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S4E5 - Great Leaders Care w/ Graeme Cowan
19 Plays1 day ago
How do great leaders show care, encourage teams struggling through tough times, and boost performance?
We invited Graeme Cowan to speak at our IS Connect 26 Brisbane Leadership Breakfast. Graeme is the Founding Director of R U OK? and host of The Caring CEO podcast. He is also the author of the book Great Leaders Care.
Graeme shared his knowledge gained from 20 years helping leaders build resilient teams where care and high performance thrive together.
He shared the Great Leaders Care mindset: "Self-care isn't selfish, it's the foundation. Fill your own tank first, and you become far better at spotting and supporting the people around you who are struggling. Crew care is about building psychologically safe and resilient teams. And red zone care is having the confidence to identify and support someone who is struggling."
"Construction carries some of the highest rates of psychological injury and suicide in Australia. Not soft care. Strong care."
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Transcript
Mastering Mood Over Time Management
00:00:00
Speaker
I really encourage people to you know go for mastering your mood, not your time.
Podcast Introduction and Guest Overview
00:00:09
Speaker
Welcome back to Infrastructure Connections. We caught up with Graham Cowan at our IS Connect 26 Brisbane conference last week. Graham is the founding director of are U OK? and the host of the podcast, The Caring CEO.
00:00:23
Speaker
He's also the author of the recent book, Great Leaders Care. Graham has over 20 years experience helping leaders build resilient teams where care and high performance thrive together.
00:00:34
Speaker
If that feels like something you need, you're not alone.
Graham Cowan at IS Connect 26
00:00:37
Speaker
Let's jump into the conversation. Well, Graham, welcome to Infrastructure Connections. We're here at IS Connect 26 in Brisbane, and you just gave the Leadership Breakfast keynote address this morning. Could you please mention your book as well? Yes, my book's just come out. It's called Great Leaders Care, and it talks about the moodometer.
00:00:58
Speaker
and the importance of it, how you go for the green zone as an individual, but also as a team, because a team has three zones as well. And and then the great leaders care mindset is you know self-care, how we keep our ourselves in the green zone.
00:01:11
Speaker
Crew care, which is building resilience and optimism in the team. And red zone care, which being able to identify and help someone who's struggling.
The 'Great Leaders Care' Mindset
00:01:20
Speaker
But it is followed with, um every chapter finishes with a case study. It's not theory. um I've been...
00:01:28
Speaker
interviewing I've interviewed over 90 CEOs for my podcast, The Caring CEO. And these are people that champion a culture of care and culture of high performance. It's not theory. These people are producing it in every industry, government, not for profit.
00:01:45
Speaker
And please talk about what that keynote speech was about.
Understanding the Moodometer
00:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, thanks, Seth. um I talk about a great leaders care mindset. And what that is, is embracing three things. It's about self-care, you know, building our personal resilience and energy.
00:02:01
Speaker
Crew care, which is about building psychologically safe and resilient teams. And red zone care, which about being able to ah identify by as someone who's struggling, ask, are you okay, and guide them to help.
00:02:15
Speaker
And the second, um I guess, model I talked about was the moodometer. And moodometer, it's got you know green, amber, red zone.
00:02:28
Speaker
And there's really a lot of evidence that says not just the green zone, you feel better about yourself, you're a better partner and friend, but in the workplace, if we're in the green zone, we're 31% more productive, we sell 37% more, and we're 200% more creative.
00:02:48
Speaker
All, you know, just essential qualities for this disruption that's going on in workplaces now. So, this moodometer, and it was it was interesting because it showed what were the top factors.
00:03:01
Speaker
um They were you were in ah you were in a good mood, you felt confident and then medium ones and then very low ones and then the bottom one I think was death. So, that would be zero. But I was struck by the fact that on the moodometer, I'm probably hitting all 12 of the options at once and I'm sure that's fairly common. How do people approach that?
00:03:22
Speaker
Yeah, what um works really well is that it's a tool that everyone understands very quickly, but also there's no stigma with it as well. So if people say, you know, I'm going through depression or ah panic attacks, it ah you know can be quite confronting to say that there's often a bit of stigma around that.
00:03:42
Speaker
But as you say, you know, people go up and down the moodometer each day.
