Small Talk on Wellness (Entry 1): Tips On Work-Life Balance

Insights from Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus and Carole Kamangu

Description

In our vlog series, Small Talk on Wellness, my colleague, Heather, and I discuss wellness as it pertains to the lives of working professionals, more specifically those working in healthcare. Having experienced burnout ourselves, we aim to encourage other working professionals in and outside of healthcare to prioritize their health and well-being.

In the first part of our conversation, we focus on the nuances of work-life balance at different stages of life and our career journeys. In many healthcare settings, healthcare professionals find it hard to prioritize work-life balance due to the constant demands of their jobs. It’s important for individuals to understand what their priorities are and adjust their commitments accordingly to maintain that work-life balance. Join us as we discuss this important topic.

 Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: So I opened up my consulting business, Broad Street Prevention, back in, I believe it's 2021, fresh out of the pandemic. And I started the business because I was experiencing a lot of individuals coming to me for advice and bringing me into various projects. So, you know, infection prevention has always been an area where we burn out easily.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: I have the opportunity to speak from my own experience with burnout and help other infection preventionists and nurses, really healthcare professionals to find their way through burnout and understand how we prevent burnout. So really just this whole topic that we are diving in on right now around wellness

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: has also been an area that I really started to branch out into for the healthcare industry and even in businesses as well, trying to help people to have a workforce that is healthy, not only physically but also emotionally and mentally.

Carole W. Kamangu: It's so funny how much Heather and I have in common.

Carole W. Kamangu: Every time she says something, I'm like, Oh my God. It sounds like me! So, I started Dumontel Healthcare Consulting in 2022 when the pandemic started dying down, although it was still, a really big thing. So when I started it, it's funny that Heather said that because I was also thinking about how burned out I was.

Carole W. Kamangu: And I kept thinking about other infection preventionists who didn't have three other IP co-workers like me and what they were going through. And I said, well, I'm really helping this healthcare facility not only protect patients, but they've also saved so much money. I can help other facilities, especially those who don't have the resources.

Carole W. Kamangu: I started thinking about, home health, rural hospitals, long term care facilities. My main goal is usually... showing them how to do it. We do the implementation together so you can feel empowered and independent enough to do it on your own later on. So you won't rely on me 100 percent of the time.

Interviewer: Wow, that's awesome. And I love how excited and how passionate both of you get talking about what you're doing. Because that's the why behind what you're doing, you know, and how it's very evident how both of you are doing what you love. And that's how you do something well, when you're doing what you love.

Interviewer: So really the first question we're talking about, the challenges and rewards of being a consultant is how do you balance your work and your life in the realm of consulting?

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: That's a really good question. And I was reflecting on this a little bit, and I think. It is so individualized, right?

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: Because it starts with what are our priorities, and that's different for everyone. Me, I'm a mom. I'm a working mom. I'm a parent. My priorities are going to look a lot different than someone in their early 20s. Maybe doesn't have kids, fresh out of college, and they may be prioritizing their career. And so their work life balance is going to look completely different from mine.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: And so I was thinking about this, and I think number one, it really starts from taking an evaluation of our life, looking at what is really important to me. What do I value? What are my core values in life? Where am I trying to get in life? So we can determine what are those priorities.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: I think it starts there. We can't develop any semblance of a work life balance if we don't even understand what we want in life and what our priorities are. You know what I mean?

Carole W. Kamangu: Yeah, I totally relate with Heather. It's true. It's really knowing what your priorities are and I think that's the same for me as far as what I balance is really:

Carole W. Kamangu: What do I want? What's first on my list? And that's really where I and I always go with always looking in retrospect. What did I do last month? Did I really... did my priorities align? And if they didn't, then this month, I'm changing things. Did I spend enough time with my children? Because I'm also a mom.

Carole W. Kamangu: Did I spend enough time with my husband? Does this business, is this business hurting my family life? Like really trying to make sure that the priorities are set in place the correct way, and I also like to volunteer at church. So it's like, have I volunteered this past month? I didn't. Okay, what do I need to let go?

