ELE brings leaders together across companies and industries to work through the messy stuff: decisions, risk, handoffs, execution drag, and what it takes to move from idea to action.

UPCOMING CALENDAR

LATEST IDEA EXCHANGE

RECENT INSIGHTS

WHO WE ARE

About ELE

Companies In Our Network

Contact ELE

<p>Figure out if ELE is for you. Straight answers on what ELE is, who it’s built for, and how contributing members actually work together. Still have a question? Contact us.</p>

Lake Forest Center for Leadership

ELE Group, LLC

<p class="whitespace-pre-wrap"><strong>Session Focus: Leadership Principles to Advocate for Mental Health and Foster a Culture of Workplace Well-Being
</strong></p>
Last month, the Executive Learning Exchange’s (ELE) Wisconsin Cohort hosted <a href="https://www.ele.llc/insights/leadership-perspectives-wellness-isolation-people-first-talent-practices-froedterts">Leadership Perspectives: Wellness &amp; Isolation | People-First Talent Practices @ Froedtert</a>. This engaging session highlighted the importance of addressing workplace wellness and isolation as part of holistic talent management practices.
<blockquote>"Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis." - Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, US Surgeon General</blockquote>
<strong>This session provided critical insights into how addressing mental well-being can drive business success.</strong> In today’s workplace, mental health challenges, particularly social isolation, are directly affecting productivity, engagement, and retention. As HR leaders, it’s vital to take a proactive approach to mental health and link well-being to business outcomes.
<blockquote>"Social isolation lowers productivity and increases turnover. Addressing it isn’t just about mental health—it’s a business imperative." -- <a href="https://www.ele.llc/members/jacki-davidoff" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jacki Davidoff</a></blockquote>
Here are three key takeaways from the discussion:
<ol>
 	<li><strong>Proactive Culture Creation</strong>: HR leaders must intentionally cultivate work environments that prioritize mental health. This involves fostering a sense of belonging and recognition, ensuring employees feel seen, heard, and valued.</li>
 	<li><strong>Empowering Frontline Leaders</strong>: Equip managers with emotional intelligence (EQ) tools to better support their teams. Providing managers with the right resources enables them to actively contribute to retention and engagement efforts, especially by using existing tools in new ways.</li>
 	<li><strong>Linking Mental Well-being to Business Outcomes</strong>: Mental health issues are not just about employee well-being—they are a business imperative. Senior leaders need to view mental health initiatives as essential to driving long-term business success.</li>
</ol>
By addressing mental health strategically, HR leaders can not only improve employee well-being but also drive positive business outcomes. Let’s continue to lead the charge in building resilient, productive workplaces where employees can thrive.

<img class="size-full wp-image-41161 aligncenter" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SOCIAL-CONNECTION-6-Pillars-to-Advance.png" alt="" width="396" height="493" />

<span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Read more:</strong></span> <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf">Surgeon General Social Connection Advisory.pdf (hhs.gov)</a>

