Mayo Clinic Employee Experiences: On finding meaning in work and things that bring you joy

By In the Loop • February 11, 2021

Mayo Clinic is a unique place: the culture, the values, the people. "Mayo Clinic Employee Experiences" explores the experiences of Mayo Clinic staff as they navigate life personally and professionally. Sharing these experiences increases understanding of others, and ultimately contributes to finding connections, belonging and inclusion at work. 

In this edition of "Mayo Clinic Employee Experiences," you will hear from Jenny Czapiewski, a nurse care coordinator, and Mark Wehde, chair of the Division of Engineering, as they discuss the importance of finding joy at work. Czapiewski shares her perspective of finding joy in the small moments and helping patients feel better. Wehde talks about finding meaning and purpose in his work, as well as the role of gratitude in creating joy at work.

Listen as they share their experiences: 

WEHDE: I don't really think you'll ever find a really truly happy person that isn't kind to others.

NARRATOR: In this episode, you'll hear Mark, chair of the Division of Engineering, and Jenny, a nurse care coordinator, discuss the importance of finding joy at work.

WEHDE: I'm really a stereotypical engineer, so my natural inclination is to focus on tech ― not feelings. I get uncomfortable sometimes when talking about joy, but I am going to try to do my best.

CZAPIEWSKI: Joy to me is just pausing and thinking in the moment. So many people's lives right now — I don't think they are really joy-filled. I work on busy hallways where cancer diagnoses or the diagnosis of autism is not joyful. But when you're seeing patients, or you hear the giggle of a child or an interaction with a family, you stop and enjoy that feeling or that special moment. That joy in your heart — it kind of is a tingly feeling, a warmness that you're feeling. Children want to get better. Families want their children to get better. That's always what we're striving for, and that's always just helped my heart find joy.

WEHDE: It resonates with me because this is such a weird time to be speaking about joy in your work environment. You have sick kids that you're caring about. Yet there are still these moments of joy. If we look at broader society, it's that connection and joy we have through the interactions with others. Those small moments are a big part of what we're all missing. We work in a unique organization, and I think that really helps us, too, because health care is about caring for the patients. Patients come to Mayo to find hope when nobody else can give it to them. Our staff are here because that's important to them — that ability to make these meaningful commitments to others. And it ties in so nicely with our values.

CZAPIEWSKI: Our team did work remotely for a short amount of time. I was coming in on a Sunday to grab something from my office. Coming through those big Gonda doors and the silence of the building just hit me. The power of that feeling and the number of people that it takes to make this entire entity work — it was just incredible to me.

WEHDE: I always think about Mayo as a place that brings hope. I've worked on campus my whole life, but for the last 10 months, I've been working remotely. The atrium in the Gonda Building is one of the most moving places to me. You have the patient care providers walking back and forth. You've got the patients sitting and waiting, or moving to appointments. And then you've got just a beautiful facility. It's a powerful place, and we tend to take that for granted. It reminded me of the power of connection, and it's certainly one of the things that that our group is focused on as we're working remotely. How do we remain connected to each other? A lot of the joy that we find in our lives comes from these connections with the people that we're working with and with the patients.

CZAPIEWSKI: We have two nurse managers who are doing great things to keep people connected. We had monthly meetings, making sure everyone was checking in. We were using Slido. Our nurse managers will leave us sticky notes on our computer screen. They'll leave us notes on our door. They're going to many different floors to do that. They're really making it a conscious effort and, again, that's where that joy is consciously being chosen. We have remained a unit, checking in and making sure people are doing well. By doing that, we found joy that we gave to a family at Christmastime. We sponsored a family so our unit then passed that joy along.

WEHDE: One of the ways that I find joy is through the practice of gratitude. It's really easy for us to get kind of tied up in our work. We don't stop and appreciate the people who are with us as part of the journey. When we do that, we lose out on joy. So these little acts of kindness that you talked about — things like saying "thank you" or sending a note to someone — I remind myself all the time that I need to be grateful. The way that I try to express my gratitude is through kindness toward others. I think that's a way of spreading joy in an active way.

CZAPIEWSKI: I feel like I express my joy and gratitude by giving. I love to like bring people treats and chocolate, and things like that. It's that smile. I think everybody at Mayo has a different way of doing that, hopefully spreading that effect to the next person they see who maybe isn't having a great day.

