Published in Kingstown College Coaching Magazine 2019/2020
The term the “overwhelmed employee” may be recognised by many reading this article.
At Kingstown College we have been developing a new Diploma in Corporate Wellbeing Coaching. As part of the research for this course a survey was undertaken with more than 1000 responses. Dr. Chandrika Deshpande gives us an insight into the findings.
The research and development initiative around Corporate Wellbeing was triggered by the growing need to launch a Corporate Wellbeing Coaching Program based on various inquiries and requests we have been receiving.
As we began working on this area we realised that there were gaps which needed to be addressed in order to integrate Wellbeing as a way of life in organisations. This then formed the basis of the presentation titled, “Making the Case for a Culture of Wellbeing in Organisations”. The paper was presented at the 25th Annual International Mentoring, Coaching and Supervision Conference held in Dublin in April, 2019.
Paula King (Coach and Master Practitioner Level, EMCC) was one of the key presenters and brought to the presentation her varied and rich experience of Coaching Senior leaders across different types of organisations. This article tries to summarise the key aspects of the presentation.
“Corporate Wellbeing Coaching contributes to a caring environment in which every individual in the organisation is encouraged to achieve their full potential and optimum performance for the benefit of themselves and the organisation.” – Paula King
Background:
The term the “overwhelmed employee” may be recognised by many reading this article. This is a term originally coined by Deloitte in a report carried out in 2014. While the issue of highly stressed workers is not new, the relentless pace of business today has made the problem worse. Driven by the always on nature of digital business and 24/7 working styles, studies now show that more than 40 percent of all workers face high stress in their jobs, negatively affecting their productivity, health, and family stability. According to Deloitte’s millennial survey, a majority of surveyed millennials in 19 out of 30 countries report that they do not expect to be “happier” than their parents. Parallel to the challenges in the workplace the digital well-being market is exploding.
More than $2 billion in venture capital has been invested in this area over the last two years, creating a flood of online videos, apps, and tools to help assess, monitor, and improve all aspects of health.
Today, the definition of wellness has expanded dramatically to include a range of programs aimed at not only protecting employee health, but actively boosting performance as well as social and emotional well-being. These now include innovative programs and tools for financial wellness, mental health, healthy diet and exercise, mindfulness, sleep, and stress management, as well as changes to culture and leadership behaviors to support these efforts.
Expanding well-being programs to encompass what employees want and value is now essential for organizations to treat their people responsibly—as well as to boost their social capital and project an attractive employment brand.
Research Strategy and Inputs:
The study of current trends based on the findings of surveys like Gallup and Deloitte studies, makes it increasingly clear that well-being is now a critical performance strategy to drive employee engagement, organizational energy and productivity. It is no longer a good to have option on the list but wellbeing is now front and center as a business imperative for leading high performance teams and organisations. Various wellbeing strategies have been implanted in organisations and there is a strategy in place as well. What role have Leadership Teams and Line Managers played in this space? Is there room for improvement? How does Coaching fit into the overall scheme of things? These were some of the questions we grappled with.
Feeling a need to ascertain this in a Coaching context, as a first step we designed a Corporate Wellbeing survey based on the ROSE Model (1) We received 1173 responses from across Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, India, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, Israel, Italy, France.
Key Results and Interpretations:
A study of the responses to the survey, interviews with key people in organisations and focussed group discussions, ascertained for us certain facts that we had come across in our research but also brought to the fore aspects which had not been explored before. Strikingly, responses varied based on type of organisations such as Government, SME, MNC, Start-ups, Charitable organisations but there was a universal element of similarity across these sectors globally for most questions.
Not surprisingly one of the key results of the survey and probably the one with the greatest impact in the day to day working of an organisation was the ability of Line Managers to have wellbeing conversations with employees. Even without an analysis of this segment across industries, it was clear that 60 % of the respondents felt that Line Managers were not well equipped to have these conversations. This is the gap that Coaching bridges with access to proven models, tools and techniques to facilitate wellbeing conversation in organisations. We strongly believe that all the strategic interventions introduced by Organisations need to be supported by this underlying thread.
The most common responses which came up as aspects of work life which cause the most stress and anxiety were then identified as these would have to be understood in greater detail to enable relevant interventions.
- Meeting deadlines/ time management/ improper planning
- Work life balance
- Uncertainty about the future/job/ finance/self-employed
- Communication – lack of information sharing /unnecessary meetings
- Travelling ( daily commute/ job requirements)
- Bureaucratic processes
- Indecisiveness
- Customers – Meeting demands/ stubborn/aggressive
Keeping this in mind we amalgamated the findings with the ROSE model to offer a comprehensive strategy aligning the key elements necessary for Corporate Wellbeing.
…it increasingly clear that well-being is now a critical performance strategy to drive employee engagement, organizational energy and productivity.
Suggested Tools for initiating Wellbeing Conversations in Organisations:
Coaching conversations become meaningful when supplemented with the use of relevant tools. Brainstorming on the varied dimension of Corporate Wellbeing, led to the evolution of two tools which have as their basis tried and tested Coaching tools. The first tool we introduced is based on the GROW model and looks at Optimizing for Performance. “WE GROW” adds the dimensions of Wellbeing and embedding an environment which fosters wellbeing as the key to performance.
The second tool is based on the popular Wheel which is often used in Coaching. The Corporate Wellbeing Wheel was designed keeping in mind the areas which most seem to impact this space.
The idea behind this wheel like any other wheel is to get the client to identify which area they need to work on. This can be facilitated with individuals or teams.
The necessity of Wellbeing conversations in organisations is a reality and organisations today are integrating this understanding into their key processes. Industries across various segments from Government bodies to Multi-National Companies are recognising and appreciating the need for Coaching interventions as part of their Wellbeing agenda.
We invite readers to participate in the Corporate Wellbeing Survey (link in sources below). We are still working in this area and would love to receive your responses to the same. We are also happy to share that Kingstown College have researched and designed an Internationally Accredited Diploma in Corporate Well-Being Coaching which holds the prestigious QualityAssurance Award from the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). This Diploma is an ideal accreditation for champions of well-being in their workplace who would like to gain an accreditation in this space.
Sources
1. Wellbeing – A strategy and a responsibility, The Rise of the Social Enterprise – 2018 Deloitte Global Human Trends
2. Link to Corporate Wellbeing Survey
3. Millenials Are Burning Out – Ryan Pendell , July 19, 2018, Gallup Essays
4. People Managers Guide to Mental Health , September 2018, CIPD
(1.) The ROSE Model was created by Paula King and covers the elements of Reason to Exist, Optimism, Self-Identity and Empowerment.