Leaders as Champions of Mental Well-Being

Engagement &amp; Culture

Leadership

dirk.tussing

michael.grubich

tracey.wik

richard.busby

innovation

engagement

jacki.davidoff

edward.desrosiers

leadership development

talent development

talent management

learning &amp; development

matt.donovan

employee engagement

business impact

reskilling

rahul.sharma

peter.hogaboam

peer-learning

organizational success

workplace culture

organizational culture

employee well-being

sirena.arnaout

HR leadership

HR strategies

alanna.libbrecht

Change Readiness

workplace productivity

Loneliness

Social Connection

Mental Health

Workforce Resilience

US Surgeon General

Community Building

todd.brockway

ELE Insights

Strategic Insights

Talent Leadership

Workplace Development

social isolation

<p class="whitespace-pre-wrap"><strong>Session Focus: Leadership Principles to Advocate for Mental Health and Foster a Culture of Workplace Well-Being
</strong></p>
Last month, the Executive Learning Exchange’s (ELE) Wisconsin Cohort hosted <a href="https://www.ele.llc/insights/leadership-perspectives-wellness-isolation-people-first-talent-practices-froedterts">Leadership Perspectives: Wellness &amp; Isolation | People-First Talent Practices @ Froedtert</a>. This engaging session highlighted the importance of addressing workplace wellness and isolation as part of holistic talent management practices.
<blockquote>"Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis." - Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, US Surgeon General</blockquote>
Building on these discussions, our upcoming Zoom session invites HR and talent leaders to delve deeper into the report's implications for leadership development programs within their organizations. Join us for a dynamic ideation session where ELE talent leaders will collaborate to create a robust toolkit emphasizing mental well-being. Kate Nitschke, Head of Wellbeing at Froedtert Hospital, previously shared valuable insights on practical strategies for fostering a culture of mental well-being.

In this collaborative environment, we aim to define actionable steps leaders can take to integrate mental health advocacy into their leadership practices. Given the profound consequences of loneliness and isolation, as highlighted by Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General, "we have an opportunity, and an obligation, to make the same investments in addressing social connection that we have made in addressing tobacco use, obesity, and the addiction crisis."

<strong>Does your current leadership development program equip leaders to champion mental well-being?</strong> Join us to enhance your approach and ensure your leaders are prepared to support their teams effectively.

<img class="size-full wp-image-41161 aligncenter" src="https://wp.ele.llc/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/SOCIAL-CONNECTION-6-Pillars-to-Advance.png" alt="" width="396" height="493" />

Pre-read: <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/surgeon-general-social-connection-advisory.pdf">Surgeon General Social Connection Advisory.pdf (hhs.gov)</a>

&nbsp;

ELE produces this Learning Circle: Biweekly HR Trends.

<strong>ELE's <a title="ELE's Idea Exchange" href="/idea-exchange/">Idea Exchange</a>:</strong> Collaborate online with your peers.

single-event

Your Teams

Learning Circles

Complimentary

online event

complimentary event

<div style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: #333; line-height: 1.8; max-width: 850px; margin: auto; text-align: justify; font-size: 18px;">
<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">The Rebellion Against Command and Control</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">We’ve inherited a version of leadership that was designed for the industrial age—built on hierarchy, standardization, and the illusion of control. In <b><i>Dare to Un-Lead</i></b>, Céline Schillinger argues that these legacy models are not only outdated but are actively harming our ability to innovate and connect.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">For ELE members, this book provides the intellectual "permission" to stop being a enforcer of corporate policy and start being a catalyst for collective agency. Schillinger invites us to "un-lead"—to strip away the ego-driven, top-down structures and replace them with something far more potent: shared purpose and active participation.</p>


<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">The Blueprint: Liberty, Solidarity, and Equality</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">Schillinger reinterprets these classic values through the lens of modern organizational design, providing a framework for what she calls "leadership for the 21st century":</p>

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Liberty:</b> This is about autonomy and trust. Instead of monitoring inputs, un-leading means creating a space where individuals have the freedom to decide <i>how</i> they contribute to the mission.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Solidarity:</b> Moving beyond the "individual contributor" mindset. It’s about building communities within organizations where people feel a genuine sense of belonging and mutual responsibility.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Equality:</b> This challenges the traditional pyramid. It doesn't mean removing all structure, but it does mean ensuring that everyone’s voice has the potential to influence the direction of the work, regardless of their title.</li>
</ul>

<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">Why It Matters for the ELE Community</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">As senior Talent and L&amp;D leaders, you are often the guardians of the employee experience. Schillinger’s work offers a roadmap for high-level transformation:</p>

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>From Engagement to Activism:</b> Instead of measuring "engagement" through surveys, this book teaches leaders how to spark internal "movements" that drive change from the bottom up.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Redefining Management:</b> It provides a compelling argument for moving away from the "manager as a hero" trope and toward "manager as a host"—someone who facilitates the success of others.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Culture as a Living Organism:</b> It aligns with the ELE philosophy that culture isn't something you "impose"; it’s something that emerges when you get the human dynamics right.</li>
</ul>

