The Sweet Spot

The key question is not 'am I healthy?'. The key question is 'what will my good health allow me to do?'. Likewise, with workplace well-being. It's not just about ticking boxes and offering wellness support. The key question for any organisation is 'what will the well-being of our employees allow them to do?'

But there's a problem.

According to Business in the Community's report 'Prioritise People: Unlock the Value of a Thriving Workforce' (2023), 'well-being programmes offered by most organizations often fail to drive materials improvements in outcomes... because they fail to address the biggest lever to improve health: negative work behaviours.'

This is the challenge faced by most well-being programmes. It's one thing to invest in education or training, providing employees with proven solutions and remedies. However, if the workplace culture pushes them to work excessive hours, or if toxic behaviours are commonplace, then the solutions will prove to be little more than a sticky plaster.

Another issue to consider is that it takes a lot of dedication and resilience to stick with newly acquired know-how and turn them into habits. So that any well-being intervention needs to be accompanied by strategies to underpin and foster resilience and determination.

And then there's the question of what you expect to achieve from your well-being programme. Less stress, less burnout, fewer absences. Those are low level goals. The ultimate aim of any comprehensive well-being programme should be to take employees on a journey from mental resilience to mental fitness. Arriving mentally sharp at work each day, has a positive impact on performance and productivity. And that, ultimately, should be the goal of a sound well-being programme - to increase wellness so as to drive productivity and maximise performance.

But how to achieve this?

Athletic Minds Innovation has an answer. We take a holistic approach to well-being and combine three key areas that make a lasting contribution:

1. Our trainers from the Athletic Minds Foundation have helped over 100,000 people to grow their mental health by developing a proactive level of mental fitness.

2. We work with world-class athletes who become part of your team and share their insights into resilience and top performance, and allow employees to apply cutting-edge performance techniques from the world of professional sport.

3. Our project managers have years of experienced in the corporate world, leading and shaping corporate culture, transforming workplace behaviour to underpin and reinforce well-being.

Combined into well-being programmes that address all levels in an organisation, this holistic approach reaches a sweet spot that makes a true impact, and drives not only mental well-being, but bridges the gap to impact day-to-day performance and productivity.

So the key question becomes, what can mentally fit employees do in an organisation that is culturally aligned to support their well-being?

And the answer?