7 mindful practices to support successful DEI corporate wellness.
Wellness and DEI go hand in hand.
They're intimately connected and they feed each other.
Where you have inclusivity,
Connection,
And togetherness,
You have synergy,
Group focus,
And better productivity.
When your workers feel good,
They provide better results,
Creative ideas,
And service to clients.
Here are 7 key mindfulness practices to support your DEI initiatives.
1.
Ask the right questions.
Tune into your employees.
Take time to sit and envision what their experiences are.
Opening up that sense of awareness and compassion towards employees that may not feel as supported.
Ensuring that you are asking the right questions to the right people and keeping them in that conversation over and over again.
Ask them if they feel it's a diverse and inclusive work environment and what would they do to create that sense of connection and diversity.
Ask them about their stress levels and what you can do to support them.
By asking these questions and showing interest in your genuine effort to serve them in their own wellness,
You help create a platform where everybody feels included in that experience and they feel like a collaborator.
2.
Conscious effort.
Again,
Actively including minorities not only in the conversation but as leaders in your wellness initiatives.
Oftentimes people who have suffered greatly,
Been oppressed,
Have felt silenced or invisible,
Are people who have great capacity to serve,
To bring insight and healing into any organization by giving them a voice,
A platform,
A way to lead and share their potential gifts.
You're ensuring that they're not just participants but they're also leaders and creators in your wellness initiatives.
So actively inviting people of color,
People who have been misrepresented,
People with disabilities,
Inviting them into the conversation and asking them to help lead is a wonderful way to support DEI.
3.
Strong listening skills.
Meditation helps us to develop our ability to listen.
Listen beyond words.
When we listen to each other deeply,
It helps to release barriers,
Stress,
Tension,
Misunderstandings.
And when we listen with our full presence and attention,
It helps to nurture deeper connections,
Understanding,
And bonds between workers.
Hosting workshops and events where you can help cultivate these listening skills can help people develop that skill of receptivity and better listening.
4.
Ensure that there's ample access and universality in the programs that you're offering.
What kind of wellness initiatives do you have in place to actively support your workers' well-being?
For example,
If you are offering meditation services and programs to reduce stress,
Are you offering meditation styles that are inclusive,
Balanced,
Secular,
And universal?
Where someone from any faith or belief system can participate in a program like that and not feel uncomfortable or left out?
What can you do to support the unique health and well-being needs of your individual employees?
5.
Pay attention.
Pay close attention to what's working well and what's not working.
Oftentimes,
Companies struggle with wellness initiatives,
Keeping their employees engaged,
Motivated in their programs,
Especially programs that include meditation.
It's important to find out why this is the case,
To receive that feedback,
Ask for it actively,
And ask them what they think.
What do they think would help?
What would be supportive to them?
What kind of resources can you provide that would feel helpful?
6.
Empower your leaders.
What do managers need to have culturally inclusive conversations about health and well-being?
What kind of language skills,
Professional skills do they need?
Are you inviting people who are underrepresented to the table as leaders to have conversations?
Finding ways to provide these leadership skills to everyone is instrumental in helping develop these healthy conversations that can at times feel uncomfortable and challenging,
But will ultimately bring about a greater sense of health and peace in your organization.
7.
Take actions to support health and diversity inclusion with persistence and consistency.
Know that it's not just a short-term goal,
But a long-term marathon that includes constant attention,
Feedback,
Improvements,
And pivotal adjustments.
So being willing to be open,
Flexible,
Be open to change because our employees change and their needs can change,
Especially given huge challenges,
Unexpected challenges that we face such as the pandemic.
Wellness needs have shifted significantly since then where people experienced a great deal of isolation,
Too much computer time,
Disorganization in their family home life where they had to work at home.
So it's really important that we redesign and rethink our DEI wellness programs,
Especially in the way that your company is recruiting people,
Training them,
Developing them,
Engaging and promoting workers throughout your company to always take this into consideration like a red thread that everything you're doing is open and accessible to everyone,
Regardless of their cultural background,
Their gender,
Their sexual orientation,
And beliefs.
Thank you so much for learning about these seven key practices.
I hope that you have huge success with your DEI wellness initiatives.
