Developing Well-being Intelligence

Can Wellness Competencies help navigate the well-being crisis at work?

As the world around us becomes more chaotic and stressful, employees everywhere are struggling to juggle work and life. The quest to find balance is an increasing challenge for professionals and organizations.

While the day-to-day stresses of life have increased in the past decade, new phenomena like fear of missing out (FMO) driven by social media create unnecessary urgency and anxiety and unnecessary stress on the mental health and wellness of employees in work and life.

Employees Show up Stressed

Employees are showing up to work more stressed and burnt out from life than ever before, making it harder for employers to see a return on workplace wellness initiatives. Well-being intelligence helps us learn new ways of being and living our wellness practice wherever we are.

The time has come for a holistic wellness approach if we are to successfully improve well-being in the new world of work. We must employ a systems approach that cultivates well-being intelligence into everything through the development of wellness competencies that support work and lifestyle changes.

If we are to address the challenges of stress, burnout, and mental disease that are slowly taking the workforce hostage. We can no longer pretend that the way we live and the choices we make daily are irrelevant to our ability to be well at work.

We also cannot pretend that what we do at work does not impact our ability to live life well or vice versa. It is apparent that we pay attention to the way we are treated at work, such as if our contributions are acknowledged, or whether we are being included and valued in a work environment where psychological safety is a key strategy for employees' well-being and success.

Work Impacts Self-esteem

Most of us identify with the work we do, so when things go awry with our careers it impacts our sense of self-worth. Thus, it is especially important that we acknowledge the impact of our work environment on our self-esteem and mental health, as well as our ability to be successful in our communities.

Over the past decade, I have done extensive research, writing, and teaching, in the area of wellness competencies to promote well-being intelligence. Wellness competencies help to promote a mindset of well-being, as well as a practice of wellness.

Wellness Competency

If we are to develop the necessary well-being intelligence that governs how we live and work, then we need to have measurable competencies to support the development of these new behaviours.

Competencies are learned, they are measurable, and they also promote a mindset shift, new skills, and habits. It was interesting to read this article on the need for well-being intelligence for the new world of work. Though I agreed with most of what the author discussed, it seemed bare on the essentials of how to obtain well-being intelligence. As a Thought Leader in the space, I thought it important to share how beneficial wellness competencies have aiding organizations looking for measurable outcomes and ROI on their wellness investment.

In a meeting today with two colleagues, it became apparent how important wellness competencies are for professionals seeking to gain balance. Our meeting highlighted how wellness competencies provide a benchmark and a way to measure their progress toward building their wellness intelligence. Wellness competencies promote well-being intelligence by helping employees develop the skills to engage with each other and the environment to promote well-being.

Over the last decade, we have developed the wellness competency coach training program and the wellness competency curriculum and licensing program to help improve well-being intelligence as a business strategy.

To learn more about developing well-being intelligence contact us to learn more about the wellness competency curriculum licensing program in your organization.

To Your Wellness,

Joyce

Joyce Odidison is a true pioneer in the world of workplace wellness and coaching. With over 26 years of experience as a Master Certified Coach, Conflict Analyst, and Professional Trainer, Joyce has dedicated her career to helping teams professionals, and organizations improve interpersonal and well-being intelligence to achieve success. As the President & CEO of Interpersonal Wellness Services Inc., host of the Global Workplace Wellness Summit, and What's Happening at Work podcast.