Community Well-Being and Empathic Listening Amidst COVID-19: Takeaways from #hubtalks ep. 1

These are challenging times, personally and collectively, as the whole world grapples with a new reality that compels us to rethink how work, learning and socializing are structured.

And if we’re in positions of leadership and influence where our decisions could impact the lives of our teams and communities, it’s only natural that we feel overwhelmed, paralyzed and disoriented at such a critical inflection point in modern history.

As a new initiative of the Global Shapers Hong Kong Hub, #hubtalks started last week with its first episode addressing the topic of community well-being and mental health with fellow Global Shapers from around the region, with the goal of sharing best practices from their respective locations and organizations for the reference of community leaders worldwide.

Hong Kong Shaper Michael Chan, also the co-lead of the Hong Kong hub’s mental health project Shaping Minds HK, marshaled an online panel discussion featuring Hong Kong’s Carol Liang, Shanghai II’s Lucia Wang and Bangkok’s Sanju Sachamuneewongse, all of whom are steeped in experience with mental health and lead teams in NGOs, the food and hospitality industries, startups and Global Shaper projects.

The event was structured to start from a personal level and expand into an organizational level before discussing silver linings and key messages for the audience. Here are some key takeaways and highlights, compiled and presented in the same manner and shared anonymously.

How we can take care of ourselves and our loved ones during the COVID-19 epidemic

• Structure really helps: Keeping to a daily schedule, getting up at the same time as normal and exercising before work provides a semblance of normalcy.
• Lots of people are overworking because of blurred boundaries between work and life. We should make sure to turn off at the end of the day and maintain a work-life balance.
• It’s important not only to take care of our emotional and mental health but also our physical well-being.
• We should check in with ourselves by taking a few minutes to make sure we’re doing okay, and to practice gratitude on a daily basis.

How we can deal with the incessant news updates on the number of infections and deaths both globally and where we are

• It’s hard to manage different discourses; try to understand what they’re saying from their perspectives.
• When it comes to sharing news with your loved ones, keep in mind that people absorb news at different rates, i.e. what is urgent to us might not be urgent for them.
• If information is filtered through us, we have the opportunity and responsibility to digest and fact-check before putting it out there for others.
• We should decide for ourselves how much COVID-19 news is enough, and make sure we’re also keeping abreast of other current affairs.

How remote working and virtual collaboration may have changed work culture forever, and best practices we’ve seen implemented to go with the new reality of work

• It’s important to differentiate remote working as a construct of our current situation, and remote working as an inherent feature of our organizations. For many organizations, remote working is what we’re being asked to do now in these circumstances, but beyond this crisis we should be embracing remote working as a flexibility and corporate culture option, and to destigmatize remote working.
• As organizations, we should make sure that everyone is supporting each other at different stages. Everyone finds remote working to be a different experience, e.g. your experience if you are a first-time parent of a newborn would be vastly different to someone who suddenly has to babysit three primary schoolers without any help.
• We should strive to design and implement policies to encourage our teams and staff to do what we’re passionate about, e.g. volunteering and helping those in need during these times.

How we as leaders can navigate these times for our teams and examples we can learn from

• Some industries find it harder to support remote working. We need to connect with and check in on with every level of staff, including our higher-ups, who are often forgotten in this process.
• As leaders, we should show empathy, solidarity and gratefulness to staff, to show them that “we’ll take care of you” during these times. Our communications should be clear and transparent, even and especially when making tough decisions.
• Sometimes, we don’t need to ask them directly how they’re doing; we can show compassion and support by checking in with them indirectly, e.g. by asking about their pets or family members, or starting a meeting by asking everyone to “tell me something that made you laugh”.
• We should encourage our colleagues and staff to consider taking leave: Not many people are taking leave currently because of all the travel bans, but taking a day or two, or even a week, off for a mental break could do wonders.
• Team dynamics and the trust levels among teams reflect upon company culture, and this will be all the more apparent during these times. People can sense how much we care about our organizations and how much we are willing to do for both our organizations and our staff.

How we can help those with pre-existing mental health conditions navigate these tough times, which might be a big blow to their health status

• A lot of people are actively seeking help and support, and in some locations referrals for mental health help have doubled.
• We should also be cognizant that there will be PTSD in medical staff after this epidemic — we should learn how to be an empathic listener and make time for any healthcare workers we know.
• We should consider how to support those who don’t have access to the technology that allows them to have access the help, as these are the most marginalized and left-behind populations.
• When being an empathic listener, we should listen not just with our eyes but also with our eyes and touch. We shouldn’t focus on sharing silver linings, but instead bringing ourselves to where they are and to lead them to finding their own answers and realizations.

Silver linings

• This epidemic has led to many people experiencing anxiety and mental health issues for the first time in their lives, and we hope this will lead to a destigmatization of mental health struggles and encourage a culture of opening up.
• We should all now realize that mental health is just as important as physical health — and that organizations should have annual mental health checkups for their staff.
• It’s important for us to realize that we’re not just working from home; we’re working from home during a pandemic where we’re all anxious. We’re not alone.

We’d like to thank Lucia and Sanju for joining us in this cross-hub initiative and for sharing their experience and expertise with us. We were joined by more than 20 in the audience, including fellow Global Shapers from Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Lagos, and social entrepreneurs and community leaders across the world, who posed thoughtful and challenging questions to our panel of experts.

We look forward to continuing our #hubtalks series as a platform to share the impact, voices and expertise of young leaders around the world. There will be more coming soon.

Till next time — stay healthy and safe!

Written by: Vince Siu, Vice Curator, Global Shapers Hong Kong Hub

About the Global Shapers Hong Kong Hub

With 10 different nationalities represented, the Hong Kong hub is diverse and comprised of young leaders passionate about making both local and regional impact.

Current hub projects include Learning Together, which provides asylum seekers and refugees with education and scholarship opportunities; Shaping Minds HK, which aims to raise awareness about community and employee well-being and to normalize the discussion on mental health; SUSTAINHK, which convenes forums and events on climate change awareness and environmental sustainability corporate strategies; and The Glowing Fool, which fosters youth and community engagement via role-playing games.

Through various hub supporting projects, the Hong Kong hub also contributes to initiatives on entrepreneurship, smart cities, mental health and more in the capacity of mentors, speakers and organizers. We are proud to have hosted the first Greater China Retreat for hubs in the region, promoting collaboration and exchange across hubs on governance, projects and impact.

About #hubtalks

#hubtalks is a new initiative of the Global Shapers Hong Kong hub that aims to convene online forums for learning and sharing around topics important to Hong Kong Shapers.

Our online sessions are hosted and moderated by Hong Kong Shapers, with fellow Global Shapers from around the world invited as guest speakers and experts. These sessions are open to the public to join for free.