In a matter of weeks, our personal and business lives transformed due to global pandemic COVID-19 novel coronavirus.  Evolution Hospitality's Chief Wellness Officer, Dr. Romie, discusses how to rise above the panic.  In a pandemic, the fear is often as or more dangerous than the disease itself.  In this episode you will hear:

1) What is COVID-19 novel coronavirus and how is it different than the flu? 2) How can we boost our immune system naturally, including the importance of sleep and nutrition. 3) How we can start to rise above the panic so we can function in our personal lives and in the workplace?

Links:

• Research on boosting your immune system
• CDC Website
• How to wash your hands
• Loving Kindness Meditation

What happens if you are not mindful of your energy as a leader?  Whether your energy is positive or stuck in discomfort, your team will pick up on your mood and mirror your attitude. Evolution Hospitality's Chief Wellness Officer, Dr. Romie, hosts this episode of "Wellness Evolved" as we discuss managing through change at our properties. Campus & General Manager Michael Murray oversees operations at three hotels and over 200 team members on the Redondo Beach Campus. Michael shares how mindfulness, servant-leadership, and Evo's guiding principles are helping his team navigate growth and change of his campus and the current organizational change in the company. Murray's advice on managing organizational change is to make sure that team members know that they have a seat on the bus.  He discusses the importance of trusting the process, transparency in communication, and the role of mindfulness to build trust.  Hear how their team implemented Evo's corporate mindfulness program, The Power of Pause,  with the help of his property's Campus Culture Committee. The Wellness Evolved Podcast is sponsored by Evolution Hospitality, a third-party hospitality management company with corporate headquarters in San Clemente, California.  You can learn more at www.evolutionhospitality.com

In the workplace, change is inevitable and also considered a four-letter word. The human mind seeks comfort in daily routines and rituals.  When our environment changes, our brain shifts into a high-stress mode and then feeds into fear.   

In this episode, Chief Wellness Officer and host, Dr. Romie, breaks down the neuropsychology of why the brain's initial response to change is fear.  When fear sets in, the instinctual response is to question, "Am I safe?" and "Am I cared for?"

As our company faces change, Dr. Romie discusses how Evo's mindfulness program and guiding principles can leaders manage emotions and operations. 

Evolution Hospitality is a third-party hospitality management company with corporate headquarters in San Clemente, California.  For more information visit www.evolutionhospitality.com

Show Notes:

• [01:51] I'm going to break down specific skill sets for leaders. 
• [02:20] Change can feel like a four letter word the "f word" fear. 
• [02:39] When our routines are disrupted our brains get hijacked and our brain gets shifted into fear.
• [02:49] Leaders and teams who succeed know how to put actions in place to manage change and manage emotions.
• [04:01]  Unexpected changes in our routine can create fear. Fear is created in levels one and two of our brain or our subconscious.
• [04:23] Level one or the basement is our survival center. This is where our life supporting regulations happen. When fear comes in our mind defaults to thinking from this area. 
• [04:52] During times of change, the emotions present can feel like a lack of safety in the workplace.
• [05:09] Level two is the limbic system or the emotion and memory center.  When we don't feel safe, our minds start asking if we are cared for.
• [06:20] Level three is responsible for analysis, processing data, decision making, and taking action. If levels one and two aren't feeling safe, fear can take over and false evidence appears real.
• [07:50] Start in the basement and assess level one. Do you feel safe?
• [08:54] For level number two ask, "Am I cared for?" We are a people driven culture. 
• [10:35] To transform fear into calm stick to your daily rituals of wellness, especially sleep. At times of stress, we often let our wellness rituals go. I asked you to stick to it.
• [11:14] Find a trusted advisor to talk to. 
• [11:35] Try the loving-kindness meditation. It's based on self-compassion and showing compassion for others. 
• [00:13:16] Make sure your team members hear the words, "you are safe I care about you."

