Wellness vs Well-Being (5 mins)
Defining Wellness and Well-Being
What’s the difference between wellness and well-being?
We are asked this question a lot. It’s worthy of attention because as Bob Procter says when we become aware of something we have the chance to change it. Change gives us the opportunity to grow and expand and experience a more fulfilling and satisfying life.
We also know that Cognitive Behavioral Therapy tells us that our emotions drive our thoughts, which drive our behaviors, which drives our experience, and that drives our emotions, drives our thoughts, drives our behaviors, drives our experience… you get the picture.
Understanding “well-being” and “wellness” definitions is the first step to being able to determine what works for us each individually. We can then start to consider what we want in our life and make changes accordingly. It is then from this understanding we can explore what well-being in business means.
Wellness
Wellness is a term we are generally more aware and comfortable with. The dictionary defines “wellness” as: the state of being in good health, especially as an actively pursued goal.
Wellness typically refers to physical wellness. In society we’ve become familiar with seeing the term used and referred to in:
Healthcare offerings
Medical care
Doctors surgeries and offices
Physical therapy, osteopathy and the like
Gyms and fitness studios and in physical and virtual classes
Insurance companies and their offerings
Businesses refer to and implement wellness plans with conventional offerings that support physical wellness; healthcare, exercise, diet, food and nutrition services.
Since in society we are so familiar with these references, they’ve become ingrained in our mind, in our awareness, and in our perception, it can be hard to expand the definition when we are so used to something. For example if we all decided to change red traffic lights to a blue color we would all have a hard time with that because we are so familiar and have habits around what to do when we see or experience a red light at a traffic signal.
Even though you will regularly see the terms “wellness” and “well-being” used interchangeably it is helpful to be clear on what we mean when it comes wellness and well-being, and more so for you to define your understanding of both so that you can choose to engage in your life in a way that makes sense for you.
The Global Wellness Institute defines wellness as “as the active pursuit of activities, choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.“. To us, this speaks more completely about well-being and here’s why.
Well-Being
Well-being is defined as: the state of being happy, healthy, or prosperous. Well-being is more encompassing than wellness. It refers to the multiple dimensions that exist and contribute to our overall well-being.
We define well-being for an individual to be:
“the reflection of choices, activities, and lifestyles that lead to balance, not imbalance, in mind, body and spirit.”
There are multiple dimensions that support well-being, and the number of these is a long debated topic. It tends to be somewhere between 5 and 8 dimensions.
The first five dimensions of well-being, as defined in the book Wellbeing The Five Essential Elements by Jim Harter from Gallup are;
Career: How you occupy your time or simply liking what you do every day.
Social: Have strong relationships and love in your life.
Financial: Effectively managing your economic life.
Physical: Have good health and enough energy to get things done on a daily basis.
Community: Your sense of engagement you have with the area where you live.
In order to achieve and experience full and optimized well-being we must experience a strong sense of balance and well-being in each of these areas.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHA) go further, citing 8 dimensions of well-being;
Emotional: Cope effectively with life and creating satisfying relationships.
Spiritual: Expand your sense of purpose and meaning in life. (Gallup also references spirituality separately highlighting that individuals often have a sense of this which drives the five other elements.)
Intellectual: Recognize creative abilities and finding ways to expand knowledge and skills.
Physical: Recognize the need for physical activity, diet, sleep, and nutrition.
Environmental: Achieve good health by occupying pleasant, stimulating environments that support well-being.
Financial: Experience satisfaction with current and future financial situations.
Occupational (similar to “career” as above): Experience personal satisfaction and enrichment derived from one’s work.
Social: Develop a sense of connection, belonging, and a well-developed support system.
SAMHA also refer to these as dimensions of “wellness”, however based on what we have shared above, societal convention and familiarity, the term “well-being” is more encompassing.
At Birch Cove we have gone one step further to define the 8 dimensions for businesses and what that means for the ecosystem of a business.
Business Well-Being
Business well-being is the active creation, management, and operation of an organization that enhances individual well-being, and experiences high performance.
One can not exist without the other in the definition of business well-being.
By consciously pursuing well-being, choosing from the very top that well-being matters, running throughout the ecosystem, strategy and integrating aligned activities, programs, tools, and experiences, an organization enables business and individual well-being.
Counter intuitively, a business investing in individuals’ well-being will experience higher performance, improve productivity, and generate greater revenues.
Our definition of “Business Well-Being” is:
Physical: Create a culture that supports and encourages individuals in balanced practices of physical activity, diet, sleep, and nutrition.
Emotional: Understand how emotions and feelings drive and change business practices, engagement, and growth.
Social: Create a business culture and develop services that build, and foster positive personal connections and relationships among people.
Intellectual: Create the opportunity to foster curiosity and stimulate intellect through different lenses and changing perspectives.
Environmental: Understand that surroundings for living and working make a difference to the well-being of individuals, organizations, industries, communities, and societies.
Spiritual: Encourage, support, and offer opportunities for individuals to explore their own sense of purpose, direction, meaning of life, values and beliefs.
Functional: Create an ecosystem where individuals recognize and develop a sense of satisfaction in their work and role.
Financial: Create an ecosystem that develops self management and accountability for financial success - both personally and organizationally.
In Summary
We all need to experience well-being in our lives, both personally and professionally. Focusing on the expanded understanding of well-being is the first step as this encourages us to consider our lives in a multi-dimensional way. Humans are not simplistic, we experience an incredibly beautiful, complex, and often messy existence. We need frameworks and guidelines to help us navigate our lives to grow, evolve, and find ways to shine brightly. Taking a well-being inventory assessment of how you are experiencing your life allows you to consider what areas you want to make changes in.
In business, by considering and approaching well-being in this way, we can assess the entire ecosystem of a business and consider what elements are missing and how to move into a state of enhancing well-being for individuals that come into contact and interaction with the business from the inside and outside. Achieving balance in business well-being is a fabric choice, it is a business lifetime commitment, and it is not completed by one project or initiative. It is an organizational design choice.
In today’s life existence, people seek businesses that enhance their well-being not reduce it, and to achieve that we have to begin with getting clear on what the definitions mean for us.
Tell us more about your own personal experience of well-being, or what business well-being means for you. Leave us a comment below.
Be well, live intentionally
Birch Cove is not a medical or therapy based business, we do not offer guarantees of any kind. We are not responsible for the well-being of businesses or individuals that read, watch, or hear our content, or take part in sessions, or use our services or the services we highlight. Birch Cove and our Collective members are not responsible for the physical and mental health and well-being of individuals we interact with directly or indirectly. We work to share best practices that inspire healthy living and revitalize a quality of life.