A New Era of Employee Wellbeing:
From the shadows to the spotlight. Are you ready?
3 + 2 day immersion program
An outcomes based think-tank for senior executives and experts to resolve one of the biggest issues of our time
Wellbeing has never been more important or fragile, and our collective expertise, ideas and influence can generate powerful change. This exceptional residential development experience has been designed to balance the need for strategic reflection, collective learning and inspiration, alongside complete restoration and connection.
Creating a bold future with bold outcomes
With a shared sense of responsibility for enabling thriving organisations and thriving humans to become the ‘new norm,’ this program will inspire big ideas, create practical strategies and drive business outcomes from embedding wellbeing at the intersection of leadership, culture, change and everyday business operations.
Arriving Sunday afternoon, we will spend 3 whole days traversing the recent explosion of psychological, and behavioural scientific insights which belong at the forefront of any accurate, informed, authentic, and passionate discussion about the future of work, leaders, and sustainable high performance.
Setting the scene
Applying participants’ real-life experiences and endeavours to the complexities in realising a vision for thriving organisations where work is a net positive in all employees’ lives, we will work through a facilitator-led process of collective sense-making and outcome creation.
Based on the consideration of some of the best evidence, sharpest brains, most experienced and deeply passionate advocates in this space, participants will co-create a blueprint for future action and interventions which are aligned to their unique needs and circumstances. These will be developed into a confidential executive report and provided to participants exclusively for use and application within their organisations.
The cherry on top
For those who are able, the option to extend the program into days 4 (Thursday) and 5 (Friday) at no additional cost is included. The intention is to maximise and embed the benefits of the participants’ intensive immersion experience, and to deepen their individual work, both personally and professionally. For interested participants, days 4 and 5 will also include an opportunity for a Level 2 accreditation masterclass covering advanced applications of GLWS solutions to team, talent, inclusion, and leadership development, at no additional cost.
Where and when?
Elysia Wellness Retreat
Hunter Valley
Sunday 31 July – Wed 3 August
(or Friday 5 August)
The vision
The inspiration for this program has come from imagining the magic that could happen… the power of the collective and the support and encouragement that will be generated from bringing together an exceptional group of leading professionals, experts, and business leaders, all of whom are motivated to build a future where every employee in every organisation feels supported and believes it is possible to thrive, individually and collectively.
Who should attend?
This will be a limited-capacity retreat where a diverse group of Australian and international leaders will have the opportunity to reflect, learn and re-energise in good company with other like-minded senior professionals who share a deep commitment to developing their organisation’s and clients’ responses to the elevation of wellbeing as a strategic priority.
Carefully designed with needs of experienced executives in mind, the program will be best suited to those who are:
Operational business leaders
Operational business leaders who are grappling first-hand with the task of supporting team wellbeing while also attending to their own energy management
Practice leaders, SMEs and senior partners
Practice leaders, SMEs and senior partners within advisory and consulting firms with deep experience across leadership, organisational and culture challenges, and their intersection with employee wellbeing.
Senior executives
Senior executives from P&C, OD, L&D, DE&I, HS&W specialist functions.
Why should you attend?
The key purpose of this program is to facilitate considered conversation about different organisations’ experiences and approaches to managing the growth of wellbeing as an emerging professional discipline and area of functional expertise, and to capture important insights from a range of organisational strategy, design, leadership, culture, accountability, risk and compliance perspectives. The insights will be curated and produced as a confidential report post-program, and will be available only to contributing organisations. The reporting outcome will summarise current state and future considerations for:
Integrating wellbeing strategically
For many years wellbeing has quietly and reliably proven itself as a strong driver of positive business outcomes (better engagement, talent hiring and retention; fewer conduct risks, greater psychological safety, improved team dynamics and employee relations; productivity, profitability and even share price). However, events over the past three years have catapulted it into the spotlight and forced a new awakening for many individuals and organisations about what it really means and takes to be and stay “well” – and the risks if we don’t, won’t or can’t.
Improving levels of individual and organisational wellbeing
Today, employee wellbeing doesn’t just drive other measures, it has itself become a critical business outcome and independent measure of success.
Developing organisational wellbeing mastery
With input from program participants, leading practitioners and researchers at the retreat, the implications for organisational structures, resourcing, capability building and leaders at all levels will be examined to understand what ‘wellbeing mastery’ will look like in organisations of the future, and to help plan and position for success. We will explore and discuss:
- Emergence of wellbeing on the centre stage of business strategy and operations, even in heavily matrixed structures.
- Rapid evolution of the wellbeing function in organisations, transforming from non-existent or fringe activities to an essential and emerging specialist field.
- Shift in core capabilities from primarily ‘technical expert’ responses to health, safety, employee relations or employee assistance needs, to ‘adaptive leadership’ incorporating the growing body of multi-disciplinary evidence-based best practices.