Introducing the VIP Concept for Self-Care
00:03:47
Speaker
And just because you understand it doesn't mean you don't go down to the red zone. But what is really important is having the tools to lift you up again.
00:03:58
Speaker
And, you know, I have a mood orbiter action plan, which I'm very happy to share with your members. And it shows if you're in the red zone, these are the five things you need to do to go to Amber.
00:04:11
Speaker
Amber, the five things to go to green, and then if you're in the green, the five things to stay there sort of thing. So I've really tried to um make that very, very practical. And I also have a self-care scorecard.
00:04:25
Speaker
So vitality is about our physical health. It's move well, rest well, eat well. Intimacy is about building caring and supportive relationships, both at work and also in our personal life.
00:04:38
Speaker
And prosperity is about um a sense of contribution, the energy you get from contributing to your career or charity or church or ah or whatever. um And so I really talk about, you know, topping up each of those things each day.
00:04:55
Speaker
Acting like a VIP, which is making sure that each day we add a little bit in each of those three cups to keep ourselves in a good place. It's not not good to you know be fantastic at work and terrible at our physical health and relationships. We need all three. It's like a three-legged solegged stool.
00:05:15
Speaker
It collapses if we ignore one or two of them I like that phrase, acting like a VIP.
The 'Are U OK?' Movement and Impact
00:05:20
Speaker
And what does that mean as far as how you treat yourself? Well, it it means you dedicate time for yourself. And part of the scorecard is that ah I then have a VIP weekly planner.
00:05:34
Speaker
And so every Sunday i think about, okay, what am I doing this week for my physical health? What am I doing for relationships? Am I catching up with people that are good for me? And if I'm not, i reschedule it. you I know you had um the guest Richard Buller on here before, and we met by chance at a conference 12 years ago, and we found out we lived a kilometre apart. And so every Thursday, we used to work for a, we lived near the bush in ah in Gord and in New South Wales, we go for a walk. And there's something about um doing that regularly, being in nature, and it it ticks two boxes. It ticks our physical box in terms of getting an exercise, but also just being able to share things. and
00:06:20
Speaker
And even, you know, Richard's now moved full time down to Vincentia, South Coast of New South Wales. But we still often catch up just with um a virtual walk. So we each have our AirPods on and have our chat for 45 minutes as we both walk in different places.
00:06:37
Speaker
So it's it's it's making time for those things that are really important for us. And ah really encourage people to you know go for mastering your mood, not your time.
00:06:50
Speaker
Because if you do if you are in the green zone, you're more effective, you're more productive, and you're more influential. I had never heard of the Are You Okay? movement until shortly after I moved to New Zealand, moving from the US.
00:07:06
Speaker
And it was, I guess it was during COVID probably when a lot of people learned about this. But because no one had ever asked me, are you okay in America? And I had never asked if anyone else was, are you okay? In fact, it was probably, there's a stigma around it. And it's something that I wouldn't feel comfortable asking someone. Over the course of your career working in care,
00:07:27
Speaker
um What have you seen for that stigma and how has that stigma changed over time? i think there's been some really good progress in that department. um you know we We know through post-event research that there are people that are, I think it's it shows about 60% of people asked someone, are they okay, um you know sometime in the last year.
00:07:52
Speaker
But it's also, you know, you're not just meant to say, are you okay? It's the spirit behind it that a conversation could change your life. So you might say it in a different way. You know, you might notice that someone's less social than they used to not turning up for, you know, team events, that sort of thing.
00:08:09
Speaker
and um And so you might just make that observation, you know, I know you you haven't been at the past of events, that's not like you. ah you okay? Is everything okay? And the good thing about that is that it talks about something tangible, a change in behaviour, and that can really help the, um you know, the effectiveness of it and ah the authenticness of it. You know, when we first started it, there was that,
00:08:34
Speaker
You know, people said, oh, well, you know, you can't just ask, are you okay one day of the year? and and um And that was never our plan. You know, we, of course, have one day a year as a point of focus, and that's really important.
00:08:47
Speaker
But, of course, we want it to be RUOK 365. Right. And I think one of the really great things is that it has been adapted for different industries. You know, we've done...
