A Well-Being Approach to Leadership Development
Work is a major contributor to well-being. Your leaders influence the well-being of everyone on their teams. So those leaders become an important part of the conversation, too.
That's why I'm so excited to have well-being strategist Loretta Turner as my guest today. We’re exploring how you can take a well-being approach to leadership development.
Listen to the episode or scroll down to read the blog post ↓
Key Points:
03:21 Loretta’s career journey and unique background in the wellness and well-being sector
06:55 The meaning of a well-being approach to leadership development
10:17 The challenge with traditional leadership development
14:24 Outcomes of a well-being approach to leadership development
17:55 One way to make your leadership development more well-being focused
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A Well-Being Approach to Leadership Development
When you think about well-being, what comes to mind?
Is it exercise?
Maybe it's eating healthy?
Or maybe it's even getting enough sleep?
All of these things are part of well-being. So what does well-being have to do with work?
Gallup has discovered five categories of well-being: career, social, financial, physical, and community. When we broaden our focus to include all five categories, suddenly, work becomes a major factor of well-being.
Your leaders influence the well-being of everyone on their teams. So those leaders become an important part of the conversation.
That's why I'm so excited to have well-being strategist Loretta Turner on the podcast to explore how you can take a well-being approach to leadership development.
Loretta is a San Diego-based, ICF accredited leadership coaching and well-being strategist. Her mission is to enrich the well-being of individuals and organizations that strive to do good and create more positive impact in their communities. With over a decade of experience in the nonprofit and wellness sectors, Loretta brings a mindful, people-centered, and mission-driven approach to her coaching, facilitation, and consulting work.
In this blog post, we’re covering the following:
1) A Well-Being Approach to Leadership Development
Loretta explains that a well-being approach to leadership development can mean a lot of things. And it can mean different things to different people and organizations.
“It's ultimately taking a holistic and equitable approach to developing people and developing entire teams. A well-being approach to leadership development really recognizes that people's well-being directly impacts their work. It directly impacts our ability to lead and work effectively with others.” - Loretta Turner
Loretta furthers this by saying that well-being based leadership goes beyond the traditional view of leadership development. While traditional leadership development historically focuses on skills and competencies, a well-being approach is more flexible.
“A well-being approach is more flexible, and it really expands into conversations that are centered in self-awareness, equity, stress management, emotional intelligence, emotional resilience, feelings of belonging, and ultimately realizing that good leadership includes knowing how to care for your soul, for your body, for your heart and your mind.” - Loretta Turner
Loretta shares her personal leadership philosophy with us.
“Leadership isn't what you do, or how much money you make, or where you fall on the org chart. Leadership is who you are. If who we are at the core is unwell, then that's going to impact how we lead. If we're not caring for ourselves and not doing the intrapersonal work to know ourselves and know our habits and the way we operate as individual systems, then that completely impacts who we are and how we lead at work.” - Loretta Turner
In a lot of the coaching and facilitation that Loretta does, she rarely talks about specific leadership styles or management skills.
“Instead, we're talking about who we are as people. We're talking about our lived experiences and how we can develop the right habits and the right skill sets of well-being so that we can lead from a place of wholeness and authenticity and ultimately a healthy place.” - Loretta Turner
2) The Challenges of Traditional Leadership Development
Loretta points out that the skills and competencies that are taught in traditional leadership development are needed and can be fundamental to those who are brand new to leadership. The challenges emerge when we just focus on that as leadership development.
“I think we just get too narrow-minded. I feel like we lack opportunities to expand our thinking and learning of what leadership development looks like because we're operating historically in places that have no flexibility.” - Loretta Turner
When Loretta first started learning about leadership styles, she was frustrated at the idea that she had to identify with just one of them.
“I just felt like all of my life experiences and all of my intersecting identities were somehow narrowed into a set of skills and competencies. And it just felt like a disservice to who I was and what I was really capable of.” - Loretta Turner
Another challenge of traditional leadership development that Loretta points out is that it has historically been focused on preparing individuals for specific roles rather than actually understanding the whole person, developing who they are, and the potential of who they might become.
“Traditional leadership development has offered people such limited options on how they can and cannot develop into who they authentically are. I have felt like I've only been allowed to go to certain conferences or only allowed to learn a certain skill that's critical for my job, or I'm only allowed to take a certain training just as long as I promise that it's going to support my organization in enhancing our KPIs.” - Loretta Turner
Loretta explains that while these things are helpful and important, they can dismiss the bigger picture.
