Five Ways To Wellbeing

[John Nicholls]

The New Economics Foundation have produced a 5 Ways To Wellbeing report. It was commissioned by the UK Government’s Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Well-being to review the inter-disciplinary work of over 400 scientists from across the world. The aim was to identify a set of evidence-based actions to improve well-being, which individuals would be encouraged to build into their daily lives.
Based on the 5 a day eating healthily campaign, they produced 5 ways to wellbeing. They were:
CONNECT with the people around you - family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or local community.
BE ACTIVE - discover a physical activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness
TAKE NOTICE - be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling.Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you
KEEP LEARNING - learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun
GIVE - doing nice things for colleagues, volunteer, join a community group

Simple things but based on research. I was wondering how much is already being carried out in organisations and the impact in terms of morale, engagement and customer satisfaction. The link to nef's five ways is http://www.nationalaccountsofwellbeing.org/learn/related/five-ways-...

[Doug Shaw]

I'm pleased you spotted this. I blogged about it back in March 09, funnily enough it was around the time I first joined the group and David Zinger picked up on it. I had a slightly different take on the 5 steps, you can check them out here if you like. At the time I figured "I like these five steps. I see work and life as part of a wheel spinning truly on its axis. I see strong links between these and satisfaction for our customers, colleagues and others around us. What do you think? Perhaps I’m just not eating enough greens but I think there’s something here…"

I think you pose an interesting question and I'm afraid I don't see enough evidence of these being carried out in organisations. A friend recently asked me to attend a walk in the New Forest. I went along, met my friend and some new people. Did some exercise, learned more about the forest and took a lot of notice of the changing season around me. I will look deeper and let you know if I can find anything. Thanks for reminding me of this interesting work.

Doug

[John Nicholls]

Thanks Doug. We have just had a big conference in Norfolk about this but activity since is not as lively as I'd hoped. I'll keep you posted on any work I find too.
John