00:09:00
Speaker
an R U OK? Rail Week. And so, railways, public and private sector railways around Australia celebrate a week. And, um you know, it's a male dominated industry, 80% male. And so, it's very, very helpful for that. We've we've done for the law industry, the the vehicle industry, the hospitality industry. And I think they're done on different times outside of the actual R U OK? day. And so, that's why we really hope to um you know, to make it more just part of the DNA. And to some extent it has become that. You you look at the the the recognition of the brand, it's like 85% unprompted.
00:09:42
Speaker
um And yet we've only been around for like 15 odd years and um and have ah very small team that work there and and pretty small budgets by conventional measures.
00:09:56
Speaker
I think that's what I found most powerful about it was that you're not just asking are you okay, you're implying that it's okay to not be okay. Exactly. And um that was probably the most powerful part that I'd never experienced before. Yeah, yeah it was. and In fact, I did a session once with um George Western Foods, you know, their big brands are Tip Top and Don's Small Goods.
00:10:21
Speaker
So the managing directors of both those divisions did a you know webinar um around R U OK? And the managing director o of Don's talked about how he had struggled, about he'd had some issues with depression and that sort of thing.
00:10:41
Speaker
And, but you know, he sought help and got support and recovered well. And then um the managing director of Tip Top Breads, he said, you know, at George Washington Foods, it's okay to not be okay. So he explicitly said that.
00:11:00
Speaker
And then we had a, I shared my story and the background. And then we had, it was it was remote, it was right at the end of COVID, I think. So it was all virtual.
00:11:11
Speaker
But you could see the responses coming up in the feed, and I got a list of them afterwards, and people think, said said things like, you know, it makes me proud to be part of this company when we're talking about real things. You know, we've all got families and friends and work colleagues and we know this does go on and so it's fantastic to do.
00:11:33
Speaker
Someone asked if if there would be a copy of the video that he could show his wife and kids. So you hear things like that, you know, it does make a real difference.
Leadership and Care as a Skill
00:11:42
Speaker
You know, it prompts changes in attitude and changes in behaviour.
00:11:46
Speaker
prompt that discussion and also to share that discussion and to share those feelings with other people, other powerful people who might not be encouraged to let that be known in the first place. Yes.
00:11:57
Speaker
Well, this is ah this is a difficult business to be in sustainability, and it can be rather bleak at times, um the the resistance that we're facing or the information that we're looking into the future and seeing. How do you encourage people to focus on the moment or to to take that information in stride and still focus on self-care Because it's really the only option. When we've got ups and downs, there'll always be both. There'll always be both.
00:12:29
Speaker
And I think it's just really, really important to invest when you're going through some tougher times in your own mood, your own well-being, to get ready for the good times and vice versa.
00:12:41
Speaker
you know That was a big mistake I made when I was the vice president for division of Kearney, and there was a big tech crash, um basically our our business crashed.
00:12:54
Speaker
And I just tried to work harder, work harder, you know, and it was the wrong thing to do. You know, it really now, it's easy to see now, but i think it's very important to sort of step back and keep a sense of calm, clarity and perspective.
00:13:10
Speaker
And you can only do that if you're in good mood yourself. If you're in the amber or the red zone, we think black and white. We don't see creative solutions.
00:13:21
Speaker
And you know with the whole aho disruption, Geopolitical, costly living. There's lots and lots of reasons you know to be anxious, but it's really... i think the the one thing that I really learned was focusing on the things you can control.
00:13:40
Speaker
And you can go for a walk, you can catch up with friends, you can... you know, try and look at a problem in a different way. and um But it's you need to be in a ah good mind yourself to see creative solutions and to be able to put them into action.
00:13:58
Speaker
And to be able to help other people with their care. 100%. One thing I shared this morning as well is that, you know, care is a strong skill and it has tangible results.
00:14:11
Speaker
The Gallup organization has been researching engagement, discretionary effort for 30 odd years. They now have down to just 12 questions, what they call the Q12. But one of those questions is, my supervisor or someone at work seems to care about me as a person. It's been asked over a million times, 100 plus countries.
00:14:32
Speaker
And there's ironclad proof that shows the more people that strongly agree with that statement, the higher the productivity, profit, customer service levels, and the longer people stay there.
00:14:44
Speaker
You know, I found it really interesting this morning that, um Amelia Evans from ah Queensland Airports, she's been doing the Gallup survey you know for her organisation.
