Leadership Freak

One Question and One Commitment that Enhance Well-Being

One question and one commitment have the power to enhance well-being in others.

But first, take a look the five elements of well-being from a Gallup study that represents 98% of the world’s population.

5 Elements of Well-Being:

#1. Career Well-Being – liking what you do.

#2. Social Well-Being – having strong relationships and love in your life.

#3. Financial Well-Being – effectively managing your economic life.

#4. Physical Well-Being – having good health and energy to get things done.

#5. Community Well-Being – having a sense of engagement with the area where you live.

Only 7% thrive in all five. 66% do well in at least one area. Gallup


You impact well-being. You can’t impose well-being.

Leaders create environments that impact all five elements of well-being. Social Well-Being, for example, is impacted by the place you spend half of your waking hours.

People who have a best friend at work are happier, healthier, and 7x as likely to be engaged in their job. HBR

Two factors:

I dug into Gallup’s research because Todd Kashdan PhD, refers to Gallup’s work in his book, “Curious?”.

Todd writes,

“The poll identified two factors that had the strongest influence on how much enjoyment a person experienced in a given day:

  1. being able to count on someone for help
  2. learned something yesterday.”

One question and one commitment:

What are you learning?

Give people opportunity to reflect on what they’re learning because it provides opportunity to enhance well-being. Take the next step and provide opportunities for learning with training, mentoring, or coaching.

You can count on me.

Let your team know you’re rowing with them. Don’t assume they know your commitment. Just say it. “You can count on me.” (Practice your commitment.)

3 Questions that elevate team well-being:

  1. How can we count on each other?
  2. What behaviors should we adopt that communicate our commitment to each other’s success?
  3. What behaviors should we avoid?

How might leaders decrease the well-being of others?

How might leaders enhance the well-being of others?