With the increased need for social distancing, working from home, and quarantining, loneliness has become even more of a hot topic than it was before COVID-19. Today’s guest, Hakan Ozcelik, walks us through his most recent research study on loneliness and the impact on employees, teams, and the organization as a whole.

Hakan is a professor of management at California State University, Sacramento. With a Ph.D. in organizational behavior, he has published his research on many topics including workplace loneliness and organizational neuroscience in countless prestigious outlets such as the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and the New York Times to name a few.

In this episode, Hakan defines loneliness and how it differentiates from things like depression and physically being alone. He discusses his research, No Employee An Island, touching on both the design and the project’s findings. 

Hakan reveals the impact of his research findings on team performance, as well as intervention strategies that managers can employ. Finally, Hakan leaves us with a few tangible tips on how to apply this research in our own organizations.

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

Alcohol is integrated into our current culture to celebrate, socialize, relax, and cope. Especially during this pandemic, memes and jokes about increasing alcohol consumption, virtual happy hours, and quarantinis abound. Today’s guest, Heather Lowe, founder of Ditched the Drink, believes in the benefits of evaluating and understanding your relationship with alcohol.

Heather, like many of us, grew up in a community where liberal alcohol consumption was the norm. Her background in social work, HR, and sales, as well as her passion for helping others, live their fullest and most meaningful lives resulted in founding Ditched the Drink, offering both individual and business resources to evaluate their relationships with alcohol.

In this episode, Heather shares her history with alcohol, the reasons she decided to quit drinking, and the benefits she’s seen as a result. She discusses the factors that might cause some people to be more likely to develop unhealthy relationships with alcohol, and how corporate acceptance and focus on alcohol negatively impact workplaces.

Heather leaves listeners with a tangible tip they can use to start shifting the relationship with alcohol in their own organizations and gives us a closer look at the work she’s doing through Ditched the Drink.

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

Does the stress and anxiety of the #COVID19 crisis have you unsure of how to communicate with employees? 

During the heightened stress and anxiety of the COVID-19 crisis, it is more important than ever to have clear, concise, easily consumable information offered from organizations to employees. Today’s guest, Wendy Reizer, draws on over 20 years of experience in marketing communications consulting to break down meaningful, palatable information specific to the challenges of communicating during this national pandemic.

Wendy’s specialty is creating resonate brands, campaigns, and content that align with people’s values and inspire them to take charge of their health and happiness. She has a specific passion for inspirational wellness marketing and helping to brand wellness programs.

In this episode, Wendy discusses all things COVID communication. She shares a low stress, simple strategy, as well as what things to avoid during COVID communications.

Wendy explains how to strike a balance between too much and too little communication and how to craft pieces for both front line and work from home employees to create a sense of togetherness without breeding resentment between the two. 

Wendy brings up a few examples of good pandemic communication she’s seen recently, and finally leaves listeners with a tangible tip to use in crafting their own communications during this unprecedented time.

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

With so much of the wellness world focused on weight loss as the key to health, how is it possible that the science suggests otherwise? Christy Harrison, registered dietitian and author of Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating, believes the obsession with diet culture overshadows the actual research proving that weight loss is unsustainable and actively harmful to individual wellbeing.

Christy seeks to turn what you think you know about health and wellness upside down while taking on diet culture and the multi-billion-dollar industries that profit from it. Her podcast Food Psych is now one of iTunes top 100 health podcasts.

In today’s episode, Christy shares what drove her to write her book, including some of her own struggles making peace with food. She explains the science behind the health at every size (HAES) model, and how current research and funding are being swayed by diet culture. 

Christy discusses the health implications of weight stigma, as well as non-stigmatizing language to use. She disputes the common belief that obesity is unacceptable and instead offers that weight is similar to an inborn characteristic like race or height. Finally, she leaves us with a practical application to start shifting the paradigm. 

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

As wellness professionals, we are constantly seeking ways to increase our impact and influence within our organizations. Today, Jen Arnold, our host and founder of Redesigning Wellness and Rebecca Johnson, cofounder of ViDL Solutions seek to jumpstart your path to confidently bring your organization into the next generation of wellness all while building your credibility as a thought leader within your organization or with your client.

In this webinar turned podcast, Jen and Rebecca discuss the 4 critical keys for more impact and influence, as well as high level ideas to get you thinking about what needs to change in the wellness industry and in your own organization. 

Rebecca discusses the importance of reframing the value proposition away from cost savings toward people development, shifting from offering incentives for change to creating the ideal conditions for change, and moving away from a weight focus of health to health regardless of size. 

Jen shares her personal experience with weight focused programs and their lack of sustained success. Lastly, she explores a few methods for connecting wellness programs to business priorities, and why this is vital to increasing influence and getting a spot at the table.

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