Carole W. Kamangu: What do I need to keep on my plate? Because I know what I want. I love being a consultant, but really looking at what are my priorities. You know, when I was single, like Heather just said, when I was single, no children, no husband, I could work as much as I wanted. I would take like 12 hour shifts.

Carole W. Kamangu: You can work. Six different 12 hour shifts and you still fine you in your 20s. You're young, you alone. You can do whatever you want, work whenever you want. But at this stage of life, I really resonate with Heather. Knowing what your priorities are is what helps you make the balance. And it's really individualized.

Interviewer: It sounds like both of you really base your priorities on your values as well, and how that drives, especially both of you being mothers and both of you having just these other like values in your life, how that drives, being single, that drives one thing, but now life just looks differently.

Interviewer: And so that's a really interesting thing that both of you have kind of like talked about.

Carole W. Kamangu: Yes.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: I think that's a really good point, Hannah, because I think Sometimes we don't recognize when we've stepped into new phases of life and when our priorities have changed. So I think at one point in my life I said, oh my goodness, why do I feel so burned out?

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: What is it that is completely off balance, but I hadn't stepped back and reevaluated my life again. Reevaluated what my values and my priorities were at this phase of my life. And so my work life balance was all off because I didn't know what to say yes or no to anymore. Because I didn't know what I valued anymore.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: I didn't know what I wanted anymore. So I think it really starts work life balance starts with knowing what you want, knowing where you're at in life, what stage of life you're in, and then what your priorities are. Just like what you said, Carol, you value volunteering in church. And so that's going to be something you want to make time for.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: I value writing. I love being a writer. I love to write. And so there's going to be times I say no to certain things. So that I have time to write. And so that's really where work life balance starts. It starts with knowing our priorities and then we're able to say to everything that comes our way, is this in line with my values?

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: Is this in line with my priorities? And that's going to help me determine what I say yes to. And what I say no to, I'm essentially putting in boundaries in my life, right? I'm putting in boundaries so that my balance between my work and what I want in life is going to be in line with where I'm trying to go.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: But I think in order to do that, organization and planning is really key. You have to be able to be on top of all the different things that you have to manage in day to day life. You know, being a parent we know that there's a lot that we have to manage. We're managing things on the work side.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: We're also managing things with our children and the household responsibilities. And we're constantly needing to evaluate, is this in line with what my values and my priorities are when we're saying yes and no.

Interviewer: Yeah and I love what you said, Heather, about, everything stems back to your values.

Interviewer: And then from there, that's how you determine what those boundaries are, and that's really how you protect yourself, because at the end of the day it comes, it's very personal. And I just want to ask what kind of boundaries do you have in place to protect yourself and to protect your families?

Carole W. Kamangu: I can start. Yeah, I've learned to say "no". And as they say, "no is a complete sentence". I used to always add an excuse for why I was saying no, and now I just unapologetically say no. And, of course, you don't say no in a cruel or insensitive way, always in a polite, very diplomatic way.

Carole W. Kamangu: "I'm sorry, I have so much on my plate, I can't take this on right now." Or, I'm very interested, but now is not the right time. Can we meet maybe three months from now and talk about this again? Because I'm really interested. And if you're not interested, I always say it's okay to say I'm not interested.

Carole W. Kamangu: This is not, as we said, this is not part of my priorities is not value for me. It's not a priority, either personal or professional; on a professional level, we always take on so much. We're both nurses, so we've learned to take on responsibility for everything. And we're infection preventionists.

Carole W. Kamangu: We just like to learn everything, do so much research, but sometimes, and also as consultants, you'll get some people soliciting you, for different projects, and that's where you put boundaries. As a consultant, for example, for me, I know what type of clients I want to work with, I have some people reach out to me and say, Can you work on this project?

Carole W. Kamangu: That's not, first of all, it's probably not my area of expertise, or I have no interest, I may be very good at it, but I just don't like doing the work, that type of work, so then saying no is a boundary that I use. I just say, unfortunately, I'm really not interested in this. I don't think I'll do a good job because I'm not passionate about it.

