In a recent conversation with Dr. Suzy Harrington, a pioneering health and wellbeing executive, we explored what it means to thrive as individuals and organizations during these turbulent times.
As someone who has served as the first dedicated Chief Wellness Officer in higher education and developed influential frameworks for organizational wellbeing, Suzy offers valuable insights on creating environments where people can flourish despite challenges.
What Does It Mean to Thrive Today?
Suzy believes that at the heart of thriving in today’s world is our relationships with others. “Be kind, be compassionate, use your voice, have meaningful conversations, listen to others,” she advises. A big part of thriving, whether at work or at home, is about respecting people for who they are, even when differences arise, and developing skills to engage in constructive conflict.
She also emphasizes that finding joy remains essential, even when things feel heavy. I’ve found that whether it’s through reaching out to others, spending time in nature, or honoring whatever spiritual practice works for you, maintaining a sense of joy can be an act of courage—and it is the kind of courageous role modeling our world needs.
“How do you continue to have fun when everything’s so heavy. Sometimes it doesn’t feel right, but find what does work for you…finding joy with others, finding joy outside, finding joy in nature…whatever it is that that works for you, it’s finding that connection.”
A Framework for Driving Organizational Wellbeing
Throughout her career, Suzy has designed a comprehensive framework that helps organizations intentionally build cultures of wellbeing.
Her model consists of concentric circles that address several key questions:
- Why—What is your purpose? This is about defining the mission driving your wellbeing effort.
- Who—Who are you serving? This question invites you to clarify and understand the diverse populations you’re impacting with your wellbeing efforts, including their specific aspirations and needs.
- What—What dimensions of wellbeing are you addressing? For instance, some organizations consider the physical, emotional, social, professional, and spiritual aspects of the human experience, while others extend their wellbeing frameworks to communities and the environment.
- How—How will you nurture and support wellbeing? This means using strategies that address individual, interpersonal, organizational, and policy levels.
- When—What is the timing for implementing your strategies? The aim is not just to have reactive interventions, such as risk reduction and early detection of illness and disease, but to provide a continuum of care that involves proactive prevention and health and wellbeing promotion.
When it comes to cultivating wellbeing in organizations, addressing real thriving for people, teams, and work cultures is most often neglected. So, I appreciate how Suzy’s multilayered approach emphasizes: Wellbeing isn’t just an individual responsibility; it requires supportive environments, policies, and cultures that foster the conditions for people to flourish.
For Wisdom Works, central to this is thriving leadership, a paradigm that invites people and brands to transform imbalances, stresses, and disruption into opportunities for sustainable growth, capacity-building, and overall wellbeing for people and our planet.
Finding Hope for Our Collective Future
I hope you enjoy my conversation with Suzy as much as I did. She reminds us that for organizations that prioritize thriving, people are better equipped to cut through the noise when chaos arises, to thoughtfully consider options for responding rather than reacting to challenge, and to innovate and evolve, even during difficult times.
Suzy believes in hope for our collective future. “We’ve evolved and we continue to evolve,” she reflects. “As crazy as things are now, we’re still at this moment in a better place than our ancestors were.”
Humanity has faced difficult periods throughout history and found ways to grow through them. By staying connected, focusing on what truly matters, and creating supportive environments, we can continue evolving toward more thriving individuals, organizations, and communities.
ABOUT DR. SUZY HARRINGTON
Suzy Harrington, DNP, RN, MCHES, is a nationally respected well-being speaker, strategist, and leader with extensive experience across higher education, healthcare, the Air Force Health Promotion, and nonprofits such as the American Nurses Association and NCQA. Suzy spent a decade in higher education advocating for health-promoting universities at both national and international levels and served as the first dedicated Chief Wellness Officer in higher education. She also contributed to the drafting of the Okanagan Charter for Health Promoting Universities.
Suzy has a diverse nursing background, including roles in the Air Force, ICU, radiology, open-heart surgery, recruiting, and her personal favorite, school health. Throughout her career, Dr. Harrington established herself as a leader in population health, leaving a legacy of sustainable well-being initiatives. She holds a Master’s in Health Services/Health Promotion and a Doctor of Nursing Practice with a focus on business, leadership, and health promotion.
Stay tuned for her new book arriving this fall!
RESOURCES
- A Comprehensive Framework for Health-Promoting Organizations, Suzy Harrington
- Reimagining Workplace Well-Being: Fostering a Culture of Purpose, Connection, and Transcendence by Jessica Grossmeier
- Paul Wesselman, The Ripples Guy
