Enlightened Leadership & Well Organizational Design

According to the Global Wellness Institute, the wellness economy, an aggregate of several wellness subsectors, including wellness real estate, wellness tourism, personal care and beauty, etc...is valued at USD $4.4 trillion post the pandemic, and is expected to hit USD $7 trillion by 2025.

Source: www.globalwellnessinstitute.org

Despite this exciting outlook, how well is the term "wellness" actually understood as a global integrating force and driver of personal, organizational and economic growth? Google search results for top trends and the most searched keywords in 2022, shed light on the question.

At face value, it would appear that keywords such a fitness, nutrition and mental health (all terms industry insiders understand as part of a robust definition of wellness), are perhaps far less connected in the eyes of the general consumer than one might expect. When drilling down into keywords under each of the above-depicted search topics, the word "wellness" does not appear in any of the top 25 related keyword searches. If we look at "nutrition" for example, related keywords and search terms center around supplement's, specific diets, post workout recovery support and clean recipe inquiries. Results include: gratefulgrazer.com, us.myprotein.com, and a plethora of ranked results from searching the ever-popular word "clean" in front of any search terms such as "clean eating, clean nutrition, clean beauty and clean diet." As remarkably far as the industry has come, it would seem the general public may see terms such as spirituality, mental health and intellectual well-being as disparate and not connected to a robust definition of wellness. In fact, it could be argued the standard definition of wellness is as ambiguous today as it was in the early days of the movement.

The word "wellness" has been part of the English vocabulary for quite some time, yet it was not popularized and linked to health until 1961 when Dr. Halbert L. Dunn published a work entitled, High Level Wellness which grew out of a series of twenty-nine lectures presented at the Unitarian Church of Arlington County, Virginia in the late 1950s. Dunn's model explored the interaction between two axes - health (x axis) ranging from peak wellness to death, and environment (y axis) ranging from favorable to highly unfavorable. The two axes translated into four quadrants, each describing a health status arising out of the interaction between the two variables:

• Quadrant 1 (upper left): High Level Wellness in a Favorable Environment.
• Quadrant 2 (upper right): Protected Poor Health in a Favorable Environment.
• Quadrant 3 (lower left): Poor Health in an Unfavorable Environment.
• Quadrant 4 (lower right): Emergent High-Level Wellness in an Unfavorable Environment.

Ironically six decades later, the same conversations around access, and the democratization of wellness still exist. Wellness has distinct differences in understanding and adoption depending on socioeconomic standing and global demographics.

In the early days, wellness was most closely linked to physical fitness, diet and nutrition. As time went on, renowned thinkers expanded the definition beyond workouts and healthy eating to include ancillary health indicators, such as the importance of social connection and support; intellectual stimulation, including the arts, literature and music; and emotional intelligence. Fast forward to the mid-seventies and the "Institute for Lifestyle Improvement," precursor to the National Wellness Institute, Inc., was co-founded and first launched under auspices of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Foundation by faculty members Bill Hettler, MD, CWP, Director of Counseling Services, and Dennis Elsenrath, EdD, CWP, Director of Health Services. I was fortunate to have studied under both men in the early days of the movement, which largely shaped my thinking and work in organization behavior in the healthcare, hotel, spa and consumer products industries.

August 3, 1989, marked the birthdate of the latest iteration of The National Wellness Institute, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit headquartered in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The Institute was serendipitously located just thirty-six miles west of the farming community in which I was raised, my hometown, Marshfield, Wisconsin.

In 1976, Dr. Hettler released the "Six Dimensions of Wellness" model - intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, occupational, and physical, which are still the philosophical underpinnings of the work of the Institute today. Those dimensions are reminiscent of the personal and organizational wellness models developed by the One Well World (OWW) foundation in 2019. It is the belief of the Board of Directors and contributing volunteers, that personal and organizational wellness identically mirror one another, and must align if the organization is to be viewed as authentic and credible in the eyes of the consumer. The OWW model was developed to address the disconnect between organizations "articulating and espousing" a strategic wellness focus, versus those that have moved beyond talking to operationalizing a wellness culture that supports true employee well-being. The same employees who go home to families and friends each night, who are part of local communities and religious organizations, and who's wellness behaviors or lack thereof impact societal well-being and environmental stewardship in profound and meaningful ways.

One Well World believes the only hope for positive large-scale, global change is by incrementally helping employee partners live healthier, happier and more fulfilled lives, and by supporting wellness interventions at a local versus global level. Businesses and organizations have the right size and complexity to positively impact the lives of employees, their families and the communities in which they live in profound and meaningful ways. That task is not as daunting as it may first appear yet requires a shift in mindset that starts from the top and permeates every nook and cranny of the physical and virtual organizational space.

Getting started is as easy as asking FOUR vital questions at the very next executive meeting. From there, it is a scientific exercise of intentionally executing tangible wellness strategies, tactics, policies and practices which support the evolution of an authentic wellness culture that powerfully enables the delivery of superior products and services to the customers and guests the organization serves.

1. STRATEGY: What is the wellness strategy of the business or organization? Does the word "wellness" or "well-being" appear in any corporate documents, on web sites, in marketing materials, or the vision, mission, strategic plan, policies, procedures and practices that govern work?
2. STRUCTURE: How is the organization structured to support the individual wellness of those who do the work? What does the social fabric look like? How autonomous do employees feel under the current hierarchy and span of supervision? What about work schedules, breaks, interpersonal and intergroup communications? The answers to these questions tell a story about the degree to which the organization is actually walking the wellness talk.
3. PEOPLE: What people practices and well employee development opportunities exist to encourage engagement and LOVE of the work that needs to be done? Are employees comfortable "showing up" and bringing their whole selves to the work they do without fear or intimidation? What compensation and benefits policies and packages are in place to help employees thrive and come to work excited, versus feeling exhausted from having just worked a shift in any one of the three jobs required to make ends meet? Shifting my focus to willingly caring for, or a stretch word I like to use these days, love the customers and guests I serve is a byproduct of whether I sit at the very lowest level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs or whether I turn my attention to more fully actualized interests and supporting the work of the company. What philosophy is in place for more equitably distributing wealth and intellectual capital so that everyone has access to vital information and sees their part in the broader organizational plan? This is perhaps one of the most important areas of focus for ensuring individual and organizational wellness models mirror one another and align to up the personal and organizational well-being anti. Recruitment and retention are dependent upon it. If those two KPI's are not top of mind or challenging you today, read no further!
4. PROCESS: What daily operational workflows and innovative work designs inspire ownership and ease and simplicity of service delivery to ensure customers and guests are beyond satisfied? Do the same customer complaints continue to go unresolved, the same concerns unaddressed? Those who interact with customers every day, have every answer to solve the most challenging organizational concerns and improve financial performance.

If transparency and creating a well organization that supports the company's business of wellness is important, we invite you to follow us and watch for tools and practical support to help you get there. The next wellness hurdle for the industry is to evolve a common wellness definition, vision of the well organization and pathway for getting there. One Well World provides real-world, practical information, resources and support for helping business and organization become, in the words of Jean Houston, "incubators of human consciousness," and who's enlightened leaders are positively impacting societal good.

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