Creating a blueprint for wellbeing leadership roles and systems
Sensible consideration of the future of wellbeing within an organisational context includes analysing and forecasting the role and expectations of Chief Wellbeing Officers, Chief People Officers, and the leadership of the function. Interested participants will have the opportunity to contribute towards a visionary job profiling and capability planning activity designed to investigate critical success factors for leadership wellbeing roles of the future. We will investigate the tensions within:
- Requirements for a strong background in psychology and deeply skilled organisational leadership, with the capacity to influence, expand, integrate, and imbue wellbeing across all aspects of the people function and business operations – the whole kit and kaboodle.
- Requirements to influential, trusted, savvy business advisers who drive the lasting systemic changes required to achieve truly thriving organisations, and to feel first among equals within the Executive Leadership group.
- Expectations of being powerful role-models, permission givers and advocates of wellbeing while being true to their own humanness and the lifelong authentic challenges involved in prioritising holistic health and wellbeing.
What will you experience?
In hosting this pioneering think-tank, the intent is to achieve a dynamic, participant driven forum to create a powerful learning and development experience. This will be achieved by deploying multiple growth strategies including:
A unique space and set of conditions to benefit both personal and professional development.
The best of the award-winning 5-day Elysia ‘rest and restore’ personal wellness program augmented by facilitated analysis of the evidence base for personal and psychosocial risks to executives’ wellbeing.
A rare opportunity to ‘reflect, consider and reset professionally’ by learning with and from others who share a similar sense of purpose around thriving organisations.
Bringing together true experts and diverse leaders to share their professional observations and challenges, and to collaborate on ‘solving for wellbeing as a complicated, adaptive and evolving individual and collective leadership and culture challenge.’
Creating a stronger, connected community of executive leaders and practitioners experienced in organisational, leadership and culture challenges.
Enhancing individual and collective capabilities to influence and transform how wellbeing, culture, and leadership development ‘gets done’ within progressive organisations.
Providing a sales-free confidential zone that is characterised by equitable, self-authorising, organic, peer to peer relationships where principles of ‘open space conferencing’ and human centred, co-design are informally enacted, daily.
How will individuals and organisations benefit?
The return on time, effort, opportunity cost and dollar investment from this program is intended to be tangible and offer significant value to individual participants and their sponsoring organisations/employers. The immersive nature of the program will enable development and growth to occur personally and professionally, simultaneously and symbiotically delivering:
Meaningful opportunities to connect with senior leaders from other organisations and industries.
A confidential forum in which to share, seek and calibrate feedback on different organisational strategies, interventions and approaches being adopted in the pursuit of thriving workplaces, to discuss what’s working and what’s not; and to form a view of what good wellbeing practices look like in real organisations.
Group dynamics and processes reflective of participants’ subject matter expertise and practical experiences, sharing knowledge and problems via supportive peer support mechanisms.
Stronger, deeper peer connections based on the principles of reciprocity and positive mutual regard, within a group committed to progressing wellbeing within the organisations they work with. We can’t promise but strongly anticipate this will cement bonds and be the start of a powerful network and community over the years ahead.
A series of practical frameworks and tools to help facilitate individual leader reflections by participants, and as assets and collateral to take back to their organisations for broader application.
Individual and collective development of blueprints and roadmaps to articulate the actions organisations can take to develop the wellbeing capabilities for critical talent cohorts and to address the range of business-critical wellbeing challenges which are emerging.
A comprehensive executive report delivered post-program, with summary of key themes, insights, research, and recommendations.
An extended period of personal obligation-free space which occurs away from the usual home and work pressures, and within the context of an environment uniquely dedicated to consideration of the bigger-picture perspectives on organisational, team and individual needs and opportunities.
Thoughtful, expert scaffolding and facilitation ensuring all participants can take what they need for themselves as whole human beings at this stage in their life and careers, and come away with deep professional insights, increased confidence, knowledge, skills, tools, and inspiration to deliver practical benefits to the organisations and people they serve through their work.
Individual encouragement and support on a confidential basis to identify and reflect on all aspects impacting the health, wellbeing, capacity, and motivation to lead self, teams and businesses. Participants will leave the program having taken stock and refreshed their game plans, as applicable to both organisational and personal priorities.
Strong recognition and virtue signalling of organisational commitment to participants as highly valued, investible leaders whose talents and potential current value and future potential warrant investment.
An invaluable and effective opportunity for employers to acknowledge and support any executive who has been shouldering the heavy emotional and mental loads associated with leading others and caring for their wellbeing over a prolonged period. While the ROI extends well beyond much needed mental rest and restoration for those who are fatigued themselves as leaders, the program will certainly deliver in this regard.
