In today’s fast-paced world, the success of any organization isn’t just about hitting targets and achieving milestones; it’s also about nurturing the well-being of your most valuable asset – your people. It’s time to start, stop, and change to create a workplace culture that places well-being at its core. You have a central role in moving this forward for your team.

How can you begin to embrace a culture of well-being? Here are three areas that work synergistically to transform culture.

Start

1. Prioritize Mental Health: Begin by openly discussing and supporting mental health in the workplace. Consider introducing mental health awareness programs, providing access to counseling services, and creating a stigma-free environment where employees feel comfortable seeking help when needed.
2. Flexible Work Arrangements: Start offering flexible work options like remote work or flexible hours. For those looking to end remote work, how can you engage your team in the solution? This can empower your team to seek a more harmonious work and personal life, reducing stress and burnout.
3. Wellness Initiatives: Initiate wellness programs that encourage physical health, such as fitness challenges, yoga classes, or meditation sessions. Ensure these initiatives are actively part of the conversation to keep them top of mind. Healthy employees are happier and more productive.

Stop:

1. Long Hours Culture: Let’s put an end to glorifying long hours and overworking. I realize it feels like you are getting more from your people, but the research is clear that while you may be getting more hours, you may be getting lower quality production. Encourage employees to take their allotted breaks, and discourage the expectation of responding to emails or messages outside of regular working hours. That includes you if you are the leader who emails and texts their team all weekend!
2. Micromanagement: Stop micromanaging your teams. If you hired well and trained properly, trust your employees to do their jobs effectively and allow them the autonomy they need to excel. Micromanagement can stifle creativity and increase stress.
3. Ignoring Feedback: Put an end to the practice of ignoring feedback from your team. Create a feedback-friendly environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their concerns, ideas, and suggestions for improvement.

Change:

1. Leadership Style: Consider changing your leadership style to one that is more empathetic and inclusive. Lead by example in embracing well-being, and encourage your leadership team to do the same. Just because something worked in the past, doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.
2. Performance Metrics: Shift your performance metrics from solely focusing on results to also considering the well-being of your employees. Recognize and reward efforts to promote well-being within the organization. Employees who feel good will reward your bottom line!
3. Inclusive Policies: Review and adjust your policies to ensure they are inclusive and promote well-being for all employees. This includes policies related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Ask yourself, “Who’s at the table when we are making decisions with wide-ranging impact.”  The very employees who have been left out may be the ones who can help you gain buy-in and lower resistance to the change.
4. Communication: Change the way you communicate about well-being. Make it a regular topic of discussion in team meetings and one-on-one conversations. Encourage open dialogues about the challenges employees may be facing. So your humanity and vulnerability. It will foster trust and respect within the team.