When Rob Crossman’s wife, Danielle, was diagnosed a rare medullary thyroid cancer in 2021, his world was turned upside down.
They were instantly thrown into a situation of uncertainty, needing to navigate endless specialist appointments, investigate potential treatment options, and rely considerably on the support of their family, friends, and work colleagues.
Sadly, after battling her aggressive cancerA disease where abnormal cells split without control and spread to other nearby body tissue and/or organs. Cancer cells can also spread to other parts of the body through the bloodstream and lymph systems. for just eight short months after her diagnosisUsing medical test results, identify and name a disease and/or condition., Danielle passed away with Rob by her side a few days before Christmas.
During this distressing period, Rob’s employer, Seven Consulting, who he had been employed with for more than six years, was in his corner and supporting him at every stage of Danielle’s journey.
When a family is facing so many unknowns, the support and understanding from an employer is priceless, but something that’s not often considered until the situation arises.
We spoke to Rob’s boss, Managing Director of Seven Consulting, Gareth James to gain his insights on how they worked to support Rob and his family, as well as some advice for others in a similar situation.
Q. Do you recall the day that Rob came to you with the news of Danielle’s diagnosis?
“There were several impactful and emotional conversations had with Rob throughout the course of Danielle’s diagnosis journey. They were confidential in nature, but very open and frank discussions.”
Q. What were some of the things that you decided you could do to help Rob and his family through this time?
“Our initial priority was finding semi-permanent support to pick up work from Rob whenever he needed to drop something, so that he knew that he could turn his attention to Danielle and his family, because that clearly had to take priority at every step.
“We made sure that we had a plan in place. I was always impressing on Rob that if there was any point that he felt like he needed to step away more permanently, that he should feel 100% confident in doing that.
“Initially, I think he found being able to keep busy and interested at work, without there being too much stress, as a good thing. I would work in a pretty collaborative way with Rob to regularly check in on know how much the right amount of work is to be a distraction versus an obstacle.
“I also remember there being a lot of dialogue in terms of are you getting access to the right people to help find out what the problem is.
“Danielle’s cancer was rare and very little was known about it, so we used our network to try and keep progress moving towards them finding someone that could give an answer on potential treatment paths or research options.
“I think the more help a support network can give in terms of helping to join dots, the more effective it’s going to be to find a solution. So, we were more than happy to help with that.
“When it came to the point where Rob needed to step away from his work, we gave him absolute assurance that he could take all of the time he needed.
“Finances can be a massive stress for someone in Rob’s situation, so we wanted to ensure that that wasn’t the thing that was going to create extra stress in the household. And so, to ensure that, we found a way to continue to financially support him through this period.
“Like every organisation, we have policies in place to deal with these situations. But when it comes down to actual, real life-and-death scenarios with your people, it’s not a policy that solves the problem. It’s a human conversation that has to happen in order to meet the needs of each individual and their family.”
Q. In your opinion, how can other employers provide support to their employees going through something similar in?
“You have to lean into conversations that are uncomfortable. And you have to be prepared to have real conversations around what’s going on. And then think about what an appropriate way would be to help approach that and to provide support. Find a way through it together.
“In what must be such an out-of-control situation, it’s important to be able to have control over the parts of life that you can, in this case the work environment side.
“These are difficult conversations that require a person-to-person approach, not employer to employee. And you need to listen and be prepared to help where you can. If you aren’t prepared to do that, then you probably shouldn’t be sitting in a kind of leadership position, one of responsibility.”
Q. So looking at the other side of the coin, what would you say to someone who’s in a similar position as Rob and is needing to approach their employer for that extra support and flexibility?
“One of Rob’s great strengths is he was prepared to lean into those conversations and share the truth of the situation.
“The employee does need to be prepared to kind of actually talk about what is going on and the impact that’s having on their life and their work, so that collaboratively we can work on a solution.
“I’ve had other situations with employees where I found out subsequent to the fact that significant things were going on in their personal life and they had consistently said “I’m fine” and “nothing is wrong” which leave an employer left to have a performance-based conversation because there’s no otherwise mitigating circumstances. These conversations are definitely a two-way street.”
For 22 years, Seven Consulting have been providing Australian businesses with best practice program and project delivery advice. They are a team of delivery professionals providing Project, Program and Change management consultancy services. Find out more at www.sevenconsulting.com