The value of lived experience in leadership

“Optimal wellbeing is when nothing stands in your way of who you are destined to be,” says Dr Filipo Katavake-McGrath MInstD (they/ them). “I’m Pacific, Māori, an economist with an interest in actioning gender diversity, and a senior public servant.”

Katavake-McGrath is sharp, warm and articulate. They smile as their words tumble out quickly to keep up with a racing mind. Without prompting, Katavake-McGrath shares their background. A survivor of childhood trauma, sexual and physical abuse is part of their lived experience, but one that has motivated them to work in the wellbeing sector.

“I live with PTSD and major depressive and anxiety disorder,” Katavake- McGrath says with disarming candidness.

Not that any of this has limited their ability to achieve at the highest level. Katavake-McGrath’s career path has included roles in the finance sector, journalism, marketing and management, with board roles sprinkled in between. Their lived experience also contributed to a doctorate exploring how government policies affect wellbeing without having a full understanding of it.

In their most recent role as director, Wellbeing System Leadership and Insights at Te Hiringa Mahara/Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission, Katavake-McGrath’s background was seen as a valuable professional strength that complemented the other strings to their bow. But the doors haven’t always been open.

“One of the biggest obstacles in bringing the whole self to leadership is that we’ve had a tradition that only a certain definition of person has been allowed to hold a position of leadership,” Katavake- McGrath says.

Social attitudes towards wellbeing and mental health have shifted the conversation, allowing locked doors to fling open. These days, the topic of wellbeing is more closely aligned with inclusion and diversity. And with positive changes taking place, the definition of wellbeing has slowly started to expand, which has led to a greater understanding of the issues.

“The term we use to describe wellbeing is having a life that’s influenced by systems such as housing to education, access to income and taxation, and having a life that is positively influenced so all the systems in place enable a person to live the life they choose to live,” says Katavake-McGrath.

Now with society facing myriad changes brought about by Covid-19, there are some transitions that aren’t quite happening fast enough in business, according to Katavake- McGrath. “We have so many businesses and entities who are about collating multiple sets of outputs and defining them as outcomes – that’s how business success looks today.”

Looking back on pre-Covid days where staff were fixed to their desks, or in operational roles, and trapped for eight hours a day, Katavake-McGrath believes this has now become outmoded. “It is the quality of the output that matters,” Katavake-McGrath says of the shift in thinking that needs to take place in an environment that has shifted everything we once knew.

For Katavake-McGrath, the pandemic was life-changing. Now living with Long Covid, it means they need an aspirator, along with support when walking. Tiredness is also a factor, along with persistent brain fog.

With Long Covid research gradually emerging, the full effects are still unknown. But Katavake-McGrath knows that changes in the workplace will need to be implemented to adapt to a differently abled workforce whose abilities and energy levels may not be the same as before.

“One thing we do know [about Long Covid] is that a vast majority of sufferers are going to have it for life – there is morbid stability in that,” says Katavake- McGrath.

One of the biggest challenges for boards and businesses is addressing their risk tolerance with human resourcing. Katavake-McGrath says boards could look to redesign their employment systems to accommodate a changing workforce. This can be through creating different types of contracts and staff structures, reassessing how deliverables are operated, and offering more support to executive teams.

“[People] are a huge profit and loss item, but staffing flows are so erratic at the moment. The risk tolerance is based on how much you invested and when you invested, and how far away you are from ROI.”

The advice from Katavake-McGrath is to not rush in. “It’s definitely a time where calm heads need to prevail, and having diversity of perspectives in this situation [will make room] for healthy, reasoned debate, but also for all participants to recognise we’re all making it up as we’re going along.” 

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