FeaturingSummer Xiao, Deputy CIO - Enterprise Applications/PMO at City of HoustonConnect w/ Summer: LinkedInSponsor: The TechTables Live Podcast TourJoin us for these small, intimate live podcast conversations across the U.S.July 22nd in Raleigh, North CarolinaSeptember 23rd in Sacramento, CaliforniaOctober 14th in Tallahassee, FloridaQuestionsToday’s podcast is super special because it’s a topic I’ve never covered and don’t hear from others in tech or the public sector that much and that’s mental health and identity.Summer, let's start at the 30,000-foot level and move down to your insights at the City of Houston. When did you start noticing mental wellness as an important topic with you and your team?How do you create safe places to share stress?On our intro call, you mentioned something that can make or break your team - and that is the importance of not holding onto distraught individuals just because they are high-performing.Tell us more about how you identified that imbalance, how you handled that situation, and the process and timeline for your team to heal.Another thing you mentioned when we met was that “no one comes to you saying the technology isn’t performing” - I loved that because I am always preaching that it’s about the complexity of humans not the technology holding teams back.So if it’s not the technology - what are the top 2-3 tips for leaders to get their team members performing?Let’s wrap up with a comment you mentioned to me: "your identity is not your work” - how do you help your team members internalize that philosophy and foster a sense of identity outside of the workplace?  ----------------------Want to dive deeper? Check out my episode on TechTables - https://www.techtables.com/And if you're a CIO or technology leader interested in coming on TechTables, shoot me an email at [email protected] you for supporting Levity Media LLC ❤️, a small business growing private and public sector technology communities through fun and engaging conversations with top technology leaders. Learn more about Joe Toste (me) at https://www.techtables.com/about/See what episodes I'm creating at https://www.techtables.com/ This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit techtables.substack.com/subscribe