Workplace Wellness that Works: 10 Steps to Infuse Well-Being and Vitality into Any Organization

Step 3Uncover the Hidden Factors(The Culture Imperative)

Two young fish are swimming. They encounter an older fish. As they cross paths, the older fish greets them, “Morning boys, how's the water?” The two younger fish keep swimming. A few minutes later one of the younger fish turns to the other and asks, “What the heck is water?”

This is the story that David Foster Wallace, philosopher and author of Infinite Jest, told to open his commencement speech at Kenyon College in 2005. It's also a great story to describe culture. Just like water, culture is something that surrounds us. It's so ubiquitous that we don't even see it, and yet it shapes our behaviors in ways that we could not possibly imagine.

While we will often say that we are creatures of habit, I would argue that we are more creatures of culture. Therefore, if we really want to start changing behaviors, we need to shift our focus from changing a few behaviors, a few people at a time, to changing many behaviors, entire cultures at a time.

In venturing into this vast territory of culture, your task is to first understand your culture, or hidden factors, to devise a wellness strategy that fits the culture. Second, you need to ascertain the extent to which the larger, organizational culture is going to either boost or undermine your efforts. Without culture on your side, it is much more challenging—but not impossible—to ...