Employee turnover is up. You work so hard to recruit the region’s best talent and competitors are happy to poach your superstars for a little more salary or benefit perks. The cost of replacing people runs between 75% and 150% of the annual salary of the traitor who jumped ship. How do you evolve your organizational culture into a magnet where no one wants to leave?

What are the qualities of the coworker-connection with the teammate with whom you have the most trust? Do you know them well? Have you been through a few challenges together? Does your relationship chemistry just create a good vibe? For most of us, it’s all the above. Depending on the size of your work team, your connection to this trusted colleague may be the thing that brings you back to the grind on Monday morning when every bone in your body is aching for a change.

Unprecedented macroeconomic pressures are creating vulnerability in nearly every industry. Public health workers face rising patient acuity with fewer resources. Medical research must be advanced without funding. Education can no longer honor diversity without disabling consequences. Law firms opting not to capitulate to the party line are blacklisted. Retail sellers must decide whether to eat costs or pass them on to their customers. Working class immigrants fear deportation threats. Supply chain ports must prepare for shrinking volumes. Auto manufacturers need to rethink where to buy parts to assemble their cars. Venture capitalists and private equity firms are having trouble finding investors willing to bet on the future. The list goes on. No industry is immune.

In an ideal world, succession is planful. You take the time to anticipate the next stage of growth and design a strategy that meets the needs of that group. Not everything goes according to plan, so you wisely build in contingencies and prepare to pivot on short notice. However it plays out, it is understood that transitions are triggered by endings.

There was a bad decision. It didn’t work out. People are talking. Your reputation has been stained. Now what? Own it? Full disclosure? “Umm…this happened. We’re sorry for the consequences. We wish we could take it back but, unfortunately, the damage is done. Here’s what we’re going to do next.”

We are all some blend of our ancestors’ genetics and the environmental experience we’ve traveled. My mom was a creative and my dad was an engineer. She told captivating stories while he studied the ingredients on a catsup bottle. I got a little of both. But my environment shaped the outcome.

Whenever a relationship or a team navigates a transition, an opportunity to reset direction opens up. Unfortunately, the depletion that occurs while coping with the change leaves most of us blinded to the benefit. We’re too busy licking our wounds. But if we had a crystal ball, it would foretell the future and remind us that strength arises from adversity. More importantly, it would remind us that there is always a fleeting window of time to reshape our circumstances to our liking.

Sixteen years ago, we published a methodology for measuring the wellness of teams, relationships, and personal growth. In 2011, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted us a trademark. A decade later, our assessment tool achieved research validation in a collaborative study partnering the Data Science programs from Elmhurst University and Carthage College. In addition to validating the tool, their summary cited a 98% predictability outcome between pre- and post-metrics when clients implement recommended actions.

For those who question whether strong workplace culture produces a return-on-investment, consider some common-sense metrics. Utilization of sick days decreases. The cost of healthcare shrinks. Reduced employee turnover saves on recruitment expenses. This objective data can be measured and tracked. Subjective data like morale and engagement are more difficult to quantify. But they are real.

It would be a mistake to view your work team, your closest interpersonal relationship, and your own growth and development as separate experiences. You are at the center of each of these universes and uniquely drive the wellness and vibe of each one. Your strengths dictate how well you interact with the environment (micro), your friends and family (mezzo), and your workplace culture (macro). Unfortunately (or fortunately), your personality glitches, poor coping skills under stress, and unresolved psychological issues have plenty of impact, too.

How are you? Really – not the ‘How ya doin’ that isn’t really a question but more of a greeting – but a genuine curiosity about how you’re actually coping these days. Have you been able to live day-to-day according to your values? Are your interactions with your family, friends, and colleagues meaningful? Are you growing? Are you navigating change – both the expected and unexpected kinds – with resilience?

It doesn’t take much of a physics lesson to understand how people share energy. Often, you can feel the vibe of a room within seconds of entering. Sometimes it’s just the space but, most of the time, it’s the people in the space. Emotions are contagious, positive or negative. You can lift or sink someone with a glance. And whether your energy-sharing partner is a friend or a stranger, you can be knocked off balance by imperceptible shifts in their mood.