Redesigning Wellness Podcast

As wellness professionals, we know that the shift into the next generation of wellness isn’t always an easy one. Maybe your organization or clients aren’t ready to ditch incentives and move away from a completely physical view of employee wellness. How can you help shift the wellness industry but start at a more agreeable place? This is one of the many reasons the Redesigning Wellness Academy (RWA) was created.

In today’s solo episode, Jen explains the top reasons that Redesigning Wellness Academy is a much-needed bridge for wellness professionals to begin moving their program or clients’ programs forward in the changing wellness landscape. She discusses Redesigning Wellness Academy in-depth, getting into the nitty-gritty of the RWA format, schedule, and what exactly you’ll get out of the 6-month program. 

If you’re looking for a program with a unique depth, a multi-dimensional focus, and a recipe of one part knowledge, one part skill, and one part support - the Redesigning Wellness Academy is for you. Registration is now open!

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

As new health science continues to emerge, it’s imperative that we as wellness professionals allow our ideas and efforts to shift and change along with it. Today’s guest, Melanie Cumbee, has learned to embrace these changes with open arms throughout her 25 years in the wellness industry - encouraging moves away from biometrics and premium incentives toward an employee-centered wellness model that has caught the attention of WELCOA.

For the last 11 years, Melanie has led and developed the Good Life employee wellness program for MemorialCare Health Systems, which boasts an inspiring 75% participation among their 11,000 employees. Her passion for creating cultures that inspire and empower others to embrace their personal path to wellbeing, along with her excitement and willingness to implement emerging science into her programs, resulted in Melanie receiving the honor of being named WELCOA’s 2019 Top Health Promotion Professional in the US.

In today’s podcast, Melanie shares her journey as a wellness professional and how she got her start. She explores some strategies she’s used to encourage employees to prioritize self-care as well as her experiences partnering with other departments in order to enhance and expand a wellness program.

Melanie discusses some wellness industry practices she’s left behind, like biometric screenings, and others she’s altered to better work towards comprehensive wellness, like premium-based incentives. Finally, Melanie shares what keeps her going and engaged in her field of work, and her biggest tip for building culture change.

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

Knowing the people you’re engaging with is one of the biggest advantages you can have when trying to influence both inside or outside of an organization Today’s guest, Steven Sisler, has honed the art of reading people into a science. He suggests that understanding the personality of those you’re working with, as well as understanding your own personality, can give you a valuable advantage in communicating effectively and getting what you want in business settings. 

Steve is a behavioral analyst, speaker, author, and podcaster specializing in personality differences, leadership strategy, cultural differences, and temperament strategies. He has consulted for clients in more than 18 countries, gathering behavioral and attitudinal information on individuals within corporate settings and developing strategies for effective leadership, teamwork, and entrepreneurial success.

In today’s podcast, Steven explores not only why it’s advantageous for us to know what someone else is thinking and to understand their personality type, but also how understanding your own personality type can help you set yourself up for success. He uses his skills on Jen, demonstrating the scope and accuracy of his personality assessments and shares some information on the most common personalities as highlighted in his book, The 4 PeopleTypes: And What Drives Them.

Finally, Steven discusses strategies you can use to combat your own passiveness in meetings with executives and other leaders, and how executives commonly think and communicate.

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

As wellness professionals, one thing we’re constantly seeking is a seat at the table. Oftentimes, the path to this seat lies in developing and utilizing our leadership skills. Today’s guest, Sue Salvemini, believes that regardless of how many people we oversee, or what our job title is, we are all leaders. We can universally increase our effectiveness, impact, and ability to influence change with a commitment to 7 key leadership practices.

Sue is the founder and president of Focal Pointe Consulting Group, Inc and has been utilizing her more than 25 years of military and corporate experience to develop leaders, build teams, and launch products and businesses. As an executive coach and speaker, Sue works with individuals and teams to help them embrace their authentic leadership styles to maximize their positive impact on the people and organizations which they serve.

