Well Being and Leadership

Academic Leadership Training

Aug 20, 2013

To Be Happy……

•What would the best possible life look like for you to be happy?  What would most people say?

 

To Be Happy……

•Good health and wealth?  Gallup found that this is simply not true! 

Gallup's research:

•Surveyed more than one million people  around the world (over 150 countries) using the Wellbeing Finder and uncovered the universal elements of well being and these elements are the “currency of a life well lived.”

•Developed a metric of a life well lived – as measured by one’s own experiences and evaluation on a daily basis and overall life experience

 

Well Being:

            "the combination of our love for what we do each day, the quality of our relationships, the security of our finances, the vibrancy of our physical health, and the pride we take in what we have contributed to our communities.  And most importantly, it's about how these elements interact.“

Rath & Harter. 2010 Well Being: The Five Essential Elements

Gallup’s research uncovered 5 distinct statistical factors:•    Career Wellbeing:  how you occupy your time - or simply liking what you do every day

•    Social Wellbeing:  having strong relationships and love in your life

•    Financial Wellbeing:  effectively managing your economic life

•    Physical Wellbeing:  having good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis

•    Community wellbeing:  the sense of engagement you have with the area where you live.

•66% of people are doing well in at least one of these areas, just 7% are thriving in all 5.

•They describe aspects of our lives that we can do something about.

A NOTE ON SPIRITUAL WELL BEING

• Not found as a separate element. Reflected across elements.

• Spirituality drives/motivates/influences us in ALL these areas.

Career well being:  how you occupy your time - or simply liking what you do every day •     interesting and meaningful acts that are paid or unpaid;

•    involves using strengths•    results in high and meaningful engagement • reflects a deep purpose

*Career well being is identified as the most essential element of one's overall well being. *People with high career well being are more than twice as likely to be thriving in their lives overall and “enjoy weekdays as much weekends.”

      

What can we do to increase career well being for ourselves and those we lead?

• Get the right people in the right job (including yourself!)

• Put strengths to best use• Connect work to a higher purpose• Encourage and support growth and

development            

Social well being:  having strong relationships and love in your life •     Spend 6 hours each day with friends, family, and colleagues.  Can be through phone calls, text messaging, email.

•    It's the connection that matters!•    Chit chat at the office boosts workplace productivity.

        

What can we do as leaders to increase social well being in ourselves and others? •    Create places to congregate - coffee pot, mailroom.

•    Organize Happy/Healthy Hours, communal lunches (Souper Tuesday).    

•    Walk the division just to say 'hi'  •    Provide opportunities for mentoring and partnership building

            

Financial well being:  effectively managing your financial life 

• It is more about financial SECURITY than actual monetary compensation. Security has 3x the impact of income alone on our overall well being.

• Addresses HOW we spend our money (on experiences and on others)

• Pay itself doesn't necessarily correlate to engagement or well being.  But, pay needs to be fair and equitable.

• Low FWB can lead to stress, anxiety, insomnia, depression

• People with high career and social WB perceive their pay as satisfactory.

       

What can we do as leaders to increase the financial well being in ourselves and in the people we lead? •    make the default setting of savings programs opt-out vs opt -in.

•    take vacation and encourage people to use the vacation time for actual vacations - spending money on experiences does more to increase FW than spending on things.

•    spend on others rather than material things for yourself

• contribute to the flower fund, gifts for new babies, support ill colleagues, etc.

  

Physical well being:  having good enough health and enough energy to get the things done on a daily basis •    daily physical exercise, good sleep habits, healthy eating habits

•    taking time to relax and refresh

*Those with high PWB have more energy to get things done in less time; good mood

which boosts colleagues.

What can we do as leaders to increase the physical well being in ourselves and in the people we lead? •Be part of a daily 10 min. 'walk around campus'•Encourage people to stay home and rest if they're sick•Bring in nutritious snacks when celebrating•Agree to keep junk food out of the office•Keep and encourage a reasonable work schedule 

 

Community well being:  the sense of engagement you have with the area where you live •    the impact you can have on an individual, group, or community helps turn your life from a good life to an exceptional life.

•    "Helper's High" - volunteers report feeling stronger, more energetic, and more motivated after helping others even in the smallest ways.

•    "Well doing" inoculates us against stress and negative emotions.

What can we do as leaders to increase the community well being in ourselves and those we lead?• Make your interests known to your colleagues so

they know they can call on you; this will also encourage them to think about ways they can volunteer with their interests

• Provide and publicize events that employees can get involved in (e.g. tutoring, Giving tree at Xmas; book collections)

According to Gallup, when employees reported that their supervisor cared about their well being, these employees were:  **more likely to be top performers**producing higher quality work **less likely to be sick**less likely to change jobs**less likely to get injured on the job

A last word...........

“To create a life that’s worthwhile, not just for ourselves but for those around us, we need to find something we love to do that benefits society. We need to invest time strengthening our relationships with the people we love. We need enough financial security to provide for our families’ needs. We need to adopt lifestyles that give us the health and energy to keep moving each day.”

As leaders how will you make well being happen for those who follow you? What will you do?

References

 Rath, T. and Harter, J. (2010). Well Being:  The Five Essential Elements.  Gallup Press:  New York. Rath, T. and Harter, J. (2010). The Economics of Well Being.  Gallup Press: New York.

 

SHAWN ACHOR

• http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html