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Sharing personal hardships like divorce, health issues, and family emergencies can make workplace conversations emotionally difficult and professionally complex. But given that our working lives are not getting shorter anytime soon, its not a question of if individuals will need to have these conversations, but when. And navigating these conversations professionally while managing emotions and privacy requires careful thought and preparation. Here are some strategies to help you handle sensitive discussions with confidence while maintaining personal boundaries. 1. Determine the purpose of sharing your news Getting clear on your reasons for sharing will help you think through your message, as well as recipients, timing, and any emotions that surface along the way. Are you sharing because the company protocol requires you to? Do you feel compelled to quell office gossip before it gets out of hand? Are you sharing because you need accommodations, or are you simply seeking understanding and support? Knowing the reason for sharing helps to clarify the following next steps. 2. Decide who needs to know (and how much) You dont need to tell everyone at work about your situation with the same level of details. Create concentric circles of communication with your respective stakeholders. Start with primary stakeholders, which include managers and direct supervisors (and sometimes HR). These are the people who are most directly impacted in the workplace and will need to accommodate, shift, or assume responsibility. Prioritize communicating with them first. Next, you should inform your secondary stakeholders. These are colleagues, team members, and direct reports who may experience some impact. The last category are tertiary stakeholders. These are co-workers, clients, and people who may notice the shifts and changes, but your circumstances are unlikely to have any impact on their situation. Its often best to share the information directly and personally with the primary stakeholders. But when it comes to secondary and tertiary stakeholders, you can do this in a group meeting or via a memo. You can also delegate your message to a primary stakeholder when it comes to informing secondary and tertiary stakeholders. This alleviates the stress and discomfort of doing so yourself. For example, a client on maternity leave experienced a traumatic miscarriage. She alerted her direct leader, requesting additional time off with the privacy to share the information herself when ready. Before she returned from leave, she sent an e-memo to all primary and secondary stakeholders explaining her situation and the emotional impact, while requesting sensitivity, privacy and that colleagues please not ask questions about her experience. 3. Timing and setting Timing and environment also play crucial roles when sharing sensitive information. Consider these factors: Location: If meeting others, think about a quiet, private space where youll have little to no interruption or distraction. Timing: Schedule conversations when both you and your audience will have ample time to discuss and process the situation without rushing. For example, a client was going through a divorce and shared concerns that the situation might impact his work performance. He had a private face-to-face conversation alerting his direct leader of the situation, which he scheduled for a late Friday afternoon. Together, they crafted a measured statement to share with his secondary stakeholders (his direct team) which his leader shared at the Monday morning team meeting, requesting discretion and privacy. They decided there was no need to loop in tertiary stakeholders unless circumstances change. 4. Prepare your ‘minimum message’ Be as clear and concise as possible when youre sharing details by outlining your conversation points. This way, youll stay focused, maintain professionalism, and maintain privacy boundaries. A helpful framework includes the following steps: Identify the high-level situation (such as an illness or death in the family). Explain how it might impact your work (such as inability to work late, or distraction). Request any specific support or accommodations you’ll need (such as time off for appointments, lightening workload, extending deadlines). If youre uncertain about what support you need, simply say, I am unclear what my needs are and how anyone could support me right now. I will give it more thought and let you know. Suggest your proposed plan for managing responsibilities, such as a high-level plan of who might cover needed responsibilities. If youre not ready to devise a plan or need help, ask colleagues or leaders for assistance. In some instances, colleagues may be able to create the plan for you. Express your preferred level of confidentiality, as well as how open you are to expressions of concern and support. Some find curiosity and condolences to be comforting and supportive, while others need space. Clarifying your support needs enables your colleagues to respect them, and it takes the awkward guesswork out of how they can help. Its not uncommon to experience sadness, anger, or even grief as a result of an unexpected crisis. Sharing difficult news can be emotionally draining. If you become emotional, allow yourself a moment to collect your thoughts and give yourself a break. Most managers and colleagues will respond with empathy and understanding to your honest emotions. Using the above framework can guide you to stay focused and professional, even if emotions surface during the conversation. Tough times are inevitable, and personal challenges impact everyone at some point. By approaching these moments with authenticity, a simple framework, and a focus on emotional well-being, you foster a compassionate workplace where support flows both ways. With thoughtful preparation, even the hardest conversations become more effective and less daunting.
