Building a Culture of Well-Being

November 30, 2011 1 Comment

Cover of "First, Break All the Rules: Wha...

You can count on the Gallup Organization to do good work. They gave us “First, Break All the Rules” and StrengthsFinder. Now, with “Wellbeing: The Five Essential Elements,” they’ve once again come up with valuable insights into worker engagement and productivity.

Gallup researchers Tom Rath and Jim Harter studied people in 150 countries—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—to explain how people experience their days and evaluate their days overall. In other words, what makes people feel truly satisfied overall? Experience a sense of well-being? They analyzed hundreds of Gallup’s global surveys involving millions of respondents. I mean, these guys were thorough.

A couple of key insights emerged. Here they are. Think about what these insights mean to you as a leader and to your role as culture-builder where you work.

#1. Five core dimensions are universal elements of well-being. Achieving nirvana in one or two at the exclusion of the others doesn’t work. They require a holistic perspective in order for people to achieve well-being. Take a look. Is your work culture “well-being-friendly”?

Career Well-Being: Feeling appreciated as a person and not just as an employee, respecting management, looking forward to going to work each day, enjoying the company of co-workers, feeling pride in the organization you work for

Social Well-Being: Having good relationships at work, friends, a support system for weathering tough times

Financial Well-Being: In control of finances, frugal but not pinching pennies, aware of costs and in control of expenditures

Physical Well-Being: Lots of energy, healthy eating, getting sufficient rest as well as regular rigorous exercise

Community Well-Being: Being actively and productively engaged in the community and neighborhood groups, being part of meaningful activities like Crime Stoppers, homeowner association, PTA, Red Cross, et cetera.

#2. The secret to a happy life is rooted in interactions with co-workers and the boss. Remember the saying, “People don’t quit a company; they quit a bad manager”? Gallup’s latest research supports that.

Good managers know what their employees care about, see them as individuals, know what’s going on in their lives and are interested in their career development.

Good managers see their employees as unique individuals, know their strengths, celebrate their successes and are clear about expectations so their employees know what they’re supposed to be doing on a daily basis.

Good managers understand the importance of socializing at work. Productive employees are engaged employees and they likely have a best friend at work with whom they chat and interact.

Intrigued? Each copy of the book has a unique ID code for Gallup’s online “The Well-Being Finder,” a program designed to help you track and improve your own well-being, as well as gain insight into supporting a culture that supports the five elements. Check it out.

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Knowing You Don’t Know

November 14, 2011 1 Comment

The Lost Hindu Temple in the Jungle Mist

Knowledge is power, they say, and when we don’t know, we tend to feel powerless and afraid. And yet, being able to embrace and accept a certain level of unknowing is a good thing.

Like the old Hasidic rabbi who crossed the village square every morning on his way to the temple to pray. One morning, a large Cossack soldier, who happened to be in a vile mood, accosted him, saying, “Hey, Rebby, where are you going?”

And the rabbi said, “I don’t know.”

This infuriated the Cossack. “What do you mean, you don’t know? Every morning for 25 years you have crossed the village square and gone to the temple to pray. Don’t fool with me. Who are you, telling me you don’t know?”

He grabbed the old rabbi by the coat and dragged him off to jail. Just as he was about to push him into a cell, the rabbi turned to him, saying, “You see, I didn’t know.”

Leaders can fall into the trap of seeing their role as the one who should know it all—and then worse yet, think they do! We are so used to instant gratification, faster computers and microwaved food. We want instant weather, stock quotes, public-opinion polls and interest rates on our Blackberries and iPhones. We find it hard to let things go unknown or unfinished for very long. We want to know immediately what’s going to happen next, don’t we?

But in the end, the most important things many times show themselves slowly, and in their own time.

Edward Gibbon conceived his history of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire while listening to a choir of monks at vespers. Nobel physicist Steven Weinberg was nagged by the problem of how nuclear reactions produce the heat of the sun—until it came to him one day unbidden as he was driving around Boston in his red Camaro. The idea for the microwave oven came to Percy Spencer one day when a chocolate bar melted in his pocket as he stood in front of a magnetron, the microwave tube used to power radar.

Sometimes our greatest insights come when we don’t know, and know that we don’t know…but we’re open to the prospect of the “knowing” showing up unexpectedly. Like Archimedes who allegedly discovered the law of gravity while taking a bath. Who would have known?

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Lighten Up or Tighten Up

October 31, 2011

We gotta be productive. That’s a given. But how we show up—the state of mind we’re in, in order to be productive and the approach we assume—well, that is different for different people. For example, in the March 2010 issue of Inc., several entrepreneurial leaders shared their productivity secrets. Seth Priebatsch, CEO of SCVNGR, a [...]

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It’s About the Passion

October 14, 2011 3 Comments

Reggie Leach said, “Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” We can relate to finding the passion for ourselves to be successful. But what about finding that passion within others, especially those we hire to help us make our team or organization success? When interviewing, I’d rather find someone who’s passionate—on [...]

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Know What You Don’t Know

September 30, 2011

“Fifty-one percent of being smart is knowing what you are dumb about.” Ann Landers said that last century. Socrates said something similar many centuries ago: “First, know thyself.” Studies show a strong correlation between knowing yourself—self-knowledge—and success in life and work. The best indicator of a high performance appraisal is being able to see yourself [...]

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Make It Easy to Move the Piano

September 14, 2011

Sam Ewing said, “Hard work spotlights the character of people. Some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses and some don’t turn up at all.” Of course, those who “turn up their sleeves” receive most of the rewards in life. They produce. They get things done. They work hard. As managers, we know [...]

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