A powerful circuit breaker for those who have been working excessively and may be at risk of stress, burnout or other forms of languishing. The healthy, nurturing focus of the Elysia retreat will ensure renewed personal accountability for healthy habits and provide the tools for improving personal wellness.
Individual and collective executive wellbeing coaching on an opt-in basis via the expert team at EEK & SENSE including confidential Personal Leadership Wellbeing profiling and reporting.
The Conversations
This program is not intended to run on a traditional lecture based, conference or classroom style format.
The number of formal ‘expert-led’ presentations and seminars will be intentionally limited in preference for participant generated, thought-provoking facilitated conversations on ‘hot topics.’
While the program and facilitation will be led by Audrey McGibbon, CEO of EEK & SENSE, psychologist, researcher and internationally recognised expert in the application of wellbeing science to leadership, culture and organisational challenges, there will be many other engaging practitioners, leaders, and wellbeing experts present during the retreat, all of whom will shape the quality of debate and sharing of insights.
Topics for exploration a, subject to group consultation and input are likely to include:
Strategy
- From Fringe Dweller to Centre Stage – how psychological and behavioural science is at the forefront of providing answers to what wellbeing is, what it means for everyday leaders, and how to create the organisational, team and individual capabilities required to achieve and sustain thriving
- Deploying the science of wellbeing, psychology and organisational behaviour to shape strategy, drive business outcomes and support all employees to feel, think and behave at their best, overcoming immunity to change
- Future role and expectations of Chief Wellbeing Officers, Chief People Officers, and the leadership of the wellbeing function.
Risk & regulatory obligations
- Why exec teams, boards and leaders at all levels have a social, legal and economic obligation to role-model, authorise and advocate for better risk mitigation and minimisation of harmful work practices and cultures.
- The rise of the regulators in controlling toxic leaders and toxic cultures – examining psychological health and safety as key non-financial risk and conduct challenges with consideration of new governance practice frameworks and evidence-based standards, including ISO40053, WH&S legislation.
Making wellbeing 100% Inclusive
- Every human has wellbeing and mental health needs, it’s an impossibility not to.
- How do we ‘do’ wellbeing as a leadership, culture and OD piece not as an individual EAP support piece relevant only for individuals languishing or unwell.
- How to proactively identify, prevent and treat burnout, workaholism, stress and work-life conflict with effective non-EAP work-based interventions for leaders, individuals, teams and organisational practice/cultures.
The Gender Wellbeing Gap
- The gender wellbeing gap – why women are not thriving at the top and why at this rate we will never see gender equity in leadership roles.
- What path to wholeness and authenticity in leadership development for wellbeing?
Hybrid revolution
- The evolving workplace: risks and rewards of the work ‘anywhere, anytime approach.’ What are/should/could leaders and organisations be doing to help this transition? Where are the risks and the rewards?
- What about the rise of portfolio careers, how have unmet wellbeing needs driven this, and what are the consequences as uncertainty globally, economically continues?
- Designing and creating the future of work to address multiple challenges of optimising office and home-based working.
- Technostress, erosion of boundaries, impact of Individual Communication Devices and other technology on productivity, energy, and mental health.
Workaholism, burnout and the recovery paradoxes
- Work as an addiction.
- High-demand roles and organisations where execs have high levels of control have the greatest prevalence of excessive hours, perfectionism and workaholism – addiction to work.
- Where overwork and obsessive passion have negative emotional, relational, health and performance consequences.
- Integrating job stressor recovery frameworks into employee wellbeing strategies.
- Employers’ benefits and responsibilities for authorising and enabling ‘serious leisure’ for employees.
Investment
$6250+GST per person
What’s included:
- 3 days of facilitated professional development with unlimited opportunities to network, connect and share ideas with other executives, leaders and subject matter experts
- Extensive insights from current research and engagement in rich discussion on current ‘hot’ topics – integrating wellbeing into business and people strategy, analysis of leadership of the wellbeing function, leadership of wellbeing diversity, inclusion and equality; burnout, workaholism, stress and other risk and regulatory considerations; and implications of transitioning to hybrid work models.
- Supporting collateral to enhance post-program integration including exclusive program report, for contributing organisations
- One to one mentoring and coaching if desired
- 3 days + 3 nights of the Elysia personal wellness program inclusive of arrival consultation, nutritious meals and any special dietary requirements, full use of retreat facilities, group classes, wellness seminars, 3 x Wellness Treatments, and accommodation in a private 1-bedroom suite.
- BONUS 2 day + 2 night extension at no extra charge to extend focus on personal wellness, and steepen professional development in specific areas of employee wellbeing expertise inclusive of GLWS masterclass applications
- There are limited places, click here to secure your place.