WEHDE: I really do think we have to be intentional about it, particularly for those who are leaders in the organization. It's part of our responsibility to help create this environment where everybody feels valued and empowered because having that sense of control over your environment is a part of what enables people to find joy at work. But a lot of the responsibility is also on us as individuals because we have a lot of power. We can create joy in ourselves by practicing gratitude, by acknowledging that the world gives us a lot of gifts. We can create joy in others by being kind to them and by expressing gratitude for the part that they play in in our own lives. Kindness radiates both inward and outward.

On the Engineering Team, we struggle when we talk about joy and with figuring out what that actually has to do with our work. I try to explain that it's really about a sense of belonging. Do you feel like you belong where you work? And then the other piece of it is: Do you find meaning in your work? That's something we can all relate to, the whole concept of Mayo's primary value ― one that we're all familiar with: The needs of the patient come first. We know why we're here. We look at the RICH TIES (Respect, Integrity, Compassion, Healing, Teamwork, Innovation, Excellence and Stewardship) values, and those resonate with all of us. I feel like I've adopted Mayo values as my own personal values. You think about Respect and Integrity, and Compassion, and the healing we bring to others. Those are the things that give us that meaning in our work and the connections with the other people we work with here.

CZAPIEWSKI: When you have a really difficult diagnosis ― you know the mom or dad is just seeking a lot of reassurance ― let's bring it back. It is about the patient. It is about their needs, and what this mom needs is for me to call her, not to send a portal message to her. The minute I make that phone call, she says: "Thank you so much for calling me. I needed to hear from you. It's so much easier than sending a message." Even though sending a message is so much easier for me, it never hurts to be reminded about the Mayo values through communications. It's letting them know we hear them and we are here for them.

WEHDE: That's a really good example of tying the business needs to the values of the organization. You could easily say, "I'm just sending that email off in the portal because it's the most efficient way." But that's not what the patient needs. Because we are such a values-driven organization, you feel empowered to take that next step to reach out to that patient. I have to believe that those kind of experiences are part of what brings you joy, too — that kindness and thoughtfulness, and care, that you are showing to the patient.

CZAPIEWSKI: I know my co-workers are doing the exact same thing, and that's because of the support and the leadership that I have.

WEHDE: One of the interesting conversations that I have with folks is why Mayo is so focused on joy. It goes back to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. They've had these triple aims that guided health care organizations, but they added this fourth aim, which was adding joy to work. The reason they did that was because so many health care providers are under so much stress. We all know that when we feel engaged in our work and are making these more meaningful commitments to others, we actually do a better job. I think it's a very positive healthy thing to be talking about.

CZAPIEWSKI: We use a lot of the e-cards, and the Above and Beyond Program is there for anybody to use. They take seconds to do. It goes a long way in just making somebody feel like, "What I did made a difference." Wherever you are working, it can be modeled. These things can be examples of what you could do if you're maybe not feeling a lot of joy in your workplace. I suggest these things because it can be done and it definitely can improve your overall work-life balance. It's superimportant to have joy in your workplace or you're not going to stay where you are.

WEHDE: When we think about being kind to others, it's a small thing. We can all look into our own lives and see a time when somebody has been particularly kind to us. It creates an experience that we just don't forget. The nice note, the thoughtfulness — those are the kinds of things that we can do for other people. And we have to do it with no thought of getting something in return. It's that selfless act.

CZAPIEWSKI: We compiled a little video for my nurse manager to show her our appreciation. She was in tears, listening to how much we felt impacted by what she has done.

WEHDE: It's a great example, and it's something I think we all have to be more aware of. So many of our staff are going to be working remotely. Creating those connections and being a little bit intentional about it — maintaining that that culture of caring — that is such a hallmark of our organization.

CZAPIEWSKI: I hope there is a continued investment in what we can do for people who are working remotely. It's going to have to be about keeping people connected, keeping it fun, so people want to continue to be involved.

WEHDE: Jenny, I will say what our conversation has done is provided me with that connection to the patients. That's a piece that I miss, and I can still get it through interactions like this. There are a lot of ways of providing that opportunity. That's where a lot of us get meaning. It is not that we directly interact with patients or help provide them care. But we support the people who do, and we take meaning from that. Being able to listen to your stories and the stories of other health care providers about the importance and the meaning of what we do for our patients — that just reconnects me.

NARRATOR: How do you find joy in your work? What intentional acts can you incorporate into your day to demonstrate kindness and provide joy for others?

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