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30 Apr 2018
by Evan Davidge

Evan Davidge on why leadership is the vital element of an exceptional wellbeing programme

Browsing Amazon recently, I noticed there are 57,136 books with the word “leadership” in the title, but only 337 books with “wellbeing leadership”.

 

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That is not to say that the latter is by definition a separate and distinct discipline. Wellbeing, in one form or another, has always been integral to leadership practices. Moreover, as the practice of leadership has evolved so has the understanding of it. We now apply modern concepts of neuroscience, evolutionary biology and behavioural economics to the study of leadership.

This is never more relevant then in today’s climate where leaders are being driven towards a still largely untapped gold mine: organisational wellbeing. Indeed, global research by Gallup has shown a more rigorous focus on organisational and employee wellbeing delivers emotional, financial and competitive advantage.

This is evident from the inaugural Employee Wellbeing Awards, launched by REBA in 2018, where the majority of entries demonstrated impressive business outcomes as a result of their wellbeing initiatives.

What proved to be a clear differentiator between the good and exceptional entries is where leadership is firmly in the driving seat. The most striking examples are where leaders have shown they are no less immune to the vicissitudes of life by displaying humility and self-awareness to champion a wellbeing cause, following personal and often life-changing experiences.

There are many different types of leadership roles, ranging from CEOs to senior managers and line managers, to an individual leading on a particular project. It even applies to volunteer wellbeing ambassadors

Every leadership role should drive wellbeing

All these types of leaders have different responsibilities when it comes to wellbeing. Therefore, leadership needs to be distributive in order to develop a culture that fosters wellbeing. Ultimately, boards need to buy-in to the activity if it is to be coordinated and supported enough to achieve the best outcomes. They have the power to make far reaching changes, and to allocate the resources to make them happen.

As mentioned above, the individual behaviour of senior management will also have a significant impact on the culture of the organisation. All leaders should demonstrate the behaviours they are advocating; you can’t expect employees to take part in initiatives and change behaviours if the people above them aren’t doing so.

Arguably, the most significant leader relationship is between employee and line manager. The line manager role includes creating the optimum environment for the performance of their team members.

Bearing in mind that line managers are generally regarded as the ‘squeezed middle’ and are therefore the most vulnerable to personal wellbeing issues, they require adequate support, resources and training to cultivate a positive work environment.

The Employee Wellbeing Awards’ entries certainly demonstrated this in an impressive way. Leadership and employee wellbeing should be interwoven in order that they can feed through to individual and organisational outcomes. And wellbeing has to be a key strand of any leadership development programme. It may not be an easy goal but it is attainable for any organisation with the vision and mindset.

Evan Davidge is total reward and wellbeing consultant at The Wellbeing Leader.

Download a copy of the 88 page Employee Wellbeing Research 2018 (free to REBA Professional Members and all those working for REBA Associate Members).

If you would like to learn more about employee wellbeing, register here to attend the Third Annual Employee Wellbeing Congress on 5 July 2018.

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