How good ideas, courage, and passion can lead to big accomplishments
Over my 19-year career at Continental, I have found one of the special aspects of our corporate culture is how we support individuals and their ‘big ideas’. In my observation, all it takes is a person with a good idea, a little courage to bring it forward, and a lot of passion to see it through. Recently, I have been fortunate to partner with several courageous and passionate colleagues to establish The Mental Health University (MHU), an employee resource group (ERG) focused on mental health awareness and supporting the well-being of employees.
The origin of the idea to launch MHU was rooted in two areas. The first is my passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), and how our DE&I ambassadors and ERG colleagues contribute every single day to building acceptance and ensuring each person brings their true, authentic self to work. The second is my personal experience as someone who has struggled with and has overcome the effects of severe anxiety and depression. The two topics came together last year when I joined an automotive-industry DE&I summit and learned of another company that started a mental health ERG. In an instant, I knew we could bring a similar program to Continental.
One of the first challenges I knew I would face in starting our mental health ERG is the fundamental and societal stigma around such topics. Although mental health issues are quite common, there is nonetheless an ‘uncomfortableness’ in talking openly about them. There are a lot of complexities from privacy concerns, and judgmental concerns to legal considerations that need to be addressed before establishing a mental health ERG. As a result, I set out to get support from Continental’s leaders in HR, Legal as well as our DE&I practitioners.
From there, I started floating the idea of the ERG in my network, and I was amazed at the positive reception, and surprised by a small group of enthusiastic colleagues who volunteered to help get it off the ground. By the end of 2023, we established a core team of six individuals. We brainstormed the name of our ERG, Mental Health University, around the idea that we wanted to bring mental health awareness, education, and information to the organization. As a cornerstone of our activity, we collaborated on a mission statement: “To offerprograms and activities that support our colleagues in their pursuit of less stress and more happiness, as well as provide education and resources to promote overall better mental health.” Our unique mission is particularly compelling because we focus on ‘happiness’ as a commodity to our organization. Who else can say that?
As of the time of this blog entry, MHU has grown its core team from six to 16 members. We have expanded our outreach beyond the metro Detroit campus so that our resources are available to all Continental North America locations. Additionally, the MHU network includes support from all Continental business sectors. Together, with the support of leadership, we have offered nine webinars covering topics from Workplace Stress to Relaxation Techniques to Traumatic Events. We have put smiles on countless employees’ faces through our numerous Therapy Dog Events. Additionally, in our Auburn Hills office, we started offering free Yoga classes!
I am super proud to be a founding member of the MHU core team. The team inspires me with their passion for helping fellow colleagues and their commitment to our core value of ‘for one another’. They show incredible bravery by being vulnerable and supportive. It is a joy for me to see how they apply their professional skills, from project management to organizational agility in a volunteer capacity. In the beginning, it was my idea, but it is the passion and the courage of our amazing core team that has made our ERG a successful resource to thousands of employees across the organization.
Continental has nine active ERGs stemming across our multiple locations throughout the U.S. To learn more about DE&I at Continental in the U.S., please visit Diversity, Equity & Inclusion - Continental Corporation USA
