Anese Cavanaugh

Is Your Organization Healthy? In Every Sense of the Word?

We think of physical and emothional health when we think of health in general but there is also the organization health -- the health of the whole organization.

When people think of health, they tend to think of physical and emotional health. Energy, vitality, healthy eating, exercise, etc. are all very important things and something that I've been integrating into my leadership work with execs for years. But there's also the "organizational health" --- the health of the whole organization.

Of course there's the physical component and benefits - less lost time, injuries, health care costs, etc. but there's also the mental, spiritual and leadership component. Creating a healthy organization means not only that you're attending to your own health, and your employees' health, but also to the health of your organization as a whole, its spirit, and relationships.

A couple of ways to do this include (and note that many of these cross into the other areas):

Creating healthy leadership through:

·         Healthy communication

·         Telling the truth

·         Creating trust in the environment for productive feedback

·         Direct engagement

·         Clear roles

·         Linking people's roles to the bottom line so they're bought in in a healthy manner

Creating healthy people by:

·         Doing things that support on-site wellness

·         Truly creating environments and mindsets that support them in taking care of themselves so they're the best instrument of change

·         Valuing - truly valuing - and walking the talk of a healthy culture (that means you and your leadership team are on board here - doing the work too - modeling the behaviors and beliefs that create healthy leadership and support a healthy environment)

·         Matching people up with the right roles

·         Creating, sharing and supporting helpful and productive beliefs

Creating healthy energy by:

·         Supporting people in honoring the "my business, your business, God's business" rule

·         Paying attention to the energy of the individual, team and organization

·         Nurturing and creating space and support for congruency in each individual

·         Creating a clear vision and values for your team and organization (and even before that, supporting each person to have their own vision and values clarified.)

·         Managing energy vs. time to create the greatest level of productivity and happiness for each person.

When you take a look at some of these and decide to make a conscious effort around raising the bar on 1, 2 or all of them, you'll find that the focus and energy around creating a healthy organization will go up. It doesn't take a lot - just one person to set the intention, decide and act can create ripple effects (as we all know!)

So, again, if you knew that shifting your attention and focus and doing something (even little) everyday would have a significant impact on your health and the health of your organization, now, a week from now, a month from now, and even more so a year from now, would you do it? I'll bet you would. Think about it, the beliefs that you hold today impact the decisions and behaviors you make tomorrow which all impacts what you have a year from now. Ready? Go!

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