There is plenty of evidence to convince us that the quality of daily interactions in the workplace has a significant impact on both the wellbeing of individuals and the broader organisational culture. We also know that a leader’s style of interaction is closely associated with levels of employee stress and this is often successfully addressed through coaching. For those who receive coaching, there can be significant increases in their goal attainment, transformational leadership and psychological wellbeing.
However, this is not the whole story. What we also know is that working with leaders to enhance their own wellbeing has been shown to improve the wellbeing of other individuals embedded in the broader social networks and systems impacted by these leaders. There is a significant positive ripple effect such that the closer any member of the network is identified as being connected to those who receive coaching, the more likely they are to experience positive increases in their own wellbeing.
Hence the influence of leadership wellbeing coaching extends well beyond the individual, and has important implications for organisational wellbeing initiatives and how we measure the impact of interventions aimed at organisational change.
Invest in one leader’s wellbeing now and realise the ripple effects across your organisation.
See O’Connor and Cavanagh Psychology of Well-Being: Theory, Research and Practice 2013, 3:2 http://www.psywb.com/content/3/1/2