom Up and Top Down
• Leadership supported an
employee “Giddy” committee
• Feedback on how to improve
wellbeing (health, happiness,
productivity)
• One idea: “Creativity Time” –
three hours per month to
visit a museum – employee
handbook
• No one used it until Executive
Director started to use it

Hazon: Leverage Staff Champions
Wednesday Afternoon Weekly Walk
-After lunch for 20 minutes to energize and build community

Building A Movement Inside Your Organization

This is
bunch of
woo woo
What’s the
ROI of Happy
and Healthy?
Your Executive
Director

Benefits: Talent Retention, Less Turnover, Reduced Health Costs

• Fewer absences and sick days
• Lower healthcare costs
• Higher employee work satisfaction and
retention
• Ability to attract top talent when recruiting for
jobs
• Higher productivity
• Greater ability to handle stressful situations
• Ability to meet and exceed milestones
• Motivated, resilient workers
• Better brand ambassadors
• Responsive and engaged staff
Return on Investment

Getting Started
• Be open about self-
care.
• Staff meeting to do
assessments and
create self-care plans
• Accountability buddies
• Make small changes
and offer reward/praise
• Does not have to cost a
lot of money

• How can your
nonprofit nurture
wellbeing instead of
amplifying stress?
Mindful Moment

Summary
• Bringing well being into the workplace is all
about culture change
• A culture of well being requires leadership
and employee engagement
• Quick fixes don’t work
• Benefits include recruiting top talent,
retention, reduced health costs, and more
• Start practicing self-care and start the
discussion in your workplace

Technology Wellness in the Nonprofit Workplace

Is this familiar?
• Long work week
• Come home to realize
you didn’t get stuff
done
• You start doing solo
work in evenings and
weekends
• You don’t do it because
you are too exhausted

The Four P’s
Planning People
Priorities Present

Planning: Structure and Rituals
Assessment
1. Our team has a clear sense of what’s ahead each month
2. We stick to deadlines and commitments and rarely let things fall through the cracks
3. My team or organization has a clear policy about sending after hours emails
4. My team uses cloud software for collaboration and has a well mapped out workflow
and training for all users
0-8
What’s your score? 0=No, 1=Sometimes 2=Yes
Add it up your answers

Tips to Improve Planning
● Use Look-Ahead Rituals
● Make Solo Focus Time Part of Your Team
Culture

Tips to Improve Planning
● Clearly Define Workflow for Online Collaboration
Platforms and Training
● Adopt Formal Practices Around Team Emails

People: How You Relate To Others
Assessment
1. I am comfortable saying no, negotiating requests, and making requests of others.
2. I stay away from gossip, office politics, and drama
3. Our team communicates precisely via email and online collaboration tools
4. Our team has an effective approach to integrating remote and on-site staff for
meetings and collaboration
What’s your score? 0=No, 1=Sometimes 2=Yes
Add it up your answers
0-8

Tips to Improve People
● Write emails that are precise
● Create a remote working charter for your team
Subjects w/Keywords
[ACTION] [SIGN]
[DECISION] [CORD]
[INFO]
Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF)
Fewer Words
Link to Attachments

Tips to Improve
● Set a Statute of Limitations on People Frustrations
● Say NO, But Enforce Boundaries With Grace

Priorities: How You Spend Your Time
1. We spend time working on key priorities and goals that move the needle for our
organization, our team, or my own performance and growth.
2. I complete tasks even when I don’t want to do them.
3. My organization or team has clear rationales for how we use our time
4. I understand and accept the trade-offs that I make when choosing how to spend my
time.
What’s your score? 0=No, 1=Sometimes 2=Yes
Add it up your answers
0-8

Tip to Improve
● Don’t schedule hour meetings by default

Tips to Improve
● Do A Trend-Line View Reflection with Your Team
● Rethink Status Updates Meetings

Being Present: How You Focus and Pay
Attention
1. Our team schedules work according energy levels
2. Our team is focused and engaged in meetings and not multi-tasking
3. We have distraction free environment and time needed to complete the things that
require focus or strategic thinking.
4. When I have free time, I know how to use it productively or restoratively.
What’s your score? 0=No, 1=Sometimes 2=Yes
Add it up your answers
0-8

Tips to Improve
● Team wide analysis of most productive times during day
● Have explicit team or organization policy about white space or
maker time

Tips to Improve
● Device free zones in your workplace
● Meeting policy about use of devices to avoid “technoference”

Summary
Our personal and organizational
use of technology can create stress
leading to burnout. But if we are
intentional about how we use our
devices and practice the 4 Ps, we
can be more productive.

Book Raffle

Thank you!
www.bethkanter.org
The Happy Healthy Nonprofit
http://bit.ly/happyhealthynpbook