There are times when it feels like the wellness industry is under attack. Most recently, it was the Song et al study published in JAMA and before that it was the University of Illinois study. Both garnered the headlines “wellness doesn’t work”.

These sensational headlines are easy to dismiss but I strongly encourage you not to. Both of these studies are good pieces of research we can learn from as wellness professionals. Examining these findings without bias or opinions can potentially lead us to new, more effective approaches.

That why our training, “Next Generation Wellness: From Theory to Practice” was created. In this training, we teach the critical ways we need to shift the conversations within our organizations. This can lead us to not only evolve our industry but also have more impact and influence.  We gave the training this past Spring and will also be giving it at this year’s WELCOA Summit as an intensive before the full conference gets started.

For a sneak peek into our training, in this episode, Rebecca and I walk you through 6 of the Critical Keys to improving your impact and influence. If you want to keep up with these critical keys and get additional tips, you can access your free resource guide HERE. 

To join us at WELCOA on August 26th : Click HERE for more details.

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

With the many strategic priorities within organizations, it’s easy for employers to forgo attention and resources for employee communications. Perhaps there’s a portal that most people don’t visit, uninspiring emails that go out and/or no clear employer brand. But with employers spending millions and millions of dollars on their benefit programs, doesn’t it make sense to put more effort into having employee capitalize on these benefits? Today’s guest, Jennifer Benz thinks so.

Jennifer Benz, leads Segal Benz, a consulting firm that helps organizations engage their people and drive business results through effective benefits communication. The firm’s work spans across all areas of benefits and HR and blends the best practices of consumer marketing, design, and behavioral science.

Jen is widely quoted in publications, including the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Employee Benefit News, Human Resource Executive, HR Magazine, and Workforce.

According to Jen, not only do your benefits help reinforce why someone works for your company, they’re also part of the value proposition of taking a job with your organization. With employers still being a trusted source of information, strategically communicating your company’s benefits provides an opportunity to enhance employer brand, employee experience and increase utilization of the programs you’re already paying for.

In this interview, Jen explains how benefits and communications have changed in the last 5 years, three keys successful benefits communication, why behavioral science is important but first, you have to get the basics right. She tells us how health and wellbeing plays into the overall benefits strategy and leaves us with a tangible tip.

You’re invited: Join me for Next Generation Wellness: From Theory to Practice at the WELCOA Summit Intensive on August 26th : Click HERE for more details.

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

In today’s world, we can reach out to almost anybody through social media, an email or a website. Our co-workers are just an IM or text away. But despite this ability to digitally connect, we are lonelier than ever. In the past 50 years, rates of loneliness have doubled in the U.S. Former U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy likens loneliness to a public health crisis, and the workplace as one of the primary places where it can get better — or worse. 

Today’s guest, Stuart Chittenden, believes conversation can help. Stuart has focused his time and efforts to Squishtalks, a conversation social practice he founded in 2010. Promoting the art of conversation in the belief that conversation helps us to live well and work better, Squishtalks has collaborated with numerous community groups and businesses.

According to Stuart, conversation is the bridge that connects our individual selves with those of people around us. Conversation enables us to recognize the humanity in others, and thereby in ourselves. In our most fundamental experience of being human, every one of us yearns for connection, which conversation helps to enable.

In this interview, we start out talking about a community project called “a couple of 830 mile long conversations,” which received Humanities Nebraska’s largest grant award in 2015. In an RV, Stuart adventured for four weeks along side roads and among small towns to talk with Nebraskans, discovering the lives, cultures and stories of people he met.

Stuart also explains the principles and practices of conversation that foster human connection, how these conversations are intrinsic to personal wellbeing but are missing from wellness programs and conversation considerations for extroverts and introverts.

Thank you to our sponsor, Workplace Money Coach. Workplace Money Coach’s 4-week, Living Paycheck to Purpose financial empowerment program, helps employees address the root causes of their financial challenges so they can better align their financial choices with their purpose and the life goals that matter most to them. You can find out more at http://www.workplacemoneycoach.com/. Shane’s email: shane@workplacemoneycoach.com

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod

We all know that wellbeing is more than physical health. Many of the daily choices we make about our physical health habits (exercise, eating, sleep) are dependent on how we feel, what we think and the so-called motivation factor. But what if we addressed emotional health first? Would other healthy behaviors fall in line? Today’s guest, Dr. Karen Lloyd, thinks so.

Dr. Karen Lloyd holds a doctorate in clinical psychology and has over twenty years of leadership experience with health plans. At HealthPartners, Dr. Lloyd develops and leads the behavioral health disease management, case management and utilization management programs for members with behavioral health conditions, along with the emotional resilience programs for HealthPartners employees, care delivery patients and health plan members. 

Karen has created not one but five programs to enhance the emotional health of employees and health plan members. What started as a one-hour class has blossomed into a scalable online solution that has helped over 10,000 people.

In this interview, we discuss how HealthPartners initially identified the need to address the emotional health of employees, how they started and the changes they made along the way. Karen also describes the four other programs they offer in addition to emotional resilience. We tackle what HealthPartners is doing to address organizational stressors and her answer is impressive. As always, we’re left with a tangible tip.

Thank you to our sponsor, Workplace Money Coach. Workplace Money Coach’s 4-week, Living Paycheck to Purpose financial empowerment program, helps employees address the root causes of their financial challenges so they can better align their financial choices with their purpose and the life goals that matter most to them. You can find out more at http://www.workplacemoneycoach.com/.

For links mentioned in today's episode visit: http://bit.ly/Redesignpod