How to: Have a Wellbeing Conversation

Wellbeing is more than just happiness. It needs to address the full range of life experiences (positive, negative and neutral) and start from where the individual and/or team currently see themselves. Wellbeing is a complex multidimensional interaction of four domains (emotional / psychological, financial, social and physical wellbeing) that sit across an experiential continuum ranging from distressed to thriving. These domains are influenced by how we care about each other and ourselves at home and at work.

What does this look like?

A wellbeing conversation is a discussion with someone about:

their current state of wellbeing
what they’re doing to look after themselves
how they can improve their wellbeing
resources they can draw on and strategies they can use to improve wellbeing.

How can I do this?

The following is a list of questions you can ask in a wellbeing conversation.

1. What does wellbeing mean to you?

Start with a discussion about what wellbeing means. Talk about the four domains of wellbeing—emotional/psychological, social, physical and financial. Point out that wellbeing is a continuum. In each of these areas, we can range anywhere from distressed to thriving. It’s up to an individual to assess where they are on the continuum.

Note that not everyone is ready to talk about or address their wellbeing. Try to meet people where they’re at. Assess whether they are:

distressed and need support
curious about improving their wellbeing but not ready to make changes
ready to take steps to improve their wellbeing
thriving and keen to stay that way.

2. What’s your wellbeing profile?

Where are you on the continuum in each of the domains? Note that:
- ratings are made at a point in time and can vary over time
- you can choose to rate your wellbeing overall or separately for work and non-work life.
When rating yourself, think in terms of the last week. Think about the lowest and highest rating in that period. Compare these to how you rate yourself right now.

3. What would you like to change?

In what areas would you like to improve your wellbeing?
Pick one area that you feel most ready and able to tackle.

4. What strategies could you use?

Explore strategies for improving wellbeing in that area.
If a person is distressed, discuss how they can get support straight away.
Choose one or two strategies that will help you move your current rating by one point in a positive direction (to the right).

5. How can we improve the wellbeing of the team?

As well as having conversations with individuals about their wellbeing, you can also have conversations about the wellbeing of the whole team. You might do this as a group discussion or with individuals in the team.