What's your WORD for 2022?

I have been toying with dipping my toe in publishing a few LinkedIn articles over the coming year.?I know, welcome to the party, where have I been under a rock??Not especially but, I mean maybe...like so many others I have been slogging through the past few years head down.?

I've been trying new things, I did my first podcast in late 2020, (I know late to the party, again) sharing my perspective on being the "onewomanarmy" the allure, benefit, and pitfalls of leading the Marketing function in growing companies. Most recently my good friend Andrea Johnson shared her TED TALK encouraging us all to come out and #shareyourstory because it could help others. (There will be more on THAT story later but, definitely listen to her talk and share!). All this to say, it’s time to start sharing. So, I want to start with a plug for coaching and wellness strategies on both a personal and business level.

In the fall of 2021, I decided it was time to go back to school-more like time to focus my efforts and do it with support using coaching.?While I have been lucky to have coaching throughout my career, at this particular time, it felt different with a busy consulting business, a non-profit to build, family to care for and the landscape we all find ourselves operating in. I have never felt more in need of having an objective third party to help develop the outcomes I am looking to achieve.

While organizations are doing this more and more and certainly, managers coach teams every day it is not clear why organizations don’t deploy coaches for employees at all organizational levels with more frequency? ?With 88 percent of Fortune 500 companies reporting strong ROI around coaching they deployed as mentioned in this Entrepreneur article we seem to have overlooked this wider opportunity.

Coaching is often seen as an add-on or something reserved for those who are high-performing.?If you’re reading and have had regular access to coaching while at work-I would love to hear more about how effective that has been for you??And what did it take to get access to this??This is one area where MORE is MORE and we can all use MORE in 2022.

So, let’s talk about why now is the time for more coaching at all levels of our organizations and lives in general.?The Great Resignation has seen more than 4 M people leave their jobs and Aon’s 2021 Global Wellness Report found that 82% of businesses consider “wellbeing” essential to business.?The report discusses the importance of physical, social, emotional, work-life (aka career), and financial wellbeing its importance and how to think about incorporating this into strategy development and execution for companies.?Who do we turn to to help us achieve these outcomes in our personal lives??Trainers, online communities, finance professionals??Coaches??Habit change apps with clinicians? Our friends? For many, some combination of the above helps us achieve the wellness outcomes we hope for.?So, why wouldn’t companies do the same?

One recent and helpful exercise, my coach Rochelle Seltzer recommends is asking yourself what is your WORD? Word for the week and for the year, check out a blog post on the subject of the WORD.?

Throughout this process, I have thought about my clients, communities, and organizations in general that are focused on creating organizational wellness for the sake of maintaining, growing, or improving outcomes.

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???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????Source: Aon 2021 Global Wellness Survey

You might be saying that’s great Jenn but, what do these two things have to do with one another.?As I spend time with the companies I coach and consult for, I find myself leaning into both the strategies I mention above-coaching and a focus on organizational wellbeing to help them achieve their goals.?

And Rochelle’s process for setting a WORD for the year is a great exercise to just get started, it can be applied to both individuals and companies looking to be mindful as they build and grow.

In business, we certainly consider words and actions we take as we establish brands and the experience delivered.?So why not begin the year with a WORD that espouses what we hope to create in the year ahead???That growth may come in any of these facets mentioned in the Aon Figure above and to achieve it in today’s fast-paced, ever-changing environment having a WORD or mantra that you OR your employees can get behind tied to delivering wellbeing for your employees, customers and the communities you operate in is an essential practice.?I can think of nothing more necessary as we head into the new year.?

So, if you are leading a team or a company, consider the WORD through the lens of wellbeing you are hoping to achieve to retain and engage your teams.?If you are an individual contri

butor OR invested in your own personal growth and journey, consider a WORD to help you guide your work personally and professionally.

?Some of my clients have without knowing already chosen words, they include focus, growth, flexibility, and responsiveness.??And as for me personally, my word is manifest.?This year, I plan to manifest joy, the buildout of the next chapter of the Community Art Collaborative with my co-founder, Meclina, and our amazing team, success for my clients, and laughter for my family-like so many it’s been an intense and oftentimes fraught few years and humor paired with wellness in the terms addressed above will certainly serve us all well.?

If you’ve read my first LinkedIn Article and you are picking up what I am throwing down here, drop me a comment and let me know what your WORD is; it can be yours personally or for the team you lead? Or for the business, you are building???

Wishing us all the #perseverance to #manifest whatever #wellness you need most in 2022.?

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