00:14:57
Speaker
And she said, that's one of their highest scores is that my supervisor or someone at work seems to care about me as a person. And she said, there's just amazing bonds in teams. You know, when you care about them, you have each other's back. You know, you encourage each other.
00:15:12
Speaker
You keep with each other. You joke with each other. um But having that fundamental care is critical for long-term sustainable results. I found that interesting that both of you had mentioned retention, employee retention, and I'd found that in in general employee retention tends to go down as people feel less cared for at work and as they feel more cared for, it's easier to keep those employees. So, yeah, there seems to be that...
00:15:36
Speaker
very direct line between the two. Absolutely. And it's almost an indicator if you see that retention fall, it's something that as a leader you need to start paying attention to. Yeah, definitely.
00:15:47
Speaker
During COVID, there was clearly a crisis. People were in a position where they' their self-care was in jeopardy. And I think people tend to to band together during a crisis. And so this would be a point where they do start to have concern for other people and they start to ask the question, are you okay?
00:16:07
Speaker
But it did seem as if when the crisis passed and COVID was over, that that wasn't as much of an emphasis, life got back to normal. So how do you how do you push that dialogue to continue even when they're out of a perceived crisis situation?
00:16:24
Speaker
um You know, again, you know, it's the only option because as we all know, you know, COVID has essentially finished, but other things really started to to play out. You know, we talked about, you know, AI disruption.
00:16:41
Speaker
So there will always be things that happen. There will always be setbacks, but it's how you respond to those setbacks that really makes a difference.
Hawthorne Football Club's Success Through Vulnerability
00:16:51
Speaker
And it is about investing long term.
00:16:55
Speaker
And youre at the breakfast, I also shared the story of Hawthorne, the football club that had one of the worst years ever in 2016. And Damien Hardwick, the coach, introduced this session where he shared his hardships, his highlights and his heroes.
00:17:14
Speaker
And he was vulnerable and, you know, because the 2016 absolutely sucked. It was a terrible year for for Richmond. But every one of those 45 people in the playing group and the coaching staff went through the the same thing.
00:17:32
Speaker
And some shared some really vulnerable staff. You know, they lived housing commission places and were embarrassed to invite their friends around.
AI in Mental Health Support
00:17:41
Speaker
But it just builds over that year an incredible trust and respect and ah psychological safety that um you know they won the premiership the very next year from coming in the last quartile of the table and then winning the premiership.
00:18:00
Speaker
It just shows that if you do it well, it has amazing results. It's amazing what kind of an impact it can have. um We're seeing now that there are more tools to help people through these. There's apps that people can use online, but there's also AI where people can actually be spoken to through an app and and have and be able to express themselves without necessarily expressing themselves to another human being and being concerned about that that stigma.
00:18:28
Speaker
Where do you see that technology going? Do you see it as a benefit or do you feel that people should really be talking to each other rather than an app?
00:18:37
Speaker
I think kim ultimately there is benefits in having you know a very good AI coach or counsellor um because even if you do have a good counsellor, you might see them once a week, once every two weeks.
00:18:52
Speaker
And you know there there are some cautions with AI in terms of counselling and that sort of thing. But I think overall it's much more positive than it is negative. And I think it will evolve and you know be a more positive sort
Conclusion and Gratitude
00:19:10
Speaker
of thing. So I really think that um you know providing it has the right guidelines and frameworks to to follow, like really you know evidence-based frameworks, I think it's um a positive thing because ultimately most people don't seek help.
00:19:29
Speaker
And so it's something less threatening like um you know being able to speak to an agent or speak to someone at Lifeline, you knows it's a similar sort of thing. It's less threatening and intimidating.
00:19:43
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. I think that's a net positive if it's if it's handled properly. Well, great. I think that's all the questions that I had. Excellent. very much appreciate you being on the show. It's excellent listening to you. My pleasure, Seth.
00:19:59
Speaker
And thank you for listening to another episode of Infrastructure Connections. Please take a moment to follow us wherever you get your podcasts, and we'd like to hear your thoughts. Please leave a comment down below to let us know what you think.
00:20:10
Speaker
Until then, stay tuned for another episode of Infrastructure Connections.