Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Involving Your Team During Times of Grief

Grief is a continuum, on one end of which is substantial loss. It's important to recognize that many life events fall somewhere on that continuum. When you're on a team, it's essential to normalize the sharing of grief and letting team members know what you need. In this video, Dr. Cloud addresses how to involve your team during times of grief.

What to Do When You're Grieving

Grief is an experience that shocks and overwhelms the system, and often the first response is denial. The process of grieving begins with overcoming that initial shock and recognizing that grief is what you're experiencing. Once you put words to it, you can move to the other essential stages such as sadness and letting go. Watch to learn more from Dr. Cloud about the stages of grief and what we will need along the way. 

Supporting Teammates in Seasons of Grief

It is so important to acknowledge our teammates' seasons of grief and ask them what specificially we can do to help, both personally and professionally. It's an opportunity for the team to form cohesion as they come around the person grieving. Acknowledge, validate, and step into it. In this Studio Session, Dr. Cloud covers the important topic of supporting teammates in seasons of grief.

Steps in the Grief Process

Grief is a process of acknowledging the reality of what's happened, acknowledging how you feel about that reality, and ultimately fitting it into a new understanding of life with that loss. The flow is not as linear as we've sometimes heard - it's more of a cycle. The main thing is being open and available to the process, and not just that, but being proactively invested in making the process happen. Don't miss this essential content from Dr. Cloud about the steps in the grief process.

The Conclusion of the Grief Process

Coming to a good place in the grief process doesn't mean that it's over. A good place simply means that you're in a place that's appropriate for what's happening. Once you're through the worst of it, you will start to see the symptoms of grief dissipate as your "want to's" start to come back. Listen as Dr. Cloud explores what the conclusion of the grief process looks like.

How to Use Your Time When Grieving

The best way to think about how to spend your time is investment, and that's true when it comes to grieving as well. An investment gives a return, so you should think about what investment of your time will have the biggest return. Potential areas of time investment when grieving include resting, seeing a counselor or participating in a grief group, or restructuring your life. Watch to learn how to best invest your time when grieving.

Grief Support Organization-Wide

The most important factor in supporting grief organization-wide is creating a culture that supports life circumstances to begin with. There should also be development of leaders so that they know what to do when this situation arises, and what systems and resources are available to them to provide support. Systemic and personal touches both matter. In this clip, Dr. Cloud teaches what organization's can do to support their people in times of grief. 

Healthy Coping Mechanisms

There is nothing that helps us cope more than relational support from people who care. And it's important in those supporting relationships that we identify and communicate what we need. That doesn't mean there's not a time and place for solitude, but there's a difference between healthy solitude, during which you're still connected to people, and unhealthy isolation. Hit play for wisdom from Dr. Cloud about healthy coping mechanisms in seasons of grief.