The Health and Wellbeing sector is evolving fast, which means keeping yourself up to date is essential for career progression and effectiveness.
Increasingly, employers are looking for Health and Wellbeing leads who have clinical experience or relevant qualifications, as roles in the sector become more focused on interventions that are evidence-based and measuring the impact of any work (see this article for more on the professionalisation of the Wellbeing role).
Read on for five tips for how to keep up to date in this dynamic sector.
1. Read academic journals
Liza Jachens, Deputy Course Director, MSc in Workplace Health & Wellbeing at University of Nottingham says one of the best ways to keep on top of the latest thinking and evidence of what’s working in Wellbeing is to read academic journals. This is because the evidence is constantly accumulating and shifting, and there is usually quite a delay before the academic research reaches the mainstream market and, within that time, probably more change.
“So I do recommend actually going straight to journal papers,” she says. “A lot of them are open access now and you can read them through Google Scholar. And I think this is really important to do because of this gap between research and practice. So if, as practitioners, you’re able to read the research and keep up to date with it, those new insights go into practice so much faster,” she says.
She concedes this isn’t always “easy reading” but encourages people to approach the paper with as much curiosity as they can.
2. Keep up with industry blogs and thought leaders
If you don’t fancy trawling through academic journals, then the next best thing is to read blogs and opinions of those that have – and are producing content on the latest thinking or trends (of course from reputable outlets like Make A Difference Media!).
“Another really great way to keep up is to actually connect with other professionals in your field, especially in other organisations,” says Jachens. She remembers work for one client where different Wellbeing leads met and exchanged experiences, which was really helpful for learning.
“I know sometimes it takes a bit of courage to talk about your pain points to other organisations, but the sharing of this knowledge can be super valuable,” she says.
[The Make A Difference Leaders’ Club is a network of like-minded senior peers, from across sectors and with a range of job titles, who get together several times across the year to drive forward best practice in workplace culture, employee health and wellbeing. You can find out more about this and here].
3. Have a reflective mindset
There are plenty of learnings to be had live on the job in the workplace. Jachens suggests “looking at what you’re doing in the workplace and have a look at how effective it is”.
She encourages people to mine the learnings right in front of them, from the interventions they’re implementing.
“You can learn alot from having that reflective mindset and doing some really formal evaluations of the interventions that are happening,” she says.
4. Study for a qualification
Naturally, heading up the MSc at Nottingham, Jachens admits she’s going to encourage people to study for a qualification. “It really is one of the fastest routes into learning,” she says. We’ve covered this subject in this feature here.
She adds that many of the students doing the Master’s are mature students already working in Wellbeing who are “super passionate” about the topic.
“They not only learn a lot from literature, from reading, from doing projects, but they learn a lot from each other. And it’s great networking for them,” she says.
5. Are you learning what your community needs?
This is one of the questions Rebecca Eaton, Head of Occupational Health and Wellbeing for Cadent Gas, suggests that people ask before they embark on any kind of learning. And a precursor to this question, she says is, “Do you know the needs of your community?”.
It’s essential to ask them directly and not make any assumptions about what your employees might need, or be drawn into the trend of the month or things competitors are doing. It’s also important to keep asking them, so you are aware of new areas which you might need to know more about.
As an example of this, Eaton says that she discovered she needed to learn more about financial wellbeing: “Five years ago we weren’t talking about financial wellbeing and I didn’t know anything about it – so it was something I had to learn about. So my key message is to know what your community’s needs are but also start to predict what those needs are going to be.”
A great way to increase your industry contacts and knowledge is to attend The Leaders’ Summit at MAD World, an event driving excellence in workplace culture, employee health and wellbeing.
The Summmit on 17th October 2024, will bring together speakers and attendees from across sectors and with a range of job titles for two tracks of leading-edge content that showcase best practice and provide insights and inspiration for all those looking to achieve maximum engagement with initiatives, optimise investment, stay one step ahead and really make a difference.
The stellar lineup of speakers includes: Professor Dame Carol Black GBE FRCP FMed Sci; Peter Cheese, CEO, CIPD, Vanessa Harwood-Whitcher, Chief Executive, The Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH), Dhavani Bishop, Head of Group Colleague Health & Wellbeing, Tesco, Kirstin Furber, People Director, Channel 4, Dr Clare Fernandes, Chief Medical Officer, BBC, Christian van Stolk, Executive Vice President, RAND Europe, Andrew Gibbons, Group Head of Wellbeing, Recognition and Hybrid Working, HSBC, Karen Brookes, Chief People Officer, Sir Robert McAlpine, Jaimy Fairclough, Wellbeing Specialist – People Division, Sainsbury’s, Dr Femi Oduneye, Vice President Health, Shell International B.V. and many more. You can find out more and register to attend here.
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