Links and Resources:

• Evolution Hospitality
• Loving-Kindness Meditation

As season two of Evolution Hospitality's podcast is launched, organizational restructuring, rapid growth, and personnel change have created the perfect storm.  Evo's Chief Wellness Officer & host, Dr. Romie Mushtaq interviews Chief Operating Officer, Will Loughran to discuss how to lead and manage stress during times of change.

In this episode, we cover:

1. Evo is a company built on a culture of practicing servant leadership, and the priority is making sure everyone reaches their full potential. 
2. What steps leaders can take to combat the stress, anxiety, and fear that are natural during times of organizational change?
3. Will's advice is to come back to our guiding principles including "giving each other the benefit of the doubt" and "listen."   In addition, we discuss managing emotions along with managing expectations. 
4. Bringing that "Evo swagger" can help the company to continue to grow and create multiple verticles of inspired leadership.

Evolution Hospitality is a third-party hospitality management company with corporate headquarters in San Clemente, CA.  For more information visit www.evolutionhospitality.com

Show Notes:

• [04:12] There is so much going on in the company right now.
• [04:36] After our merger, we became the largest hotel company in the country.
• [04:49] John Murphy is moving into an advisory role. Matt Raine our Business Development Leader is going to work with our biggest partner.
• [05:20] Our leader of talent acquisition is also going to join John Murphy in his new venture.
• [05:33] All of this has created a large amount of change.
• [06:28] People involved in integration and working with the other teams are coming back very inspired. They are excited about new resources and strategic initiatives.
• [07:39] There is also a level of anxiety from other people who feel a level of uncertainty.
• [08:32] Dr. Romie could energetically feel the pause and the grief when the email was sent out.
• [09:09] We don't want to be just the biggest company, we want to be a truly excellent company. Will wants people to be confident and have that "Evo Swagger."
• [10:28] We want to have an incredible culture, but we are also very focused on results.
• [12:30] We need change management and training. We introduce a new process or integration every year.
• [13:31] The three programs that have helped us is our mindfulness program called The Power of Pause, emotional intelligence training, and are crucial conversations.
• [16:18] Guiding principles include giving the benefit of the doubt and listening. Being present is also critically important.
• [19:43] At Evo, we care for each other as a company. You are safe, and you are cared for.
• [22:04] Bring your team together and make it better than it was before.
• [23:58] Think about how to make the broader company better. It's not us versus the parent company.
• [27:15] We need to maximize performance in all verticals. 
• [28:46] Will takes a pause by riding his bike, meditation, and music. He loves Rock 'n' Roll.
• [30:50] Take the time to slow down and spend one-on-one time with people. 
• [32:00] Giving and accepting feedback openly is a main guiding principle for Will. 
• [33:01] He wants to lead everyone into making an incredible company in an inspired way.

Links and Resources:

Evolution Hospitality

William Loughran

Saturday Night Live Flight Announcement

Why Workplace Wellness & Mindfulness is Important for Leaders & Culture: Interview with Evo's President John Murphy

One of the most guiding principles of Evolution Hospitality is to work with gratitude and humility. Listen to John Murphy's perspective on gratitude. "I think there's a relationship between joy and gratitude." He speaks of being humble and grateful as being the keys to the kingdom.

As we come back to the holiday season, we have busy days and busy minds. Remember, gratitude rewires our brain for true happiness and joy. We will dive into how the brain processes and transforms with gratitude. I'll also teach you the psychological principles of processing gratitude. Yes! There is psychology science, which shows how gratitude can cause this type of transformation.

What happens in your brain? First, think about what happens when you have pain, especially emotional pain and day-to-day stress. Did you know the emotional centers which process pain in our brain can only work if our pleasure system is deactivated? Temporary activities to create pleasure are eating chocolate or buying yourself something new and exciting. This gives you a temporary rush and can quickly transform into guilt, which lends your brain to experience pain.

True pleasure, which can block the pain center in your brain, come in the form of social connections as well as gratitude. Making a habit of giving and receiving gratitude can rewire our brains for a consistent feeling of pleasure. How can we do that? Take a pause and say something you are grateful for in the past week. To stimulate the pleasure center in our brain, we have to perceive that gratitude through our senses.

