The Definition of INCLUDE
- To comprise as part of a whole
- To bring into a group, set or total
- To share in an activity or privilege
TIPS, HINTS & INSPIRATION:
Read June’s article by Renee Moorefield, member of the GWI Advisory Board and CEO of Wisdom Works Group, and learn how to use INCLUDE as a springboard to inspire your participation in the powerful global movement: The Wellness Moonshot: A World Free of Preventable Disease.
Here are a few tips excerpted from the article:
Prioritize an inclusive workplace. Create an environment where people feel welcomed, valued and enabled to make unique contributions at work, plus enjoy a culture of fairness, camaraderie and care. When you put inclusion at the top of your wellness leadership agenda, you humanize work and the workplace.
Hold up a collective mirror. Bring together people who know your organization well and will answer these questions honestly: Who is unheard or undervalued in our organization or team? How much creativity, talent and wisdom are we losing by letting people fall through the cracks? Taking a candid look at how your team is operating is the first step to positive change.
Engage in reverse mentoring. Invite employees from traditionally underrepresented groups to mentor you and your leadership team. Make this a safe relationship in which they can share the organization’s cultural and structural barriers affecting their ability to work well. Approach this relationship with a big dose of humility; it is about listening, adapting and growing your consciousness and capacity for leading wellness.
Nip exclusionary behavior in the bud. Talking over people, telling tactless jokes, bullying, and allowing in-groups and out-groups are among the many behaviors that perpetuate discrimination and erode trust and mental health. Be clear with your team that you stand for inclusion as a path to advancing wellness and wellbeing.
Make inclusion part of your wellness approach. Set the tone at team meetings that everyone is valued and heard. Implement policies and routines, such as flexible work schedules and starting team meetings by authentically connecting, that honor that people are not just human resources, but whole human beings.
Hold up a leadership mirror. Consider the people you touch: How included do you believe they feel today? What biases about people might be standing in your way? And what shifts could you make in your mindsets and behaviors to become a more inclusive wellness leader?
Get honest about yourself. Ask yourself: Is it safe for me to share my viewpoints—and do I trust how my views are being used? Can I contribute my unique gifts and talents? Do I feel like I belong? If your response is NO to any of these questions, what changes would support your wellbeing?
See past the labels. During your next conversation with an acquaintance, workmate or loved one, notice how easy it is to pigeon-hole them. Then, consciously shift into wonder by finding out more about them. Showing genuine interest can help you experience the unique qualities of others.
Adopt inclusive thinking. Take a few nourishing breaths to ask this question from a place of inner balance: What is valuable or true about each of these perspectives? Research shows that when we lead from a foundation of inner balance, we can hold paradoxical challenges more easily.
WE ARE LIVING IN A POLARIZING AND BEAUTIFUL TIME
Our time is ripe for making choices that can weaken humanity or evolve it. The Wellness Moonshot: A World Free of Preventable Disease is a platform to support you in leading wellness—and it includes everyone. We recognize that it will take all of us to shift from an unwell to a well world. Tell us a story using #wellnessmoonshot on social media about how you are demonstrating inclusive leadership to advance wellness to others; we’ll spread your inspiration worldwide. And remember to join the GWI’s Wellness Moonshot celebration on June 24 to connect and learn from others!
Next month, we’ll touch on what it means to RELAX as a strategic part of your wellness leadership. Until then, check out each of these Wellness Moonshot articles from past years with invaluable insights and strategies to support you on your journey.
MORE RESOURCES
- Read Inclusion: The Elephant in the Wellness Room and Women, Leadership & the Benefits of Inclusion for rich perspectives about inclusion and wellness.
- Check out the Global Wellness Institute’s Women in Leadership Initiative to learn more about empowering women to lead in the wellness industry.
- Utilize this insightful set of questions from GWI’s Wellness at Work Initiative to help you create a culture of wellbeing and care.
- Explore the trends driving the wellness industry to become more inclusive, as examples: making nature accessible to everyone, virtual wellness platforms and wellness businesses created for and by Black people, the positive rebrand of aging, femtech, and inclusive fashion.
- Learn from experts focused on health disparities in Black and brown communities, ageism, and responding to racism with kindness
- Become a global strategic partner of The Wellness Moonshot: A World Free of Preventable Disease.
- Customize The Wellness Moonshot resources: Contact Kendra Kobler ([email protected]) for specific ways to tailor The Wellness Moonshot branding assets and educational materials to meet the needs and aspirations of your company, community or country.
