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by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.
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Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

A Self-Managing Workforce

Wednesday November 1, 2000

Not every company in America has a wellness or self-management training program. Likewise, the typical business has not identified "the cultivation of a workforce capable of and dedicated to self-managing lifestyles" to be part of its mission statement, but, it might be a good idea! Let me tell you why I think so.

A self-management perspective is a positive approach to values that ARE embraced by nearly all organizations, public and private, such as quality, safety, injury prevention and other profitability-related corporate objectives. These include optimal health for service personnel, productive work and enjoyable, satisfying work lives. If I were Chairman of GE or even if I ran a small neighborhood business, there are a few simple wellness qualities I would encourage in every way possible for employees. These qualities would be wellness values conducive to increased physical and psychological well being beyond the mediocrity of simply not being injured or sick. Yes, I would offer the usual medical benefits, for quality medical care is important, as is the prevention of injuries and illness, but finding ways to motivate people to pursue exceptional functioning could be the most productive and satisfying approach of all for purposes of quality, safety, injury prevention and other profitability-related corporate objectives.

I would not promote these self-management qualities as health matters. I would instead encourage people to think of personal excellence as important for those who prefer maximum freedom at home AND at work, including freedom FROM avoidable illness/ disability/injuries and premature death. Even more important, I would communicate self-management skills as little choices that add up to more freedom TO fully experience life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Most Americans are familiar with and responsive to such ringing phrases — in fact we get all patriotic about such words! They mean something, too, for a self-managing approach to lifestyle artistry truly does enable optimal living and functioning, consistent with genetic potentials, circumstances and ambitions.

Thus, as chairman of the board, one of my first actions at the helm of any company would be to devise a 12-step program for personal effectiveness. We have 12-step programs for every imaginable kind of dysfunction why not one for self-management? We spend a trillion plus dollars annually on our "health" care system. This system is, in fact, a medical complex where resources are funneled almost entirely into medical care. Sadly, most of these funds pay for facilities, services, manpower and equipment devoted to illness conditions that should not have come about in the first place! At the workplace, the best injury prevention and safety programs, which currently receive almost no share of company resources, are those that reinforce and reward proactive lifestyle initiatives.

Think of a continuum from medical care to self-management to appreciate the contrasts between the current systems and the self-management model. On a scale of minus ten to plus ten, nearly everything happens on the left side of the continuum. Still, a few words can suggest what could take place to improve the balance of things. These few words appear on the right side of the continuum, the side that would address outcomes from self-management thinking.

Negative States	Negative Feelings	Negative Habits	Self-Managing
sufferings	fear	over-consumption	serenity
>dysfunction	worry	sloth	DBRU equivalents
pain	stress	smoking	humor/lightness
incapacitated	concern	substance abuse	perspective
illness	anger	high risk acts	critical thinking
signs/symptoms	frustration	recklessness	affections
body disdain	jealousy	paranoia	trus
early death	meaninglessness	self-destructive	purposefulness

Contrasting Mindsets or Perspectives Along A Continuum

It may be a very long while before every company in America has a wellness or self-management training program, but, there is no reason why any manager who cares about quality, safety, injury prevention and other profitability-related corporate objectives, (and what manager does not) would not welcome more attention to the right side of this continuum.

Maybe I ought to check with GE about the availability of a chairman of the board position.

What do you think about the idea of shifting priorities a bit to the right side of the continuum? Do you think a bit more self-management thinking is the way to go? Take care and always look on the bright side of life.

Domain: mental
Subdomain: factual knowledge

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