Well-being as the fuel for thriving: Part 1 - Humanizing Business Series

The Humanizing Business Series (The HBS), by The Nomalanga Tribe offers leadership insights that mature understanding of the “business and human” relationship in the pursuit of shared value. We offer a new framework that guides and reimagines the role of the C-suite leading regenerative and responsible businesses of the future.

Introduction

A lot has happened since the words “humanizing business” came to me right in the middle of the pandemic in 2020. The first part of the HBS titled “An Introduction: Tapping into human energy to allow business to thrive” had come from the personal conviction that work does not have to be against the energy of a healthy human experience.?As society continues to transform our collective trauma, post the pandemic - it is also not a coincidence that cases of inequity, injustice, gender-based violence, mental health and other social ills are being exposed. The subsequent organizational behavior now under the new guises such as ‘quiet quitting’ or 'the great resignation' all point to the long standing decay in employee engagement efforts and the need to shift wellness at work from an outcome to manage for, to a business strategy for regenerative productivity.

A healing revolution is upon us. It is happening at many levels of our experience at home and at work. Life-work integration has been the new approach for addressing wellness at work, where a holistically well life is seen as the priority, that impacts our ability to thrive at work and other spheres of your life. This is an evolution from employee assistant programs, work-life balance interventions, and even work-life integration. Life-work integration at a personal level is about improving our ability to respond, regulate, and regenerate the many aspects of life. When we are okay to acknowledge that we are unable to respond or cope, is when we begin to plant the intention to heal.

In the last three years, I’ve gone through my fair share of unfortunate experiences like family death, grief and loss, a mental health crisis of two, and being a statistic of 'the great resignation'. I learnt the hard way that to be fully human in business and other spaces I care about, involves me being well enough to respond and cope. I found myself struggling to cope with not just the major stressors mentioned above, but also the micro-stresses that came in waves, accumulating to my very own diagnosis of General Anxiety Disorder. And nothing sets the alarm on in a shrink's life, when another shrink diagnoses you. Waking up with crippling anxiety like a heavy brick on your chest everyday, was not okay. The always on culture, office politics, lamenting over your fading purpose, burn out while feeling like you are always catching up, was not normal. This was not the life I signed up for. I am a complete human being, and have the right to a healthy work environment that acknowledge my humanness. Something or someone needed to change, and the variable I can always control, is myself. I started paying attention to my daily routine and the micro choices I made, which would either give energy, or deplete energy from me. When I started making choices that gave energy back to me, I found that well-being was the outcome of a series of choices I made every day. This article continues the Humanizing Business Series by putting holistic well-being as a collective strategy for thriving. It stresses the business case for well-being interventions, and raises the importance of these interventions being Africanized and relevant healthcare for African people.

Holistic thriving in the digital equity era

“A critical first step is changing how we define health from just the absence of disease to a broad, holistic approach that accounts for physical, mental, social, and spiritual health, as well as all of the influencing factors that affect health—personal attributes, personal behaviors, interventions, environmental attributes” Thus the “Well-being as fuel" approach requires us to seek a broader way of viewing wellbeing. For Nelson Mandela Day 2022, our global “Tribe of healers”, hosted by The Nomalanga Tribe engaged in a public conversation that busted some wellness myths to reimagine the value of well-being to first ourselves, and secondly the spaces we occupy and influence (our families, organisations, community, government etc.). We learn the historical roots of wellness of employee assisted programs as a response to managing the spread of diseases at work. And inspire the shift needed today that wellbeing is the basis of a healthy, contributing workforce and citizenship. There is a lot of opportunity to educate the world of business and other parts of society on the rise mental health issues like anxiety, depression, ADHD, Bipolar and many order disorders that affect our ability to thrive. Listen to the panel conversation here .

Healthcare is relevant only to the extent that it enables people to live fully—to build relationships, work or volunteer, and contribute to society while also enjoying pursuits. While this statement sounds quite aspirational, some argue that the speed and scale of the global response to COVID-19, demonstrated that with crisis, the right resources and motivation, scientific breakthroughs and large-scale behavior change can happen quickly and globally. And while technology has already significantly disrupted industries such as travel, transport and banking, the healthcare industry has typically lagged behind in this regard, but that is about to change. I am currently excited to tap into the Telehealth, digital health, online therapies, which are aggressively changing the structure of the business model when it comes to healthcare. Covid–19 further accelerated changes is healthcare with the democratization of healthcare in a remote world taking center stage. Access to healthcare is a basic human right but in many parts of the world much work still needs to be done to make this a reality. Fortunately, technology has the power to accelerate this process, and the challenge to design digital healthcare platforms that are relevant to all populations. Specifically, the power of mobile phones, and the ubiquitous nature of them, can help erase physical boundaries and enable care at the palm of your hand that could be scaled with ease.

