10 People You Should Know in the World of Wellbeing: Kate Flowerdew from THRIVE

Inevitably when I have conversations about wellbeing and leadership in the workplace, the word 'resilience' comes up, with mixed feelings I might add. So I am excited to let Kate Flowerdew debunk the topic in this chapter of my 10 People You Should Know series! I think the concept is essential to making the modern workplace more sustainable and it often gets a bad rap when not clearly defined.

Thanks to the power of networking via LinkedIn, Kate and I crossed paths at the back end of last year. When we spoke about our shared passions in the world of wellbeing, I immediately knew: She 'gets it'. Kate has a background in nutrition, business coaching, neuro-linguistic programming, and recruitment/talent development. This well-rounded clinical and business skill set positioned her to set up independently as a Wellbeing Coaching Specialist who supports organisations to increase their impact and performance through investing in the wellbeing of their employees. 

So, what is resilience exactly? Kate explains:

"To me, resilience is about being equipped to deal with all the challenges that life throws at us, inside and outside of work. It’s about being able to persevere even through challenging times. I don’t believe it’s an endurance test, it’s more about having the right strategy in place to recharge sufficiently, ensuring we have the energy and means to be at our best. 

I think there can be a negative connotation when people talk about building resilience in the workplace. When employers use the word ‘resilience’, employees often hear extra work, tighter deadlines, more stress and pressure. If it’s only communicated as a business directive, for example to reduce costs and improve efficiency, it’s not surprising that employees feel they aren’t being supported, valued or equipped. Instead they feel over-worked, stressed and potentially even questioning job security.

The reality is that in today’s competitive market both organisations and employees at all levels need resilience in order to thrive. If organisations can position it so everyone understands the benefits, building resilience should absolutely enhance wellbeing rather than detract from it". 

(Image credit to THRIVE)

Kate developed her own Resilience Model featured above to provide a structure for supporting people to address it holistically. According to Kate:

"The Resilience Model was designed with a proactive approach to developing physical, mental and social wellbeing, equipping individuals to adapt, innovate and rise to the challenges faced inside and outside of the workplace. There’s no shortage of evidence from consulting houses and business schools around the globe supporting the theory that organisations investing in the wellbeing of their employees and embedding a people-focus into their culture, return on their investment through a boost in organisational performance and wellbeing. Further reading to support: 1. The case for linking employee wellbeing and productivity and 2. Workplace wellbeing programmes and their impact on employees and their employing organisations: A scoping review of the evidence base.

In terms of the specific strategies within the Resilience Model, there are five core components that I’ve developed, each with a strong empirical foundation:

UNWIND & SLEEP

Most of us already know how much better we feel after a good night’s sleep and may have experienced the negative impact of disrupted sleep. Harvard Medical School’s Division of Sleep Medicine is a great resource for anyone who is interested in looking at the topic of sleep in more detail:

The Unwind & Sleep chapter is essential to the Resilience Model if we want to be at our best. Physically, we can feel uncoordinated and more prone to accidents when we’re tired. Over a longer period, lack of sleep can also impact our immune system and even lead to chronic illness. Mentally, we can experience low mood and anxiety even after one bad night, and we may also struggle to make good decisions because our judgement can be impaired. Not getting the recommended 7 to 9 hours sleep per night clearly doesn’t position us to be in a state of optimum wellbeing and performance. Further reading to support: 1. Sleep deprivation can affect your mental health, 2. Sleep and Disease Risk, and 3. How sleep threatens your health.

Research by Horizons Workforce Consulting with more than 4,000 working adults in 2015 identified: ‘Poor sleepers are significantly less resilient and optimistic and more stressed than good sleepers. Lack of sleep has a major impact on employees’ overall performance at work and quality of life. Although previously thought of as an issue outside of the realm of concern for employers, sleep is an issue employers need to address in order to improve employee well-being and their bottom line’.

Whilst the Unwind & Sleep workshops have been designed to inform and educate on the benefits of sleep and risks when we don’t sleep enough, there is also a strong focus on building a proactive, practical action plan. This means we spend a lot of time exploring a long list of Sleep Hygiene tools and techniques that enhance the unwinding process and set us up for a good night’s sleep. One of these techniques is the practice of Mindfulness, which is a fantastic way to switch off, slowing both a racing mind and heart, and can even help with insomnia. Further reading to support: 1. How mindfulness improves sleep and 2. Mindfulness Meditation and Improvement in Sleep Quality and Daytime Impairment Among Older Adults With Sleep Disturbances.

