by Wellness Council of Wisconsin
Change is inevitable, and we accept change and the accompanying challenges through our resilience. Growth is born from creativity and innovation and the continuous desire to be better. Employers who cherish the growth and development of their employees are directly supporting their wellbeing.
Companies value qualities in their employees such as perseverance, effort, commitment, passion, and resilience. When employees exude these types of qualities, businesses are more successful. But it’s not enough to simply place value in these qualities – organizations must cultivate a culture and atmosphere in which their people can develop and prosper. WCWI posits that cherishing the growth of your people is actually in direct support of their overall wellbeing. When opportunities of growth, development, and accomplishment are abundantly provided and supported in the work culture - people flourish.
Let’s breakdown the elements of this guiding principle:
We understand that our experiences in life are inseparable from how we show up in our work. And we know that we will experience challenge in work and life, but we view it as a means to grow. We acknowledge that resilience is an essential skill that supports our ability to evolve and we willingly practice this skill as we encounter trials and hardships. Change is one of the only constants and cherishing growth is the way through it.
We encourage a growth mindset in ourselves and in the culture for our people. And we actively support psychological safety - ensuring that all feel comfortable to speak up with ideas, questions, concerns, and mistakes (Edmonson, 2014). We commit to nurturing peoples’ potential because the process of trying and growing (even if we fail sometimes) makes us all better. Carol Dweck, Stanford Professor and Researcher on Mindset Theory shares, “the passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (and especially) when it’s not going well is the hallmark of a growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive in challenging times.”
WCWI attribute insights from the PERMA Theory of Wellbeing, researched and developed by Dr. Martin Seligman, to make the connection between growth and wellbeing. The PERMA Theory answers the difficult question: ‘what is wellbeing and what enables it?’ According to PERMA Theory, one of the building blocks that enables wellbeing is Accomplishment: the ability to set, work toward, and ultimately achieve goals. Innately to accomplish or achieve, we must grow and develop. And therefore, when employers prioritize the growth of their people, they are prioritizing the wellbeing of their people.
*the original PERMA Theory included five building blocks, in recent years, the model was revised to PERMAH to include a sixth building block.
Action 1: Take inventory of your own growth potential as a wellbeing strategist by assessing your strengths and gaps in knowledge, skill, and ability. Your commitment to cherishing your own growth will guide your learning, development, and action as a wellbeing strategist and change-maker. Committing to your own intentional and practiced development of competencies and skills will stretch you to flourish in your work.
Action 2: Nudge your company towards a growth mindset culture. Dweck’s Mindset Theory outlines the main attributes that create a growth-mindset environment in the workplace:
Action 3: Connect your organization’s learning, development, and employee success efforts to your employee wellbeing strategy.
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