A spotlight on workplace health: “The business case”

The prioritizing of health as the starting point in humanizing business, is a shift that future ready organizations are recently investing in. The McKinsey group for example recently opened a Health Institute commissioned to “adding years to life and life to years”. Tom Latvian, one of three leaders of Mckinsey Health Institute asserts that humanity could add as much as 45 billion extra years of higher-quality life (roughly six years per person on average—and significantly more in some countries and populations). And I believe him.?Africa is the second largest well-being market opportunity in the world, & Telehealth is growing 38 times since the pandemic.

A recent publication by Deloitte, shows new insights on wellbeing, particularly for executive leaders, who are often excluded from most wellness interventions. The insights suggest that most companies now recognize the need to invest more in the holistic health of their employees. Most people noted that right now (including a whopping 87% of executives), improving their wellbeing is even more important to them than progressing their career (well I can definitely write a whole book about that).? Apparently, nearly 70% of the C-suite are seriously considering quitting for a job that better supports their well-being. Another interesting stat was the misguidance and misrepresentation nature of employee wellbeing data. Deloitte argues that executives are significantly overestimating how well their employees are doing and how supported they feel by their leaders, despite struggling with well-being themselves, including making time to prioritize personal health. To this end, organizational transparency around workforce well-being is also growing in importance, 55% of employees and 77% of executives believe companies should be required to publicly report their workforce well-being metrics. With intention and the right expertise, this can easily fall into ESG reporting of companies that aim to lead their businesses responsibly. One of the tools that would help the C-suite is executive training masterclasses that reframe our focus on matters of health and a sober assessment on how they affect business. A few years ago I wrote an article arguing that Leaders are human too. This means that despite their high paying titles giving them positional power, leaders are not immune to the full human experience at work. My recent work coaching leaders on life-work integration has further emphasized the importance of purpose-driven leaders in the workplace that are comfortable in their own skin and conscious about self-healing.

I know the folks who are still reading this article are pretty smart, and I am sure you have figured it out already, but here’s the business case for health, especially in Africa. A strong focus on well-being is critical for employee and executive retention. The long-term success of many organizations may depend on whether they can rise to the challenge of addressing workforce well-being, given that 57% of employees said they may soon quit for a more supportive job. That means that at a given point, you have more than half of your staff who will leave for health reasons. The health-savvy executive appreciates that decisions relating to well-being can have a significant impact on the culture of the organization, the way in which work gets done, and the people and places beyond the organization’s four walls. Occupied by high attrition, only a few companies have attempted to address the underlying cultural issues that can affect well-being at work. The devil is in the detail. We hope that if we close our eyes long enough, the big elephant in the room will disappear. Any good Psychologist can map the road to “The Great Resignation” from low morale, languishing, the “go slow”, rise in sick leaves, plummeting engagement scores, low job satisfaction, quiet quitting etc. This is not a sudden problem, it is quite slow and unfolding.

Why does Africa matter in the well-being discourse?

Well firstly, Africa is the youngest continent in the world. While population growth remains high on the African continent, it’s interesting to note that in many other parts of the world (for example Japan, China and most of the EU), there has been a dramatic decline in population growth. To what degree do these health stats often from studies done in the Global North represent realities in the global South? Most people who have read my work know how I feel about the integrated nature of culture, leadership, and wellbeing. For leadership development to make sense it needs to be relevant to the context in which it is done. For culture transformation to be successful, it needs to be inclusive of?the diversity of people involved. Newer well-being studies are showing the link between well-being and cultural or contextual realities like socioeconomic status, regional development, culture drivers, and the like. So in Africa, for example, our ongoing battle with unemployment might not lead to a massive resignation for the lower and middle class who depend on their jobs to survive. Instead, clients in South Africa will cite issues such as low morale, disengagement, toxic work environments which point to an increasingly disgruntled workforce. Those that have the privilege to leave for “better work experience” still carry a sense of languishing that the problem usually remains the same regardless of organization.?Those that stay are wondering if life is better elsewhere. A few are fully present to the moment and able to look at the broader Ubuntu question that asks "What is the purpose of all this, and how can I play a supportive role in restoring us back to what really matters?" I would think our well-being, and that of our family and loved ones, including that of the places we work and belong to, should be top priority. Some futurists go to the extent of suggesting that a closer measure of a successful organization will be the holistic well-being metric.

