Defining workplace wellbeing. Why you don’t want to miss this important step.
- Mar
- 13
Developing a great strategy all starts with defining workplace wellbeing.
At Improveon we define wellbeing as the quality of our lives in balance with other people, species and the planet.
Wellbeing involves moments of happiness and the skills to overcome adversity.
Wellbeing involves both moments of happiness and the skills and mindset to overcome adversity. It is a longer term state and organisations should ensure realistic expectations are set. Wellbeing isn’t about trying to get everyone to be happy all of the time!
Wellbeing is influenced by internal and external forces.
Wellbeing is a state that is influenced by both internal and external forces such as organisational policies but also the individuals approach to managing their own personal wellbeing. For example, stress coaching may have a beneficial impact in helping individuals manage stress but if organisational policy encourages long work hours with little breaks these benefits will be short lived. A good strategy needs to look at wellbeing from an individual, team and organisational perspective. It also needs to account for the external environment whether that be the impact on an individual from the death of a loved one or the influence of political uncertainty on the wider workforce.
Wellbeing helps us improve performance.
Wellbeing is linked to performance. To help people be at their best we must create the right environment. When people have purpose, are focused on where they are going, work well as a team, are resilient and have a positive outlook they will be less sick, more likely to stay with your organisation, more creative and perform better. Often wellbeing programmes tend to focus on ‘fixing’ problems. A good wellbeing programme provides solutions that cover both problems and opportunities to improve the performance of all employees.
Wellbeing is about more than ‘me’.
Our individual wellbeing is connected with our colleagues, families and the communities in which we live, so a good approach must strike a balance between a focus on self and others. But of course, it is also connected to the state of the planet we call home. Unless we protect the quality of the air, light, water and other finite resources that our planet provides we will severely diminish our wellbeing.
Wellbeing initiatives are often narrowly focused when they would actually benefit from a much broader perspective. As an example the purpose and values of an organisation can often be overlooked as elements of a good wellbeing strategy. The environment and corporate social responsibility are also often seen as a separate initiatives when they are clearly part of the bigger wellbeing picture.
However, when an organisation can ‘connect all the dots’ between employee engagement, culture, brand and a responsible approach to protecting our planet it will achieve the biggest impact.
If we feel like our organisation cares about us, our customers and protecting the planet we’ll be more motivated, focused, productive and take greater meaning in our work.
The CANBE Wellbeing Model.
At Improveon we have developed the CANBE Wellbeing Model which is an acronym for Creating meaning, Achieving potential, Nurturing relationships, Building resilience and Enriching lives. These dimensions are interconnected with mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, social, cultural, environmental and economic domains which are all important to our overall wellbeing.
Using the following diagram where would you say you, your team or your organisation are in each of the eight domains? Are you Thriving, Striving, Surviving, Struggling or Suffering?
A good wellbeing strategy will cover each of these eight domains. Along with a clear definition of what wellbeing means to your organsiation this will result in the following benefits.
The benefits of clearly defining workplace wellbeing.
Defining workplace wellbeing will help you:
- Sell the benefits of a wellbeing strategy.
- Help colleagues involved with HR, employee engagement & experience, culture, sustainability, corporate responsibility, brand, finance, facilities, customer services & operations work more effectively together.
- Align wellbeing with your business strategy.
- Agree on the best targets.
- Measure outcomes more effectively.
Why not read ‘The Age of Wellbeing’ to get a better understanding of how a focus on wellbeing can help us all thrive.
Contact Improveon here if you’d like a discussion about how we can help you develop greater personal, team or organisational success through a focus on wellbeing.
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