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E-Commerce
The coast of Florida is about to be home to the worlds largest-ever artificial reef, and its going to be made out of a 75-year-old, 1,000-foot-long ship. Its a poetic end for the SS United States, which sailed between 1952 and 1969 and was the fastest ocean liner to ever cross the Atlantic. The ship is currently sailing its last voyage around the coast of Florida (you can see a live tracker here) en route to Mobile, Alabama, where it will spend a year getting cleaned and prepped to be dropped about 20 nautical miles off of Floridas Destin-Fort Walton Beach. Today, conservationists are increasingly exploring the creation of artificial reefs to combat the damaging impacts of pollution and climate change, using everything from old subway cars and voting boxes to habitats made from human ashes for the structures. And, as it turns out, a decommissioned ship has a few key qualities that make it a prime candidate for reef conversion. Why we need artificial reefs Despite covering less than 1% of the total ocean floor, coral reefs support an estimated 25% of all marine life, meaning they’re central to preserving ocean biodiversity. However, record global ocean temperatures have caused a worldwide coral bleaching event (the second in the past 10 years), which occurs when warmer-than-normal conditions disrupt a symbiotic algae relationship that keeps coral alive, causing them to die off over time. Since 2023, mass bleaching events have been confirmed in 53 countries, territories, and local economies, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Rising levels of ocean pollution are similarly threatening the health of global reefs. While the only long-term solutions to coral die-offs are limiting ocean pollution and climate change, artificial reefs are one way to mitigate the loss in the meantime. Artificial reefs can either be purpose-made, as in the case of NYC’s “Living Breakwaters” or Rotterdam’s Lego-like blocks; or made from repurposed materials, like decommissioned tugboats, ferries, and military tanks. What makes a giant ship a good artificial reef? Plenty of structures could theoretically be made into reefs, but there are a number of factors that make some options better than others. Daniel Sheehy is an environmental consultant whos been studying artificial reefs for more than 50 years. In a 2022 interview with Fast Company, he shared a few considerations that go into their creation. To start, federal and state regulations determine how conservationists can construct, design, and regulate new artificial reefs in order to ensure that they dont inadvertently harm the surrounding environment. One way that might happen is if an artificial reef is prone to breaking apart and decomposing quicklywhich, Sheehy shared, was the case when many of New Yorks old Brightliner subway cars were retired to the ocean floor but quickly disintegrated when spot-welding caused their steel frames to come apart. Properly welded steel is generally considered to be safe for reefs, but other materialslike rubber, fiberglass, wood, and plastichave been found to deteriorate quickly in saltwater and are now banned for artificial reefs. Beyond its material construction, Sheehy shared, a thriving artificial reef also needs a large surface area (to allow for plenty of marine species to make a new habitat) and a sizable weight (to prevent the reef from moving out of its designated site.) Both of these elements make a massive ocean liner a fairly strong choice: The SS United States, specifically, clocks in at 990 feet long and weighs around 50,000 tons. Other ship-turned-reef projects, like the USS Oriskany, which was sunk in 2006 near Pensacola, Florida, have proven successful over time. Before the SS United States is actually sent to its new permanent residence, it will be thoroughly cleaned of contaminants including any fuels and oils, paint residue, and leftover floatables or debris. According to the official Destin-Fort Walton Beach website, the ship is also slated to receive an immersive land-based museum to document its history.