In this interview, Sue gives us insight as well as a few tips from her book, Leadership by Choice. She offers an in-depth look at each of her 7 key practices to help you tap into your own unique leadership style. Sue will have you inspired to step further into your leadership potential and increase your impact and the effectiveness within your organization.

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

Being an expert is highly regarded in the business world. After all, isn’t that why we went to school…to become an expert in our field of interest? As a wellness pro, we are often expected to flex our expert muscle when working with our employers and clients. After all, that’s what they pay us for, right? According to today’s guest, Sydney Finkelstein, our own expertise can be a trap that narrows our focus, makes us reluctant to admit mistakes and makes out of touch with new practices. 

Sydney Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He’s listed at #23 on the “Thinkers 50,” the most prestigious ranking of management thinkers in the world, has published 26 books and 90+ articles and is a recognized thought leader on leadership, strategy, and corporate governance. Sydney is also host of his own podcast, the Sydcast.

In this interview, Sydney explains the downside of considering ourselves an expert and how it hinders our performance. We broach the subject of who’s responsible for our learning - us or our organizations. Sydney tells us the warning signs that we’ve fallen in the expert trap and how to get out of it. He then leaves us with some profound words of wisdom. 

Want to Increase your Impact? Accelerate your Leadership? Join me for Redesigning Wellness Academy!

As a wellness pro, it can feel like we’re swimming upstream. We’re trying to help employees take care of their wellbeing, convincing leadership that wellness is valuable to the organization and the headlines are screaming “wellness doesn’t work”. Let’s take the opportunity to tackle these challenges head on and evolve wellness to include more than physical health, connect to business priorities and grow our personal leadership skills.

To learn more about Redesigning Wellness Academy, click HERE.

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

In the worksite wellness industry, there is a divide between thought leaders when it comes to the question – does wellness work? Although this is too simple of a question to ask, recent research has fanned the flames of negative media headlines and contributed to further disagreement. Too often, organizations, consultants and wellness pros read the headlines and are even more confused about what actually works in wellness. 

Today’s guest, Nicole Latimer, believes this question is the biggest challenge we’re facing as an industry and she believes Staywell’s best practices work to move the needle on health. As chief executive officer of The StayWell Company, Nicole Latimer embodies the company’s mission to be the premier provider of lifestyle risk management programs for the entire healthcare ecosystem, leveraging the science of behavior change as the foundation for improving health outcomes.

In this interview, Nicole tells us about her background prior to Staywell and why she was drawn to Staywell’s mission. She explains Staywell’s wellness philosophy and gives her thoughts on how the wellness industry is evolving. We delve deeply into the topic of incentives, what we need to do differently with wellbeing and Nicole leaves us with her tangible tip.

This interview is one in which two people with different opinions have a civil conversation. If we’re ever going to evolve the wellness industry, we need more civil conversations about current and future wellness practices.

Want more?

Do you want a short summary of each week’s podcast? Each week, I send out an email that goes one step further than the interview. It’s my reflection of what I pulled out of the interview and at least one tip (and usually more) about how you can apply all the goodness to your work and life. If that sounds good, you can sign up HERE.

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

As wellness professionals we’re in a unique position to bring employees together. But as humans, we’re biased. We make stuff up about people all of the time. We do it at work on a daily basis. Even worse, our biases are rarely blatant. It’s usually subtle micro-behaviors that we often don’t notice. So, what can we do about it? 

Today’s guest, Howard Ross, is considered one of the world’s seminal thought leaders on identifying and addressing unconscious bias. Howard has delivered programs in 47 states and over 40 other countries to audiences including Fortune 500 companies, colleges and universities, and major institutions within healthcare, government, and non-profit sectors. His newest book, Our Search for Belonging: How the Need for Connection Is Tearing Our Culture Apart describes how to bridge the divide in our increasingly polarized society.

In this interview, Howard and I talk about what’s changed in the area of Diversity and Inclusion in the past 30 years and what hasn’t. He then explains that we all have unconscious bias (even him) and Howard explains what we can do about it. He makes the provocative statement that “Maslow was wrong” and that our need to belong trumps any other need. Finally, Howard leaves us with his tangible tip.

Want more?