<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<div style="font-style: italic; color: #444; background-color: #f4f4f4; padding: 30px; border-radius: 12px; border-right: 5px solid #cc0000;">Un-leading is not an abdication of responsibility; it is a higher form of it. It requires the courage to let go of the steering wheel so that the collective intelligence of the organization can take over. When we stop trying to lead people and start leading with them, we unlock a level of agility and passion that no traditional hierarchy could ever produce.</div>
</div>

Dare to Un-Lead: The Art of Relational Leadership in a Fragmented World

future of work

Change Management

agility

servant leadership

employee experience

decentralized leadership

L&amp;D strategy

human-centered design

employee agency

social movement

workplace community

<div style="font-family: 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; color: #333; line-height: 1.8; max-width: 850px; margin: auto; text-align: justify; font-size: 18px;">
<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">Adaptation and Decentralized Leadership</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">In a corporate world obsessed with five-year plans and static roadmaps, adrienne maree brown’s <b><i>Emergent Strategy</i></b> offers a radical alternative. Inspired by Octavia Butler’s science fiction and the patterns found in nature—like the murmuration of starlings or the resilience of mycelium—brown argues that our strategies should be "emergent" rather than forced.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">For the ELE community, this book serves as a masterclass in complexity. It suggests that if we focus on the small, high-quality connections within our organizations, the large-scale transformation will take care of itself. It is a shift from "command and control" to "facilitate and flourish."</p>


<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">The Blueprint: Principles of Emergence</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">The book is organized around a set of core principles that challenge traditional management theory. These are the "biological" rules for organizational health:</p>

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Fractals:</b> The health of the whole is found in the smallest part. "What we practice at the small scale sets the patterns for the whole system."</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Adaptive Nature:</b> Change is constant. Leaders should not try to stop change but instead learn to "ride" it, staying intentional about their direction while being flexible about their methods.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Decentralization:</b> Power and intelligence should be distributed. Just as a forest doesn't have a single "CEO tree," a resilient organization empowers every individual to sense and respond to the environment.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Interdependence:</b> We are in a constant state of relationship. Success isn't about individual "rockstars" but about the strength and trust of the web between people.</li>
</ul>

<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<h4 style="font-size: 1.75rem; color: #1a1a1a; margin-top: 2.5rem; margin-bottom: 1.2rem; border-left: 5px solid #cc0000; padding-left: 15px; text-align: left; line-height: 1.3;">Why It Matters for the ELE Community</h4>
<p style="margin-bottom: 1.5rem;">For senior HR and Talent leaders, <i>Emergent Strategy</i> provides a necessary bridge between "business as usual" and the future of human-centric work:</p>

<ul style="padding-left: 25px; margin-bottom: 2.5rem;">
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Resilience Over Robustness:</b> While robust systems resist change (and eventually break), emergent systems adapt. This book helps ELE members design cultures that thrive during market volatility and organizational pivots.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Authentic DEIB:</b> brown’s work is rooted in social justice. It helps leaders move DEIB initiatives away from "compliance checklists" toward deep, relational work that actually shifts how people belong within a company.</li>
 	<li style="margin-bottom: 1.2rem;"><b>Facilitation as a Superpower:</b> It reframes the role of the L&amp;D leader as a facilitator of emergence. Instead of just delivering "content," you are creating the conditions for collective intelligence to surface.</li>
</ul>

<hr style="border: 0; border-top: 1px solid #eee; margin: 2.5rem 0;" />

<div style="font-style: italic; color: #444; background-color: #f4f4f4; padding: 30px; border-radius: 12px; border-right: 5px solid #cc0000;">As leaders, we often feel the pressure to have all the answers and to map out every mile of the journey. brown reminds us that the most sustainable growth is that which happens naturally through trust, adaptation, and small-scale intentionality. By embracing emergence, we stop trying to predict the future and start practicing the future we want to inhabit.</div>
</div>

Login