When you give thanks and gratitude, think of a specific memory that is associated with your gratitude. Think of someone on your team who you are grateful for and think of a moment with them.

As we move forward, let's stimulate the pleasure centers of your brain by not only giving gratitude but receiving gratitude. My challenge for you: before the end of the month, find a person you work with and tell them or write them a note about why you are grateful for them.

Could you take a pause and express this gratitude to a fellow evolutionary?

Show Notes:

• [01:22] John Murphy speaks on gratitude.
• [02:07] Gratitude rewires our brain for true happiness and joy.
• [03:01] I invite you to pause for gratitude for someone in your workplace.
• [03:19] What happens in your brain?
• [04:30] The types of true pleasure you can have to block the pain center in your brain.
• [05:41] Examples of perceiving gratitude through your senses.
• [07:29] Think of a specific memory when you give thanks.
• [10:22] Dr. Romie’s role at Evolution Hospitality and taking time to pause and share gratitude for the teams at EH.

Links and Resources:

• Evolution Hospitality
• Mediation: Take a Team Pause

As a vice president of operations, Mark Van Cooney, talks about how stress can interrupt sleep, and how mindfulness helped him welcome peaceful sleep.  Mark also introduced The Power of Pause to his children to help them not only sleep calmly but also shine in surfing competitions.

Mark breaks down how introducing our Evo culture and mindfulness program to our new leadership teams in hotels helps us learn that "none of us is as good as all of us."  His leadership advice to new Evolutionaries is to start each day at a team asking, "what are we grateful for today, and what guiding principle are we going to focus on today."  

As Campus Manager for Evolution Hospitality, Adam has worked from the ground up on our guiding principles and has been an essential figure in growing our corporate mindfulness programs, The Power of Pause.

Adam started working for Evolution Hospitality 19 years ago. He was recruited in March of 2000 by John Murphy, who joined Tarsadia Hotels at Regency Plaza. With rebranding and renovation, they changed to DoubleTree Hotels. In 2011, the business became a part of Evolution Hospitality. Since these beginnings started with one property, we have scaled to more than 70 properties.

Adam speaks about managing the team's performance with what the owner of the company is expecting. Dr. Romie talks about these challenges which business owners commonly deal with on a daily basis. We discuss our people-driven culture, and as we grow, these are ideals we put into practice every day. Our principles aren't just written on a wall, they are practiced with every employee at Evolution Hospitality.

We also dive into how to carry out the principles by setting expectations, holding people to those expectations, and making them accountable. We discuss servant leadership and what this means to Adam and how he applies our principles to his servant leadership. Adam gives his advice to general managers on how they can reach out for support or use resources to be the best at their job. Taking the time to pause and listen to all the evolutionaries in our company.

Adam discusses with Dr. Romie the importance of being your authentic self at the office and how the guiding principles translate into the day-to-day business. How Adam came up with an idea to decorate with hashtags in graffiti artwork to create a buzz about company goals and how you don't need to be a brain doctor to know that the Power of Pause works!

Show Notes:

• [01:38] Dr. Romie welcomes Adam to Wellness Evolved.
• [03:16] Adam tells the story of his journey with the company.
• [04:35] Overarching principles and their meaning within our business.
• [05:06] Adam’s personal principal he is most familiar with in the company.
• [07:11] Show employees why with a system of understanding.
• [08:11] Guidance from Adam to new general managers of Evolution Hospitality.
• [09:56] Practicing sincerity in our company and finding personal connections to build loyalty in a genuine way.
• [12:22] Adam tells the story of how he involved the entire office in decorating a space at the company.
• [16:03] How Adam adopted the Power of Pause. 
• [19:00] Did the Power of Pause come naturally to Adam?
• [21:45] Doing breathing exercises during brain surgery assists patients in having their heart rate lower.
• [22:54] How Adam takes a pause in his personal life.
• [23:55] What guiding principle would Adam advise a new General Manager to use first.

