Renowned author and management consultant Peter Drucker is known for saying, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
The cultural trends within an organization influence interest in wellness, disease prevention, and better health. So how do you go about affecting company culture to create an environment of healthy and happy employees?
Inquiry creates change. The moment we ask a question, we begin to create a change. Positive questions lead to positive change. Momentum for change requires social bonding. This momentum is best generated through positive questions that amplify the positive concept. This is where you shift to the positive and focus on what’s possible.
“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it. We must learn to see the world anew.” –Albert Einstein
When I experienced “Appreciative Inquiry” for the first time I saw how it inspired and motivated people to work together toward a common outcome and I knew it would be an effective method for helping companies to improve employee well-being.
One of the ways Appreciative Inquiry benefits organizations is that it focuses on opportunities and makes everyone feel valued. The Appreciative Inquiry framework is a 5-step process referred to as the 5 D’s as follows:
- Define the positive topic of choice
- Discover the best of what is
- Dream of what can be
- Design what should be
- Deliver what will be (often referred to as Destiny)
This framework is used to help whole systems move together and is a valuable process to determine what healthy choices would allow your employees to maximize both their workday and their wellness. It would also allow the employees to be heard as to why they are not making healthy choices and what they need to be successful.
While a company might have a workplace wellness program in place, if they do not have a supportive company culture, many employees won’t utilize the program or benefit from it. Appreciative Inquiry inspires a supportive culture and is an optimal method for engaging employees to participate in workplace wellness initiatives. A company’s culture sets the foundation for employee health, happiness and success.
A company culture that promotes health & well-being has a positive impact on company performance. Appreciative Inquiry provides a method to accelerate positive change within your organization. Utilizing Appreciative Inquiry to design and implement an employee wellness program provides the method and resources to create a culture of thriving health and well-being.
A Discovery Session on Appreciative Inquiry into Workplace Wellness entails gathering key staff members and asking them to answer a series of open-ended questions about “the best of what is” (Discovery) and “what could be” (Dream).
The intent of the Discovery Session is for participants to identify together what a thriving culture of health and well-being looks like to them. This also works toward a collective awareness and understanding of each other’s ideas on these topics.
Insight Wellness Works is based in St. Petersburg, Florida, and has been serving employers in Tampa Bay and its surrounding cities since 2010. We have a large team of credentialed wellness professionals offering a variety of workplace wellness services that focus on health promotion and disease prevention. We change lives and transform the culture of health in workplaces. Contact us today to discuss how we can help your business and employees achieve wellness goals.
