Wise CEOs encourage their teams to take breaks

Crains’s - a NYC business/real estate-focused weekly - came out this week with the following article: https://www.crainsnewyork.com/technology/fight-burnout-some-employers-declare-companywide-summer-break

Happily, I’ve been busy teaching IN PERSON Floral Design workshops with several corporate groups. Their wise CEOs and/or HR personnel have recognized their team’s need to relax and reconnect. I was honored to receive this feedback from Julie Bourgeois, CEO of Jacadi, N.A.: “Such a beautiful experience, and perfect for a team building to resource and refresh a team! Thanks so much Elise, Jacadi Team”

It seems one of the silver linings of COVID has been the widespread realization by Executives that their workforce NEEDS to have breaks. According to Crain’s, given the expectation of 24/7 availability that technology has created, these breaks sometimes need to be enforced across the organization. Hence the full on company week off.

Do you think those folks are really getting off their devices? I believe in a technology sabbath. I have to remind myself to do so, as picking up the phone is SUCH a habit. I have gotten as far as a 24-hour break from social media. I like to use the phone to call friends and family. Ah yes - the good old fashioned PHONE. As my mother used to say, “I don’t like using email - I need to hear your voice to know how you really are.”

In my classes, I ask participants to put their phones away during class (they use them out at the end of class to take photos.) After we do a little bit of breathing and centering, we do some “digital” exercises” to loosen up our hands for what I like to call real digital work - as in using your fingers! Students tell me this little opening ritual really helps them to get some calm and approach the creative act of making a floral arrangement really relaxing.

During class I often have to remind participants that this is not a contest. Class is for experimentation. There is not a better or worse. Everyone has their own particular preference in color, volume, shape, etc. There are “rules of the road” that help maintain the longevity of the flowers (NO LEAVES IN THE WATER! CHANGE THE WATER REGULARLY!!) and there are ways of thinking about design that help make each arrangement unique. OBSERVE YOUR FLOWERS! Each of them are different. They will help you make a more interesting design.

There is so much ingrained competition that comes from our education and our work life. My “mission” is for my students to let all that go - if only for 90 minutes. One could say that nature is competitive in its own way. Plants vie for sun. Some take over space more quickly than others - those damn weeds and vines can so easily encroach on our carefully planted flowers. However, in the small space of our flower container, we can make room for everyone to stretch out and be themselves.