Carole W. Kamangu: And also, speaking to burnout, as Heather mentioned I remember, especially during the... at the height of the pandemic, there was so much being thrown on infection preventionists because there was just so much to do. And I had to really learn to be. Even more, I mean, firmer than I usually am. Sometimes your hours would just go crazy.

Carole W. Kamangu: And I had a newborn at the time, in 2021. Sometimes it's like, "Okay, it's my week for call, but I have to do this. Carole, can you cover?" And unfortunately, sometimes I would say no, I can't. Unfortunately, this Sunday I'm spending time with my family. Why? Because I have a newborn right now. I'm just burned out for the past week of call.

Carole W. Kamangu: So it's really learning that no is a complete sentence. And as I, and I will insist again, not saying no in a mean or cruel or rude way. Very, being very diplomatic and kind about it.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: We can have boundaries and still be kind. You mentioned that multiple times, Carole. And I think that is something that is misunderstood.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: We think we have to say yes to everything. And part of that is our society. Our society says we constantly need to be doing more. And so we first almost need to change that mindset and say, no, My value is not in what I produce. It's not in what I accomplish and asserting what our boundaries are based on what those values and those priorities are that we've identified.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: So for myself I have looked at those boundaries, those values, those priorities that I've had, and I've said, you know, at this time in my life, I'm not going to work weekends. As a general rule, I don't work weekends. So I have had work colleagues say, can you look at this over the weekend and give me feedback by Monday?

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: And I've said, I'm sorry, I don't work on weekends. But I'm happy to take a look at it on Monday for you. They might not be happy with you. That's what I've decided. for me personally in this time of my life that I'm going to do. Now that's not to say that I never work weekends. There are times that I have a passion project that I am so excited about and I just happen to have a little bit of time on a Saturday that I can work with, work on that without it interfering with those values, those priorities.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: And so I might do that. But as a general rule, I don't work weekends. I don't work after hours. So I have a schedule during the day that I try to keep, I try to adhere to. Doesn't mean that I'm not available in an emergency, but generally I'm not going to be working those after hours. And so that's just, one example of some ways in which I've said, okay, these are my boundaries, because this is what my value and my priorities are at the stage in my life.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: That means that I have turned down projects. Just like what you were saying, there are times that you've said no to things. So there are times that I have said no to things. I've said no to jobs. I have said no to projects. I've said no to extra work. And it might have at the time seemed like a incredibly great opportunity for my career.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: But I have turned it down because I have looked at where my values lie, where my priorities are and said, that role as a director is not going to get me to where I want to be right now at this stage of my life. And so I've said no. So I think I agree with you, Carole, no, it's a complete sentence.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus: It's very hard to say sometimes, but if we want that work life balance, we do have to set those boundaries for ourselves. We do have to say based on what I want in life. I'm going to say yes to these things and no to these things. And we kind of have to reevaluate that every single time we are asked to do something or offered a new project, a new position, whatever that might be.

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About the Speakers

Carole W. Kamangu and Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus are two nurses, infection preventionists and consultants who, like many nurses and healthcare professionals, have experienced burnout at different stages of their careers. Their experiences, more specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic when faced with competing priorities in their personal and professional lives, have taught them some important life lessons on wellness. They share what they have learned to benefit other professionals inside and outside of healthcare and to help them prioritize their health and well-being.

Heather (Saunders) Stoltzfus is the Founder and Senior Infection Prevention and Control Consultant of Broad Street Prevention. She demonstrates her commitment to wellness through her speaking engagements where she discusses her experience with burnout and raises awareness on burnout prevention strategies for healthcare professionals. She also publishes articles where she educates the infection prevention and control community in utilizing proven methods effectively to optimize their time management strategies and prevent burnout.

Carole W. Kamangu is the Founder/CEO and principal consultant of Dumontel Healthcare Consulting. She demonstrates her commitment to wellness by bringing her passion for infection prevention, patient safety and staff empowerment through her work by supporting healthcare organizations in optimizing their infection prevention and control programs. She achieves this through speaking engagements, team and leadership education, staff coaching and mentoring, and the implementation of quality improvement projects to empower staff, reduce burnout, decrease HAI rates and save on healthcare costs.