The best leaders focus on wellbeing because it is our ultimate motivation. If you think about why you do what you do you’ll come back to wellbeing. At Improveon we define wellbeing as ‘the quality of our lives in balance with other people, species and the planet’. A sense of purpose and meaning, achievement, strong relationships, resilience, sustainability and positive experiences all contribute to and form the ingredients of wellbeing.
Here are 7 reasons why the best leaders focus on wellbeing as the route to greater personal, team and organisational success?
It’s the right thing to do.
Peter Drucker said ‘Managers do things right and leaders do the right things.’ When it comes down to it how should we really measure the success of our leaders? My belief is that the most successful leaders are increasingly measured, not only through financial measures but, by how they make the world a better place, how they improve lives, build strong relationships, overcome obstacles, sustain the planet and the way they make others feel. What type of leader would you like to be, or be led by?
If leadership is about moving to a better place through inspiring positive change in both people and processes then wellbeing ticks the boxes. This focus on creating greater wellbeing is both aspirational and inspirational. If you can think of a better focus then do please let me know.
It lends itself to a systemic approach to leadership.
Wellbeing holds meaning for individuals, teams, organisations, communities, countries and even the world at large. Leaders need a perspective across all of these domains and wellbeing provides them with a common lense with which to view this.
It will help us all become more successful.
*Research supports that focusing on improving happiness and wellbeing will lead to more successful outcomes in domains such as work life, relationships, health, positive perceptions of self and others, sociability, creativity, problem solving, physical wellbeing and coping. Research has also correlated happiness with increased productivity, profitability, sales, performance and return on investment.
So wellbeing is compatible with, and even contributes to, greater productivity and improving the bottom line. Here’s a few recent examples of a organisations that have improved the wellbeing of employees whilst also increasing productivity.
- What happened when I moved my company to a 5 hour work day
- Supercharge workforce productivity with a health and wellbeing focus
- A head for business – the importance of employee wellbeing
It can bind cultures.
With the increasing requirement for leaders to inspire people from diverse cultures and backgrounds our growing understanding of wellbeing can provide a platform for bridging cultural divides. As we understand wellbeing better it can provide a common language between philosophies of the East and West and a goal that all people are inspired to move towards.
It can help us navigate change.
Wellbeing encourages a focus on resilience, creativity, positivity and a growth mindset. With a more flexible mindset to seize opportunities and greater resources to bounce back when things don’t go to plan a focus on wellbeing can help us thrive through change.
It can help us tackle some of the most important issues of our time.
Climate change is the biggest challenge of our time. A focus on wellbeing encourages sustainable practice and leaders to think about their contribution to this from simple practices such as reducing, re-using and re-cycling up to organisational purpose, vision and strategy.
It’s rising up the world agenda.
What gets measured gets managed and wellbeing is increasingly being recognised and adopted on the world stage. Examples of this include the UN Sustainability Goals, UK’s Measuring what matters, OECD Guidelines on Measuring Subjective Well-being to name a few. Over the next few years this focus at the top will increasingly filter down to your organisation. Why not get ahead of the game now!
Contact David here if you’d like a discussion about how he could help you develop greater personal, team or organisational wellbeing.
Improveon provides wellbeing focused consulting, coaching and speaking services to help individuals, teams and organisations thrive. Services include:
*The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success?Lyubomirsky, S., King, L., & Diener, E. No. 6, 803– 855, s.l. : American Psychological Association, 2005, Psychological Bulletin, Vols. 131,, pp. 131, 803-855.
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