Category:
E-Commerce
Five years ago, if you bought a particular pair of shorts from Patagonia, you might have noticed a message sewn into the back of the label: Vote the assholes out. It was one step in the outdoor retailers fight against the first Trump administration. When the administration announced plans to reduce national monuments, for example, the company temporarily replaced its homepage with the message, The President Stole Your Land. Along with others, it helped mobilize millions of public comments. The company later sued the president over his plans to dramatically shrink the size of Bears Ears National Monument. Now that Trump is back in office, the company is beginning a new fight. The team started strategizing last month, when the Trump administration announced that it planned to open up more public lands to oil and gas drilling and later started slashing jobs at national parks and in the Forest Service. [Photo: Patagonia] For Patagonia, theres an obvious business case for pushing back against the administrations policy, beyond the company’s core mission to protect the planet. The outdoor industry relies on our whole system of public lands as the infrastructure that our community members use to get out and use our products and connect with the outdoors, says Hans Cole, VP of environmental activism at Patagonia. When you attack that infrastructure, that set of protected landscapes, absolutely we could see impacts. Some of those impacts could happen quickly. Around 1,000 National Park Service employees were fired last month, along with 3,400 Forest Service workers. (After the administration also rescinded the job offers for 5,000 seasonal Park Service employees, it later reversed that decision; its not clear yet how many of those positions will be filled.) Even with some seasonal workers in place, parks might struggle to maintain operations this spring and summer and fewer people might decide to visit. If hikers and campers dont make trips, we see immediate impacts in our business, Cole says. Folks dont want to buy the jacket. The impacts go beyond the outdoor industry. It’s also the local communities that are adjacent to protected public lands or simply to open public spaces he says. Local communities rely on a lot of tourism and visitation. Small businesses rely on folks coming into town during the summer. Patagonia has always been unabashedly political, so its unsurprising that the company is stepping back into the fray even as most other businesses hesitate to criticize Trump. Right now, many companies that spoke out against Trump in his first administration are silent; some business leaders, like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, have cozied up to the president after criticizing him in the past. But for companies that want to be more vocal nowbecause they fundamentally disagree with Trump policy and/or because it can directly impact their bottom linePatagonia offers some lessons. First, companies should choose an issue to focus on. Patagonias team cares broadly about the environment, but strategically focuses on policy that impacts public lands. We have to make choices about what we go deepest on and where we put the most resources, says Cole. Its something that businesses are really good at doing, because we do it all the time. We make strategic choices about which market to go into or which product to focus on. The business community is uniquely suited to come into a landscape like this, assess, and say, OK, we care about all these things, and well find ways to stay connected to each one of them and stay educated on that. But were going to go deepest on this piece here. With public lands, we know our community cares about these things, we know this is important to our business, and we know we have an authentic and informed point of view, he says. We can step into that chaotic landscape with a lot of confidence. Its also helpful for companies to collaborate with peers. We know that voices together can make a difference, and when business voices come together, its a unique voice that often decision-makers will listen to, says Cole. Patagonia is now having daily calls with others across the industry. Brands can also play a role in keeping customers informed as the administration plows forward in making changes, and nudge citizens to contact representatives. The government hasnt yet outlined the details of its plans for public landsthough the general direction toward weakening protections and opening it up for more exploitation is clear. Patagonia chose to start speaking out early. Public pressure does work, Cole says. It’s urgently important right now for folks to be educating themselves about what’s going on and reaching out to their members of Congress to say what they care about.” Patagonia is taking a multipronged approach that begins with alerting people to the challenge. A recent Instagram ad, for example, explained that Trump wanted to sell off public lands, and pointed customers to more information. CEO Ryan Gellert published an op-ed in Time. And more creative campaigns will follow, in the spirit of the message that the company hid in its label in 2020. “It’s always a challenge to cut through the noise,” says Cole “The chaos of the sheer volume of issues, the number of things that people care about in the national political space, not to mention locally or in people’s lives. It’s so noisy right now that the more creative we get and the more we can connect with folks in a way that includes a great story, a really powerful voice, some humor, even in the midst of a lot of dark and challenging momentsit does work.” Ultimately, he says, the company always connects its messages with action. “We try not to put words or stories out without some paired idea around, ‘What could you do?’ so that people don’t walk away feeling overwhelmed,” he says. “[They’re] empowered, even in some small way: Make that first call to your member of Congress, even if it’s just to say something high level. Reach out and support a local grassroots group through Action Works [a digital platform from Patagonia]. Get out there and volunteer . . . Reaching people with those kinds of messages, I think, can be really poerful.”
Category:
E-Commerce
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