“Leadership is about who we are and we shouldn't be so focused on what we do and how we can do it better and how we can do more of it.” - Loretta Turner
In Loretta’s opinion, a well-being approach to leadership development should go beyond the traditional menu of development options.
“I think leadership development should include opportunities that are not just about learning but instead giving people opportunities to heal. Whether it be a mini-sabbatical, sending folks on a restorative retreat, or giving people permission to use their professional development to restore themselves and support their nervous systems.” - Loretta Turner
3) The Outcomes of a Well-Being Approach to Leadership Development
Loretta explains that there is still some stigma and boundaries around the work that she does.
“A well-being approach to leadership development is still very much leadership development. And it comes with a lot of the benefits that we want to see in our employees and on our teams. We can see people becoming more engaged, we can see culture shifting, and we can see people feeling more invested in their work and more willing to show up fully.“ - Loretta Turner
But the outcomes go much deeper than traditional leadership development Loretta explains.
“These leadership development opportunities help people tap into excitement, joy, fulfillment, and just a sense of possibility. Rather than I think historically, I've seen people feel a little resentful and dissatisfied with how they were encouraged to lead versus helping to inform the process on how they would want to be developed instead.” - Loretta Turner
Loretta furthers this by saying that she sees organizations benefit from their people becoming more self-aware and connected to themselves.
“As a result, that means you have better and more effective leaders who are leading from a more authentic and more self-aware place. When you commit to well-being based leadership, you're giving people more choice on how they want to be developed. And I think as a result of that, people will perform better. People feel like they have more autonomy, they feel more empowered to make decisions, and people can better articulate who they are, what their needs are, and how they are aligned with an organization. And then as a result of that, you can retain people for longer, and you can reduce burnout while increasing engagement.” - Loretta Turner
Loretta explains that this is a way to shift the culture of your company.
“If you have an entire team of people who know that they can invest in their well-being for the purpose of becoming more whole, more rested, and more well-resourced, then in my mind, you have a kick-ass team that's willing to work more collaboratively with one another and willing to show up more fully and more energetically. So it's a win all around.” - Loretta Turner
4) One Way to Make Your Current Leadership Development Program More Well-Being Focused
Loretta says that the one thing you can do to make your current leadership development program more well-being focused is to stay curious and ask people what they need.
She also emphasizes reframing situations. For example, a professional development budget is limited which means you have to make the best use out of it.
“In our eyes, you making the best use of those dollars means that you're going to get better at your job, you're going to learn some new skills, and you're going to pick from our menu of this one size fits all approach. I think we have to pivot away from that and start to reframe this as this organization values you, we value who you are, and we value all that you bring to your work. We want to invest in your growth in a way that you see fit so that you can become more well-rounded, happier, fulfilled, and more aligned because we know that when you can step into that you're going to do better things and bigger things for our organization.” - Loretta Turner
Loretta furthers this by saying that while you can still have boundaries to what professional development is and isn’t, it’s an opportunity to stay curious and ask what people need.
“If you're willing to have a more innovative professional development program in place it's helpful to expose people to the potential impact that these entities can have in their lives. I can't tell you how many people I've seen on staff who just never use their professional development funds. And I don't know if that's because the options are unappealing or limited, or if they just haven't been informed about the ways that they can use those funds to better their lives.” - Loretta Turner
Well-being at work is crucial. If you want some more information on this, check out some of my other episodes:
Episode 38: Dealing with Corporate Burnout? One Easy Way to Manage Stress as a Nonprofit Leader with Jessie Pagliari
Episode 30: Why Well-Being Is The Secret Sauce to Change Management with Mandy Sharp Eizinger
To hear the full conversation I had with Loretta Turner on the Learning for Good Podcast, scroll all the way up and tune into episode 67.
The Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective
Do you wish you could connect with other nonprofit learning and development leaders?
I know what it feels like to want someone to bounce ideas off of and to learn from, someone who really understands you and your work. Imagine if you could have a simple way to meet people in the field, ask questions, and share information.
That's why I created the Nonprofit Learning and Development Collective – so nonprofit L&D, talent management, and DEI leaders can connect with each other quickly and easily in a virtual space.
When you join this community, you will walk away with a new, diverse, and powerful network – and a sounding board for your staff development needs.
So if you're ready to exchange ideas and collaborate with your peers, come join the Nonprofit L&D Collective.
