YEAR OF ZEN: WINTER: DAY 60

TRACE image of sunspots

Q: How can you, without being obvious, back up a colleague to make them feel safe and appreciated?

A: Creating a culture of care and support is my highest priority at work because I know firsthand how beneficial that can be. Great work can get done when a person feels cared about, appreciated, and supported. This can look a lot of different ways: creating safe spaces for discussion and collaboration; creating spaces where it is okay to fail and learn from failure; and, just generally trusting people and working endlessly to advocate for them and put them in positions to be successful. But all of this needs to be sustained over time. It takes a lifetime to build credibility and literally one moment to destroy it.