The 7 Pillars of a Resilient Workforce

Nearly every successful person I have encountered  has adopted the attribute of "work smarter not harder."

Yet when it comes to the workplace, to many times we succumb to inefficiencies and ineffectiveness.

There are no shortages of authors nor ideas that have been published to help you become a more resilient organization.

Yet ineffectiveness continues to thrive, hiding under a disguise of high-turnover, menial profits, or soaring healthcare costs. 

Recently, I completed a reading of Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell, an excellent book on creating more space to become a better version of yourself. Martell outlines seven pillars of personal behaviors designed to help an individual operate closer to their true potential.

Unfortunately for most organizations, when ineffectiveness reigns, a strong correlation exists between the effectiveness of the individuals who collectively make up the whole.

As I digested Martell's writing, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if we sought to apply each of the seven pillars within a professional setting.

Today, we examine how to incorporate the seven pillars of life into your workplace.

As defined by Martell, those pillars are as follows:

1. Health. Health equals wealth. Optimization must be a priority.
2. Hobbies. Ideally, each of us have a way to decompress and find joy.
3. Spirituality. Make time to tap into universal energy.
4. Friends. Cultivate connection both inside and outside of work.
5. Love. Go all in on essential relationships.
6. Finances. Know your numbers.
7. Mission. Live your why.

These Seven Pillars align with and exemplify the idea of flourishing, as thoroughly described in Martin Seligman’s expansive book on the topic.

We often mistakenly believe the responsibility of flourishing falls on the individual. I would challenge you, however, to imagine for a moment how your employees’ lives could be impacted if you incorporated education and encouragement for your people to explore and pursue these Seven Pillars within the context of their work.

While perhaps not specifically aligned with a traditional conversation around employee benefits, all of them could become part of your practice of creating a quality employee experience for your people.

Finance Examples

For example, let’s explore Finances. Have you considered or incorporated financial wellness into your offerings?

We all know our educational systems leave a lot to be desired in helping our young people prepare for the responsibilities of adulthood. Many of your people join the workforce before they have established even a basic level of financial acumen.

A number of your existing partnerships may be able to help. I have clients using programs available through their 401(k) administrator. A number of local banks and credit unions also provide financial education programs. Some employers have brought Dave Ramsey programs into their workplace.

For HUB clients, we also offer FinPath. The FinPath program has been specifically designed to help you better educate your population on the basics of creating a foolproof financial plan — from budgeting to investing, debt management to savings.

What could you doing in your organization to impact this area?

Connection Examples

What about connection? Much of that may happen outside of work, but it doesn’t have to be limited to the employees on their own. Do you facilitate opportunities for your people to connect offsite? Whether it be a picnic or a happy hour, are you doing more than an annual holiday event?

With the growth of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) initiatives prospering across the county, many employers have been able to leverage those DEI initiatives to create opportunities for connection.

Just the other day, I was with a client who had employee-driven groups that meet regularly and have provided a sense of community for sub-sets of their employees. Those cohorts included a yoga group, an LGBT group, and a group for minorities. They even created a group for employees over 50 (but admitted that group mostly just talks about getting together…).

Love Examples

And love. How do you empower loving relationships? That may sound like a stretch for an employer, but you can influence that aspect also.

In Colorado, we now have FAMLI, which in just a couple of short months has already begun a culture change around familial support efforts like access to paternal leave.

But it goes beyond paid leave programs. It can speak directly to your culture. Do you make it easy for employees to volunteer and be a part of their kids activities? Do you offer (and enable) the ability for employees to not only get their kids to practice but never miss the first pitch? Is it realistic for them to consider being the cookie captain for their child’s girl scout troop or the coach of their child’s soccer team?

Do you bring intention to protecting their evening time at home? Or do you operate in an environment that expects them (real or implied) to be available by phone, text, and email around the clock?

How to Move Forward

There is no right way or perfect way for you to do any of this, but it’s worth consideration. You have the power to enhance your employees’ lives. It’s one of the beautiful things about being a job creator, it empowers you to be a life creator.

Think on that for a moment, and don’t forget that when your people connect life and work together, they stay, they produce, and they thrive.

You’ve got this.

P.S. One key to these types of initiatives is to know the demographics in and out of your people. We have a cool tool that illustrates your population through generational, financial, and experiential lenses. If I can help, please drop me a note