Not so long ago I asked the Chief People Officer of a large Fortune 500 global firm “If we are inspired to bring our whole selves to work, does the soul or the spiritual self of a human, have room in the workplace?” (I know, the things that go on in my mind are kind of wild… but stay with me for a second). As an organizational behaviorist, I pay attention to how an organization behaves and navigates through different contextual realities. I remember studying an organization as it went through difficult times. I found it peculiar when I saw top leaders decide to pray in the boardroom. We all know that it is almost taboo to mention God at work. And here was a team of executive leaders coming from very diverse religious backgrounds, to pray for the success of the company they belong to and care about. The topic of spiritual wellness (especially for the African child) is an article on its own. I won’t go there now, but the message I want to land is that context is key. Steve Biko speaks about the need for a psychological revolution in South Africa that not only supports the spirit of the black person to just survive, but transcends mental slavery and anguish, so that they can participate in their own healing. This is a calling for wellness solutions especially around mental health, to be informed by representative data, solutions tailored to our unique realities; such as a re-education of success and thriving in the context of being holistically well, addressing the stigma of mental health as a real disease, and digital platforms that welcome alternative healing that is indigenous to South Africa.

Our well-being Offering: The birth of Our Nomalanga Journey

The Nomalanga Tribe was founded on the belief that it takes one person who is conscious about healing self, to inspire an entire ecosystem towards thriving. In other words, it is healthy people that co-create healthier ecosystems that can outlive them. As leaders, we should all be vulnerable enough to share how we thrive in our work and role model how we nurture our well-being. Regenerative solutions will not come in once a year mental health days but daily reminders that can be imbedded in our routine of getting work done. We will also not solved wellness through once off workshops or wellness events, these are great starting points especially to get an assessment of where you are, but ongoing coaching both at an individual and group levels should be baked into these interventions so that we help the system exercise the holistic wellness muscle, and overtime build a culture of what 'thriving' means for them at a personal, team, and organizational level.

Our life-work integration coaching for leader wellness has been designed over 20 months of inner work and scientific development of our very own 12 Oasis of Well-being framework which acts as a blueprint for what we offer under wellness. This includes:

1. The HumanFuel Intelligence Questionnaire: A self report individual assessment for energy management, which we tested with a group of leaders at KFC Africa
2. Our Nomalanga Journey, a leader's journal book to reflect on self-healing, self-discovery, and self- leadership at a personal level for ongoing year long guide that can be supported through monthly group sessions
3. 12 week Signature Journey for groups which includes a walk in nature, 2 masterclasses on work integration and energy management. This is popular amongst newly appointed Executives and Senior Managers who seek to set a new tone for their teams, and can be tailored.
4. Access to our Nomalanga App which is in phase 2 of building a "Psychological First-aid kit" that offers healing through various online therapies that borrow from ancient healing techniques, and a global health practitioners who are available on phone, text, or video call.

Concluding remarks?

• There’s been a notable power shift over the past few years, with workers demanding more from their employers than ever before and companies scrambling to adapt their employee value proposition to avoid a looming talent shortage.?
• Health-savvy executives have the ability to turn things around and reimagine well-being for themselves and for them to set new wellness standards for their people. It is important that we all see ourselves as ambassadors of a healthy environment.
• Needless to say, in today’s increasingly remote workplace there’s much more overlap between people’s personal and professional lives and the boundaries here continue to blur. Having a healthy daily routine helps to align our energy to well-being regardless of context.
• What I have learnt as a healer is that our body, mind, hearts, and souls are interconnected in how we heal, and it starts with breathwork. As we give room for breathing more intentionally, we invite more well-being in, and this can be felt and experienced by those we live and work with.

Remember to breathe where you are,

The Doctor of Joy

To quote this article: Ntetha, S.J. 2022. Well-being as the fuel for thriving. Part Two: Humanizing Business Series. Free Chapter Introduction. The Nomalanga Tribe

Email:?

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