Creating a Culture of Wellbeing

With everything that has happened in the world in 2020 and many staff working from home, mental health, wellbeing and work/life balance has become a much talked about topic.

Many people have realised the importance of taking care of themselves and making personal wellbeing a priority. Life has been difficult and there is a lot of uncertainty around jobs, yet individuals are increasingly seeing the importance of taking ownership for their careers and finding work that both fulfils them and supports their wellbeing.

Organisations have put wellbeing and supporting good mental health at the top of their agenda for 2021. How do you actually make this happen? Will your employees buy-in to this and believe that you, as an employer, really care about them and want to make a difference to their lives?

How Engaged are your Employees?

Engaged and well employees are better motivated and will want to do their best if they believe in the company they work for, feel aligned with the company values, and feel respected and appreciated at work. An engaged and motivated employee means high performance, delivering on objectives and better outcomes for both employee and organisation. To make this happen you need to create a culture for success and wellbeing is key to that.

Culture has been defined as a paradigm of several factors that combine to create ‘the way we do things around here’. It is made up of the structures, both formal and informal, within an organisation; the rituals and routines, and whether the company values are believed in and shared. For employees to believe an organisation takes wellbeing seriously there needs to be support from the staff at the top of the organisation.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with several companies in 2020 who have recognised the importance of wellbeing and how when their staff feel cared for, they are more motivated to do a good job and support the ongoing success of the organisation. What is your culture like? Is it one that trusts and respects your staff and looks after their wellbeing?

Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is an employee’s sense of being able to be their true and authentic self at work without fear of negative consequences to self-image, status or career. It is a shared belief that the environment they work in is a safe place for interpersonal risk taking. There is a sense of confidence in the team that a team member will not be embarrassed, rejected, or punished for speaking up. When individuals feel safe at work and able to be their true selves, this plays a big role in their motivation, performance and overall wellbeing.

An organisation that promotes psychological safety is one where the people in it experience high quality connections, have high levels of job satisfaction, are encouraged to take risks through learning and creativity rather than worrying about how their ideas will be perceived.

Amy Edmondson, a professor of leadership at Harvard Business School, has regularly written about psychological safety and published a book on this called The Fearless Organization. 

She has recently written about How to Foster Psychological Safety in Virtual Meetings. A useful contribution towards creating a working  environment that supports people with their wellbeing during the current situation.

Where do you think your organisation is, in supporting your team’s wellbeing? 

Is the right culture in place to create an environment where wellbeing is regularly discussed?

Do the values and behaviours exhibited by everyone who is part of your organisation contribute to creating psychological safety?

Wherever your organisation is on this journey – a journey which will need to evolve over time as different needs become apparent, our Working Well programme will support you. Enabling teams to come together and connect at a deeper level  will lead to stronger trust, improved working relationships and a stronger culture of wellbeing. Read more about what we provide and what people say about us on the For Organisations page.