Deming-Rivers Social Club

“History isn’t something you look back at and say it was inevitable, it happens because people make decisions that are sometimes very impulsive and of the moment, but those moments are cumulative realities.” - Marsha P. Johnson 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈

Okay so unpopular leadership topic butttttt: (at least but probably more than half) of your team is running on a hormonal cycle every single month and most workplaces are built like that’s just... not happening??

Menstrual cycles impact energy, focus, mood, how people show up, and not in a “uh oh we’ve got grumpy girlies + low productivity” way, but in a human bodies do this way.

When you actually take time to understand how your team members are being impacted over the course of the month, you could (in theory) build in some flexibility and supports that result in BETTER outcomes for your org

What if, instead of expecting people to be consistent, every single day, with no variations (because that’s super unrealistic), your team listened to their bodies + were able to work WITH them instead of against them??

And before anyone clutches their pearls about ✨productivity✨ the research actually finds this beneficial.

The biggest study on it (almost 33,000 people!) that found period symptoms cost about NINE days of lost productivity a year. Butttt only ONE of those days was for people actually calling off. The other eight are from people showing up and operating at a fraction of their capacity.

Sooooo the productivity you think you’re protecting by being rigid is already gone.

You’re just unaware (well you were, before reading this).

Seriously, worry less about people taking time off + more about the impact of the people who feel like they can’t. Also, when you ask what people actually want, it’s rarely “give me a week off in bed.” (Not saying they don’t want it, they just aren’t gonna ask for that lol)

Most people just want a little flexibility — different tasks, hours & some room to REST + BREATHE on the days their body is melting down.

Take it from us. If you build a culture where someone can have an honest “I need a break today” convo without it being an ordeal, you don’t just get better work. You get people who stay. Because nobody walks away from the place that actually takes care of them.

sooooo anyway. maybe the move isn’t squeezing everyone into the same nine-to-five-every-day mold. maybe it’s just�

On this week’s episode of Talking Shoppe, we each picked a leader from the LGBTQ+ community and talked about the leadership lessons we can learn from them.

🧑‍⚖️Emily picked James Obergefell — the man behind the landmark case that made marriage equality a federal mandate — and the lesson we keep coming back to: individual sacrifice can create a community ripple effect way bigger than what one person gets to see in their lifetime. 🏳️‍🌈

🎙️Episode 9 is out now on all major podcast platforms and YouTube.

He gets it!

While we were recording this weeks podcast episode, we started talking about self-care

Halfway through, we realized just how differently we each define self-care:

- something to maintain our capacity
- something to keep us balanced
- something to add to our routine

… but also, a way to connect with ourselves. it’s in the name, right?

Self-care isn’t just the thing you do to not lose your mind at work. It CAN be a way you connect with and experience yourself.

In this episode, we’re covering why the term self-care kinda gives us the ick, unpacking what it’s true purpose is, and opening up about how each of us practice it - and why it works for our brains.

Wanna listen in? Talking Shoppe can be found on all podcasting platforms! The first 4 are already out + not to brag or anything, but we think they’re pretty good