Links and Resources:

• Evolution Hospitality

Award-winning General Manager, Justin Hart, overcomes his fear of public speaking to champion the Power of Pause at Evo corporate headquarters and join Dr. Romie on the Wellness Evolved Podcast.   Justin explains what happened when his team steered away from the habit of practicing mindfulness in the workplace.  The hotel's leadership team started to feel disconnected and chaotic, and Justin talked about how to "make it better than it was before."  You'll hear how the entire team at Domain Sunnyvale Hotel created a meditation room for them to take a pause to decompress, celebrate, share gratitude.   

When Justin says he has a life-changing bottle of wine to try, he delivers a whole new level of excellence.  Hear his secrets to picking a great bottle of wine, bring laughter to his team, and how he practices digital detox while traveling.

Wellness Evolved is a corporate mindfulness and wellness podcast sponsored by Evolution Hospitality.

Wellness is not just important in the workplace, but also now a required element in decision making for planning meetings.   In this week's episode, Dr. Romie interviews two dynamic global female leaders in the hospitality and meetings industry. Ashly Balding is the Chief Strategy Officer for Associated Luxury Hotels International.  Catherine Chaulet is the president and CEO of Global DMC Partners. Ashly and Catherine break down their personal wellness routines as mothers and executives. You will also hear top trends for bringing wellness into meetings- including nutrition, movement, and the importance of pause.  

Show Notes:

• [05:56] Ashly's secret to wellness is that she is passionate about wellness because it promotes compassion. 
• [07:24] Catherine believes that wellness is critical, because life is short and we need to enjoy every day. 
• [08:06] We can help bring work life balance by integrating wellness on teams. It's appreciating life on a much deeper level. 
• [08:56] Dance has been a passion for Catherine. She allows 2 1/2 hours a week for dance. She also takes time for self like baths. She also gives her team undisturbed time off.
• [10:48] It's physical and mental for Ashly. She does yoga and takes time to breathe. She also meditates and takes part in a digital detox. Her and her children incorporate gratefulness and what makes them happy. 
• [12:47] Perfection needs to be thrown out the window when you have kids. 
• [13:24] Authenticity is sexy. 
• [14:38] Catherine is removing herself from social media to spend important time with her family. 
• [16:22] Ashly shares an aha moment she had where she was walked through a meditation as the future of the CEO. 
• [17:43] There is no other option for corporations than to incorporate wellness into their agendas to attract and retain talent.
• [20:05] People's minds drift after 30 minutes. Think about speaking formats and the time frame. Give people time to relax and recharge.
• [22:47] Wellness components that Ashly has incorporated include a puppy breakout session, cellphone baskets, and walking breakouts. 
• [25:10] Comfort in the room matters. Have chairs and couches. Have activities where there is no sound and appreciate natural sounds of nature. Drop the amount of sessions and focus on the three main messages. Don't exhaust people. 
• [27:37] Hygge is the Danish concept of comfort. This trend can be incorporated at every level. 
• [29:11] Food labeling is important. Have electrolyte drops on the table or do a vegan breakout. Smoothie bars are great options too. 
• [32:15] Junk food isn't acceptable anymore. Having presentations by dietitians are also a great wellness step for meetings. 
• [34:19] Ashly takes a pause by taking time to meditate and breathe and set her intention before she walks into the door with her family after a hard day's work.
• [35:45] Catherine can't take a pause everyday. When she does, she shuts the door and removes sounds and blue lights and just breathes. 

Links and Resources:

• Global DMC Partners 
• Associated Luxury Hotels International

Imagine your health failing you during a busy deadline at work. How do you pause to reestablish a nutrition plan and your health without missing a beat at work?

In this week's episode, award-winning General Manager, Jeff Lawrence shares how job stress negatively impacted his physical health.  After a wake-up call in the emergency room,  he realized he needed to change his soda and sugar-fueled diet.  Learn the simple changes in mindset and nutrition that helped him to heal stress ulcers, lose weight, and thrive under the stress of opening and managing a hotel.  You'll also hear how implementing Evolution Hospitality's mindfulness program has helped him lead his teams through change.