Wellbeing, diversity, equity and inclusion with Rose Kattackal

In this Candid Craic, we talk to Rose Kattackal about her multi-dimensional career in the Canadian Civil Service, and her ongoing work in wellbeing, and diversity, equity and inclusion.

We initially hear about just how wide-ranging Rose's career has been, from finance to HR, and learn about her time spent working with the indigenous peoples in the Yukon.

We then launch into two of her passions - wellbeing and DEI. We hear how Rose launched a wellbeing programme for the IT employees across the Canadian Civil Service, and, thanks to the nature of their jobs, the special attention she applied to how isolated, and often abused, they could become. She explains how she developed a decentralised system of wellbeing ambassadors and clusters that enabled different groups and teams to run wellbeing training most central to their contextual circumstances.

We learn how the emergent approach was seemingly central to the engagement of the employees, and muse over whether she'd have done it differently had the data been clear prior to implementation of the programme, and whether it not being might have been beneficial.

We then hear about the methods Rose employed to ensure her staff were treated with civility, dignity and respect across the organisation, even when IT failures occurred. This moves us on to Rose's experience in role modelling the values she wished others to display, and her burgeoning interest in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Rose explains how she now views being different as highly valuable, and how she's applying that insight to strategic, team and value-based DEI advisory across Canada.

Timestamps
00:09 Hello Rose
00:24 Just what is it that Rose does? A Government Generalist
04:16 Working with Indigenous Peoples in the Yukon
09:25 Ambassadors and Clusters: Wellbeing Programs for Tech Employees
14:23 Decentralised Wellbeing: Reinforcing Signals, Network Experiments, Tracking Stories
22:40 Understanding Theory, Implementing Practices & Adapting to Context
28:39 Top-Down Data or Emergent & Engaged Networks - would Rose do it differently today?
33:40 Civility and Respect - learning not to abuse IT Professionals
41:14 Role Modelling, Protecting the Powerless and the "Real Rose"
48:00 Being Different - Evil is Non-Relation
57:43 The Nine Trillion Dollar Question