Do you want a short summary of each week’s podcast? Each week, I send out an email that goes one step further than the interview. It’s my reflection of what I pulled out of the interview and at least one tip (and usually more) about how you can apply all the goodness to your work and life. If that sounds good, you can sign up HERE.

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

It’s no doubt that mental health is finally getting some of the attention it deserves. But many  employers and wellness pros are at a loss for how to address mental health in the workplace. Although it’s important to destigmatize mental health, for those who are suffering, talking about it is the most terrifying thing they can think of. Today’s guest, Justin Kruger, feels that if organizations solely try to identify mental health struggles first, they’ll fail.

Justin is the Founder and CEO of Project Helping, a Denver-based mental wellness organization. He played golf professionally before starting a career in the golf industry. His personal struggle with mental wellness led him to leave the golf business behind to start Project Helping and providing purpose, connection, and mental wellness through kyndfulness.

In this interview, Justin tells us about his story of his own challenges with mental health and when he discovered how helping others helped him dramatically (he calls it his therapy). He explains why if organizations identify mental health first, they’ll fail and what we need to do differently. Justin then explains KyndHub, an online community for sharing kindness. 

Want more?

Do you want a short summary of each week’s podcast? Each week, I send out an email that goes one step further than the interview. It’s my reflection of what I pulled out of the interview and at least one tip (and usually more) about how you can apply all the goodness to your work and life. If that sounds good, you can sign up HERE.

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

Senior executives have ranked talent shortages as a top organizational risk in 2019. According to today’s guest, Sydney Finkelstein, this is not a new concern but rather one organizations have faced over many decades. Instead of accepting the same answers to this perpetual question, Sydney researched a different question “what do the world’s greatest leaders do to find, develop and retain talent?” and put the answers in his book, Superbosses. 

Sydney Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He’s listed at #23 on the “Thinkers 50,” the most prestigious ranking of management thinkers in the world, has published 26 books and 90+ articles and is a recognized thought leader on leadership, strategy, and corporate governance. Sydney is also host of his own podcast, the Sydcast. 

In this interview, Sydney tells us what got him interested in researching Superbosses, the three types and key elements they incorporate into their leadership. He tells us about some of their unconventional practices around hiring and talent, how organizations can aim for more Superbosses and how to seek out a Superboss to work for.

If you want to hear unconventional but effective leadership practices, learn how to become a better leader, tap into underutilized sources of talent and/or figure out how to find Superbosses within your organization, then this episode is for you!

Want more?

Do you want a short summary of each week’s podcast? Each week, I send out an email that goes one step further than the interview. It’s my reflection of what I pulled out of the interview and at least one tip (and usually more) about how you can apply all the goodness to your work and life. If that sounds good, you can sign up HERE.

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

A 2019 survey by PwC found that more employees than ever admitted to being stressed about their finances. It’s no surprise with 6 out of 10 US adults holding credit card debt (with nearly 2 in 5 carrying this debt from month to month) and 4 in 10 adults in America unable to cover a $400 emergency.   

As a response to these stats, many organizations are now rolling out financial wellness programs, opting to educate their employees on a wide variety of topics – from building an emergency savings to retirement. But is financial education on a wide variety of topics the way to go? According to today’s guest, Jirs Meuris, research doesn’t back this up.

Jirs Meuris is an Assistant Professor of Management and Human Resources and a faculty affiliate at the Institute for Research on Poverty and the Center for Financial Security at the Wisconsin School of Business (University of Wisconsin-Madison). Jirs looks at how work shapes people’s personal finances and the resulting consequences for individuals, organizations, and society. 

In this interview, Jirs walks us through his research across different industries, including a study that’s not yet published. He explains why financial education doesn’t work and offers thoughts on what we should do instead. This interview will definitely help you if you are having trouble making a case for bringing financial wellness solutions to your organization.

Want more?

Do you want a short summary of each week’s podcast? Each week, I send out an email that goes one step further than the interview. It’s my reflection of what I pulled out of the interview and at least one tip (and usually more) about how you can apply all the goodness to your work and life. If that sounds good, you can sign up HERE.

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