Creating an Organizational Culture of Wellness with Melissa Wesner

The Prosperous Nonprofit

How does your nonprofit take care of its employees? Recent research shows that employees who strongly agree their employer cares about their overall well-being (compared with those who don't) are 71% less likely to report high levels of burnout, leading to happier and more productive employees. In this episode, I spoke with special guest, Melissa Wesner, Licensed Counselor, about how nonprofit leaders can create a culture of wellness that benefits both employees and your bottom line.

Melissa shared a ton of strategies and resources leadership teams can use to cultivate this wellness culture like how to prevent burnout, the importance of addressing your own well-being, and setting strong boundaries. She also discussed how this wellness culture benefits the organization financially with lower employee turnover and more productivity. Plus, Melissa debunked one of the most common myths about taking care of your employees. This is a great episode for nonprofit leaders looking for ways to boost employee well-being and impact on the communities their organization serves.

About Melissa

Melissa Wesner is a Licensed Counselor, Brainspotting Consultant, and Founder of LifeSpring Counseling Services a group counseling practice in Maryland. Melissa loves hosting, planning, and bringing people together for meaningful experiences which is one of the reasons that she is now hosting international retreats for entrepreneurs and leaders. She is also the host of the Dreaming & Doing podcast, a podcast for big dreamers and action-takers looking for weekly doses of inspiration from successful entrepreneurs and wellness experts.

Read the podcast transcript here.

Episode Summary

In this episode, you’ll learn strategies for creating an organizational culture of wellness including:

• What brain spotting is and why it’s beneficial (4:30)

• The importance of addressing your well-being (7:10)

• Strategies for preventing burnout in the nonprofit sector (10:20)

• Setting better boundaries for ourselves (20:10)

• How building a culture of employee wellness impacts the bottom line of an organization (26:00)

• Cultivating an organizational culture of wellness (38:30)

Teasers

“We have this people-pleaser trait, and we want to make everybody happy. We say yes, even when we don't want to say yes. The problem with saying yes when we don't want to say yes is that’s when resentment comes in.”

“Give yourself permission to not feel guilty about taking care of yourself.”

“Taking care of your employees’ well-being does not necessarily mean that you have to spend all of this money on extravagant things.”

Resources

Creating Your Burnout Prevention Plan: https://dreaming-and-doing-podcast.ck.page/business-owner-burnout-plan

A Preparation Checklist for Getting Out of the Office: https://dreaming-and-doing-podcast.ck.page/travel-prep-list

Costa Rica Retreat: https://lifespringcounseling.net/small-business-owners-retreat-in-costa-rica

Melissa’s Dreaming and Doing Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dreaming-and-doing-podcast/id1723843028

Follow Melissa on Instagram: @melissa_wesner_

Follow Melissa on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lifespringcounselingservices

Keep up to date with the podcast: @100degreesconsulting

Follow Stephanie on Instagram: @stephanie.skry/

Connect with Stephanie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephanieskryzowski/

Visit the podcast page: https://100degreesconsulting.com/creating-culture-of-wellness

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