DIET & NUTRITION

These days it’s hard to avoid the argument that a balanced diet packed with fresh, nutrient-rich, unprocessed foods can boost our health both physically and mentally, and the evidence is most definitely there to support this. This is just a short list of many articles and studies exploring and supporting the link between good nutrition for performance and productivity in the workplace, and for our wellbeing more broadly: 1. Nutritional psychiatry: Your brain on food, 2. Food and mood: Is there a connection?, 3. The link between food and mental health, 4. What you eat affects your productivity, and 5. Depression: the nutrition connection.

It stands to reason if we want to take a proactive and preventative approach to building resilience we need to provide ourselves with the best quality fuel that we can to feel physically and mentally capable. In my experience, so many employees are running on empty and simply not getting sufficient levels of nutrients to thrive. Instead, it’s common practice to reach for processed convenience foods and high sugar snacks that set blood sugar levels on a roller coaster ride, leading to energy dips, poor focus and ill health. Once again, the idea of the Resilience Model is to inform participants on the latest research and help each to identify the best approach for themselves, as part of their personalised action plan.  

LIFESTYLE & RECREATION

Evidence supports the argument that employees need sufficient time and opportunity to recharge if an organisation wants to succeed in building a resilient workforce. Helping employees understand that their lifestyle and recreational choices have a direct impact on how well they feel and perform is a key step, as is understanding that we each recharge in different ways.

We take a look at a variety of factors and options so that employees can explore and identify activities that would suit them best and help them make lifestyle choices that enable them to thrive. Some of the topics we cover include:

• Understanding the difference between introverts and extroverts and the impact of this on how we restore energy levels and find balance again
• How making time for creative hobbies can be incredibly restorative and health promoting
• The pros and cons of socialising, including the impact of eating out and high alcohol intake on our health (and performance at work the next day)
• Why it’s crucial to include physical activity and how to choose activities that suit our personal requirements and time allocation
• The benefits of connecting with and recharging in nature
• Why mindfulness is such a great technique for boosting our wellbeing
• How mindfulness can also be used at work to recharge throughout the day (ie. a practical tool that doesn’t have to mean meditating in a quiet room)

Whilst the plan of action will be different for everyone, the point we drive home is that building resilience and wellbeing relies upon finding time to fully switch off and restore our batteries. Whilst employers can play a part in providing flexibility, promoting breaks and encouraging people to switch off outside of work, this chapter of the Resilience Model really reinforces the point that ultimately the accountability for recharging sits with the individual. 

PASSION & PURPOSE

This chapter is largely founded on the evidence base of Positive Psychology. In the workshops we explore how the theories and techniques from this field of science can be used to develop a proactive tool kit for resilience and wellbeing. The following articles and links are just a few examples of the theories and principles we cover: 1. Ramp up your resilience!, 2. Positive Psychology Theory, and 3. Resilience Skills, Factors and Strategies of the Resilient Person.

COACHING FOR RESILIENCE

Whilst coaching does not occur as a chapter of its own, coaching tools and techniques underpin the Resilience Model and feature extensively within each workshop. The tools and techniques help participants identify with what’s meaningful to them personally, apply that to their own action plan and take accountability for the outcomes they choose as part of the goal setting process. There is plenty of research to outline the benefits of coaching, including developing resilience, and the following article and study provide an insight: 1. Coaching for resilience and 2. NHS Leadership Academy: Coaching for Resilience".

Kate is especially passionate about the power of coaching to build resilience. She comments:

"I started my career as a manager in a highly competitive and targeted sales environment and I had a coach to achieve various personal and professional goals. I found the process really empowering and I wanted to learn the coaching process to improve how I supported my team and the people I mentored. After completing a short introductory course, I knew it was the start of a new career path for me, I just wanted to learn everything I could about coaching – it felt like a calling! I completed a two-year Masters in Business Coaching, took on my own coaching clients and moved into a Learning and Development role (which has more recently evolved to Performance and Wellbeing within my own business).

My coaching style is very much founded on the principles of Positive Psychology so strengths and solutions-focused coaching feature extensively in my practice. I also find mindfulness and visualisation techniques incredibly useful for a lot of my clients too.

The main reason why I think coaching is so important when it comes to building resilience is because it’s so individual. Fundamentally coaching empowers and equips people – they usually have the answers but often don’t see them because they’re stuck in the problem. The coaching process provides them with the opportunity to explore their own ideas and choose the options that feel right – this in itself builds accountability and helps people to get the outcomes they desire. It’s very different to being told what to do".

Curious about where you can start to understand your resilience? To close I'll share Kate's top tips for individuals and businesses alike:

In Kate's words: "Organisations thrive when their people thrive". So, to the business leaders reading this, are you supporting your people to thrive?