Leading by Example; Wellbeing First.
At InBloom, we focus extensively on the role that leaders must play to improve the wellbeing of their teams. We define a wellbeing leader as one who includes and embodies ‘improving the health and wellbeing of all stakeholders’ as part of their mission. Our definition does not limit itself to those who have a formal leadership title; many champions of change we deal with are individual contributors, entrepreneurs, and consultants who are interested in leveraging their network, knowledge and passion to help others make significant positive change to their health and wellbeing.
There are so many reasons why leading with wellbeing is important and so many areas where they intersect, we could write a full book on this. To us, a lot begins with wellbeing being a vital part of leadership because only leaders who are well can successfully lead others. Another simple way of looking at this is in the words of Confucius; a healthy person wants a million things, a sick person wants just one thing: to be well again.
Having fleshed out the importance of leading with wellbeing, let’s explore a few simple ideas that will help you accomplish this important principle.
1. Turn off when you would expect others to do so as well.
Leaders set the tone louder than all others. If you are regularly sending emails on weekends and evenings, your colleagues and staff will start to assume that this is the standard to live up to. Without you even catching on this, a subtle form of anxiety can start to shape in the minds of those who are not willing to adopt extended work hours, they may begin to believe that the expectations are that they too should follow your lead. All this may happen without any communication.
If your role demands that you put in the extra effort, you should have upfront, and regular dialogue with your staff about this, making your expectations of them clear, and making clear that their health and wellbeing is your top priority.
2. Encourage people to take a break.
You might be thinking “Well, this one’s fairly simple”. You would be correct, some of the best advice we read, hear and distribute about wellbeing remains simple. In this scenario, simple does not mean common.
While the work we’re doing with Tier 1 organisation fills us with hope from all the progress that we’ve accomplished in the realm of corporate health, we’re still finding the default can remain to congratulate employees for being always on.
It's always a good time to take a break. Very few of our clients come back from a holiday saying: “It was terrible” . Be there to encourage your staff or colleagues to take these vital opportunities for rest and relaxation.
Today’s two simple ideas are very simple. Hopefully these are common practice in your team’s culture, and if not, you can easily introduce them in your leadership strategy.
In the wake of the virus, we continue to hear some popular wellbeing messages, namely that leaders must first focus on their own wellbeing. At In Bloom, we are helping leaders have a better understanding as to what their wellbeing looks like, holistically. We do this with in partnership with the Global Leadership Wellbeing Survey. This is the first step of our Leadership Wellbeing Coaching journey.