i got a lot of problems with you people, and now you're going to hear about it 🌱

(4 minute read)

Hi! Welcome to Our Best Work Weekly, a newsletter from Healthy Pour where you'll get weekly tips on creating a healthy workplace, becoming a more compassionate leader, and cultivating a regenerative relationship with work. 

Happy Festivus! Get out your aluminum pole because it’s time for the Airing of Grievances. 

If you’re not familiar with the classic and revered episode of Seinfeld, Festivus is a holiday concocted by George’s father, Frank, as an alternative to other commercially corrupted December holidays. It features beloved family traditions such as “Feats of Strength,” which identify “Festivus Miracles,” and the Airing of Grievances, in which each person holds onto an aluminum pole and says what’s been irking them over the past year. 

Maybe my opening line was deceiving because I’m not planning on airing my grievances on this platform (sorry to disappoint—though that’s more than likely happening next week when I share the Healthy Pour Workplace Trends of 2025 😅), but I want to emphasize how important it is to have healthy communication in the workplace (and beyond) so that grievances don’t build up over the year. Or years. Or a lifetime.  

Having healthy and productive feedback systems at work is often the difference between thriving and toxic cultures. It’s important to note the feedback I’m talking about includes both positive and constructive feedback. Did you know that not receiving critical or guiding feedback can stoke burnout? Now you do! It’s about balance. But sharing what’s not going well, what we don’t like, and what needs aren't met is just as crucial as providing recognition and acknowledgment. 

We can’t fix what we don’t know about, right? 

And this is easier said than done. It takes practice and commitment! Candidly, I still struggle with this, but I try to overcome it by telling myself: “Wouldn’t you want to know if the roles were reversed?” More importantly, when we don’t speak up and share our thoughts and feelings, they fester, grow, and become bigger problems. What could have been a five-minute conversation becomes a 10-minute tiff, 30-minute argument, 2-hour meeting with HR, or a separation.

Because it’s not just about airing OUR grievances; it’s about creating environments where people can speak up, have a voice, and ultimately play an active role in shaping their working experience.

Here are some other relevant pop culture references associated with not speaking up:

• No Good Deed just premiered on Netflix. No spoilers, but it’s about secrets and communication.

• In the Fruit Bats song, When U Love Somebody, they sing, “Bite your tongue; all you’ll get is a mouthful of blood.” Gross, but illustrative.

• ESCAPE (The Piña Colada Song) is not about piña coladas but a delightful allegory about what happens when you stop communicating your needs with your partner.

My favorite airport book about speaking up in the workplace is Kim Scott’s Radical Candor. Amy Edmundsen’s The Fearless Organization is about psychological safety, but these concepts are deeply enmeshed. 

Finally, here is an academic article about the relationship between airing grievances and justice in the workplace and another about employee voice, specifically the relationship between leader and member (LMX) and conflict avoidance. 

With that, I’m taking the week off and disappearing to a cabin in Michigan with my dog to make soup. 

Have a great week, and see you next Monday!