To me, wellness is like a superfood and should be one of the main nutrients fortifying teams that are intent on enjoying extraordinary success. When a team is dedicated to optimizing wellness, its psychological fitness is heightened, unproductive intra-team friction is reduced and precious energy needed to get the job done, is released.
Let me share a disclaimer. I am neither a sports fanatic, nor sports enthusiast, however, I am a “band-wagonist” at basketball game finals. Not necessarily because I love the game, but because I am fascinated by the precision teamworking and science-backed practices that are on display at the winner-take-all game.
While many businesses have afforded their employees access to psychological support systems, my interactions with employees suggests that many individuals have not returned to sufficiency in their levels of well-being.
While the two teams to my mind, are equally matched in the elite competencies required to get to the playoffs, in the final game, the team which outplays the other, is the one that is better at precision teamworking.
There are teams, there are precision-driven teams and then there are precision-driven teams that nail their wellness levels as well. In the world of business, the latter type is a rarity, simply because it takes quite a bit of effort to get to this level of excellence. This type of team gets superlative results, with the added bonus of an equal level of camaraderie, cohesion and collective cheerfulness.
Few leaders have the skill, patience or endurance to push the teambuilding rock up the mountain to achieve such heights of success. For those who put in the effort, the payoff is a team that not only gets the job done, but one for which wellness is an integral part of its centre of gravity.
There is need for more work to help individuals to rise to a new level of psychological fitness, that is sufficient for the new demands that life has imposed.
From time to time, wellness gets disrupted. The pandemic unleashed a contagion that devastated the well-being of many individuals. This caused quite a bit of psychological upheaval, much of which, I believe, has not been fully processed by individuals.
While the pandemic may be over, for the most part, its effects are still in effect when we think about how it has impacted the psychology of human functioning. Individuals may not be functioning at optimal level and therefore, teams will not be functioning at optimum levels either.
While many businesses have afforded their employees access to psychological support systems, my interactions with employees suggests that many individuals have not returned to sufficiency in their levels of well-being. There is need for more work to help individuals to rise to a new level of psychological fitness, that is sufficient for the new demands that life has imposed.
Start with a culture audit.
I believe that some employees, including managers, are still in need of support that goes beyond the hygiene level. This is the level that enables individuals to function at minimum efficiency and the point at which individuals and employees are just “barely” holding it together.
Where can a business start in the threading of wellness through its teaming ecosystem?
Start with a culture audit. It is said that the culture of a business is defined by how employees or team members feel on a Sunday evening, in anticipation of going to work on the following Monday morning. It signals the state of employee wellness.
The results of this audit will guide the design of follow-on efforts that will range from creating daily employee forums, (called huddles), to climate detoxing interventions, to the deployment of a wellness charter that will define the new practices that will support individual and team health.
The results of this audit will guide the design of follow-on efforts that will range from creating daily employee forums, (called huddles), to climate detoxing interventions, to the deployment of a wellness charter that will define the new practices that will support individual and team health.
The culture of a business either produces or drains the oxygen needed to energize employees. If employees are not functioning at a level of wellness that will enable them to generate value, businesses will be in jeopardy. By the way, I’ve encountered many businesses where there are as many cultures as there are departments. Not a hygienic scenario.
If employees are not functioning at a level of wellness that will enable them to generate value, businesses will be in jeopardy.
Conducting a values audit will be useful. When a business starts to veer away from its moorings, decisions being taken by leaders can be at odds with the values that are supposed to underpin the belief system of the business and this can cause confusion amongst the employee community. Confusion breeds psychological unwellness.
I believe that now, more than ever, businesses need to reassess the validity of their values, given the highly charged and changing nature of the world. There may be need to dust and shine the existing values, or to replace them with some that are more fit for the purpose of navigating today’s world.
Unstoppable change has become the norm. Let’s revitalize a reverence for wellness and give individuals and teams a fighting chance to succeed.