This text is part of the special Feminine Leadership notebook
Cultivating efficiency and performance at work in a healthy way, is it possible? We asked the question to four entrepreneurs for whom slowing down is an act that requires courage, but from which everyone comes out a winner.
If at least four out of five people in Quebec say that slowing down would be beneficial for their overall health, only a third have the impression that a slower pace of life is well received in our society, according to a Léger survey commissioned in 2023 by the Association for Public Health of Quebec (ASPQ).
However, there is no shortage of signs that a corporate culture focused on profitability is harming workers and absenteeism, disengagement, employee turnover, burnout or depression are realities of the world of work. “Doing more with less is still like that in many companies, and it is our health and that of the planet that pays the price,” says Julie Tremblay-Potvin, founder, with Marie-Andrée Mackrous, of the company De Saison, art of living and working, which offers support services to organizations wishing to develop their work practices towards healthy performance and sustainable health.
In an online survey carried out in April 2021 by the firms LifeWorks and Deloitte among 1,158 senior executives from large organizations, two-thirds of whom reside in Canada, 82% of managers said they finished their day mentally or physically exhausted and half of between them thought about abandoning their functions. “Do we just want to increase the economic value of our company and see more and more workers dropping like flies or do we also want to create human value? » asks the entrepreneur, who gives the example of this manager who confided to her that he loved his career until he understood that he no longer controlled it, but was rather controlled by it.
Redefining success
By co-creating new business models with her clients, Sofia Oukass, founder of So & Co, which defines itself as a laboratory for experimenting with more human entrepreneurial approaches, invites them, among other things, to redefine the notions of success and failure, and to revisit their values and their conception of what it means to live well. “If the way I manage my business resonates with my values, makes my employees happy and allows me to make enough money to live well, that’s what we can call a success,” emphasizes M.me Oukass.
Does slowing down in business then imply giving up the success we wanted, which often rhymes with financial growth? “For my part, it’s the opposite, I would rather have the impression of giving up my life if I were conditioned by this culture of performance,” says Mme Tremblay-Potvin, which resonates with Joanie Lacroix, founder of Pastel Fluo, who maintains that this cult of always more “brings a disconnection with oneself and with what truly generates joy and meaning”. This is the reason why her company, which directs and produces personal development documentaries and offers business conferences, is built as an ecosystem that enriches not only the entrepreneur. “I figured out what amount I was good enough with. » The surplus is used to produce free content dealing with subjects such as education, the circular economy or corporate well-being. Redefining success from a perspective of well-being that includes that of others allows, according to these entrepreneurs, to not lose sight of their vision and their initial motivation.
Live your other lives
Having time to play his other roles is what, among other things, motivated Mme Tremblay-Potvin to set up his business. “We were two professionals with children and we didn’t want this work culture that takes everything and gives nothing. » The two women then created their model and implemented strategies to embody their values, such as postponing the launch of certain projects to allow one of them to support her father at the end of his life.
Laurie Michel, founder of Vivala, a firm specializing in digital well-being and disconnection support for businesses and individuals, came close to exhaustion before beginning a professional turnaround. “I was super productive, super ambitious… and super connected to my screens. I was in a state of permanent availability. I spent about seven hours a day on my phone. » Since then, the business manager has established her rules with her clients from the start: she does not work evenings and weekends. “It’s a protective measure to carry out my other roles. » According to her, it is essential that the company does not become the center of an entrepreneur’s life.
A profitable disconnection
French origin, Mme Michel took the liberty of putting Vivala on hold to return to his native country for a while to live their last moments with his grandparents. “Time doesn’t catch up. With my phone turned off almost constantly, I realized what it was like to live in the moment, without being numbed by my screen. »
If disconnection is seen as a weakness in certain companies, it is because we associate availability with performance. However, hyperconnectivity has increasingly better documented negative repercussions. “We realize that allowing employees to disconnect at work and from work makes them more creative and improves team cohesion,” says Laurie Michel. A disconnection that Joanie Lacroix offers herself every Friday in addition to a stay of a few days alone in the woods every three months. “It was far from my phone and work that I had my best entrepreneurial ideas,” she confides.
Courage
Choosing to manage your business in a more human way is dizzying, “but it works!” » says Joanie Lacroix. It can also take courage. “Managing based on the human needs of employees and expecting less from them in a given period of time seems counterintuitive in terms of profitability,” says Julie Tremblay-Potvin. But ensuring that everyone’s needs are heard and, ideally, met, is a responsibility shared between the manager, the employee and the work team, which promotes everyone’s commitment, continues the entrepreneur. “Meeting human needs is a challenge worth taking on,” she concludes.
This content was produced by the Special Publications team at Dutyrelating to marketing. The writing of the Duty did not take part.