Flourishing at Work: A Leader’s Guide to Building Curious, High-Performing Teams (part 1)

Performance is a leadership outcome - so is flourishing.

We hear a lot from leaders about ‘navigating complexity’ these days. Shifting expectations, rising workloads, economic pressure and evolving employee needs. In this environment, the question is no longer whether employee wellbeing matters - it’s whether organisations can afford to ignore it.

Flourishing at work is emerging as a defining leadership priority. It goes beyond engagement scores or stress reduction initiatives. It asks a deeper question:

Are we designing workplaces where people can thrive (not just keep up)?

This article offers practical tips for leaders to foster environments where sustainable performance and human wellbeing reinforce each other.

What is flourishing at work?

Flourishing is a multidimensional concept. Dr Tyler VanderWeele’s work at the Harvard Flourishing Program defines human flourishing as the state in which individuals experience a broad sense of well-being and fulfillment across multiple dimensions of life.

When translated into workplace settings, flourishing refers to employees who:

• Experience positive mental and emotional health

• Feel psychologically safe and valued

• Understand the purpose of their work

• Maintain supportive relationships

• Perform sustainably without chronic stress

This is not merely aspirational language. The data is compelling.

According to Gallup:

• Teams with high wellbeing see 23% higher profitability

• Employees who feel supported are 43% less likely to experience burnout

• Wellbeing strongly predicts retention and discretionary effort

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization estimates that anxiety and depression cost the global economy approximately $1 trillion annually in lost productivity.

For leaders and P&C professionals, the message is clear: flourishing is both a human and strategic imperative.

The leadership blind spot.

Despite growing awareness, many organisations unintentionally undermine flourishing through:

• Constant urgency and unrealistic workloads

• Performance systems that reward output over sustainability

• Limited space for reflection or recovery

• Cultures where self-criticism is mistaken for accountability

What we do know is chronic workplace stress activates the brain’s threat response, impairing decision-making, collaboration and innovation. Over time, this erodes psychological safety and trust.

Leaders may believe they are driving performance, when in reality they are depleting cognitive and emotional capacity.

The cost?

• Higher absenteeism and presenteeism

• Reduced creativity and risk-taking

• Increased turnover

• Cultural fragmentation

Supporting flourishing requires moving beyond reactive wellbeing initiatives towards proactive system design - starting with mindful leadership and self-compassion modelling.

How can leaders support flourishing?

1. The power of curiosity: Leading with questions, not answers and assumptions

Curiosity is one of the most underrated leadership capabilities - and one of the most powerful drivers of flourishing.

In high-pressure environments, leaders often default to speed: quick answers, rapid decisions, immediate fixes. While efficient, this approach can unintentionally shut down creativity, empowerment, and ownership.

Curiosity does the opposite.

When leaders lead with genuine inquiry, they:

• Increase psychological safety

• Reduce fear of failure

• Surface diverse perspectives

• Strengthen trust and inclusion

Curious leadership sounds like:

• “What are we not seeing yet?”

• “What might be another way to approach this?”

• “What’s getting in the way for you?”

• “What would thriving look like in this situation?”

Curiosity also interrupts assumptions - particularly around performance, motivation, or disengagement. Instead of asking, “Why aren’t they performing?”, curious leaders ask, “What conditions might be affecting performance?”

Flourishing organisations are built on learning cultures. Learning cultures are built on curiosity.

2. Coaching conversations: Creating space for growth and ownership.

If curiosity opens the door, coaching conversations create the pathway.

Coaching is not about giving advice. It is about facilitating reflection, ownership and growth. In flourishing workplaces, managers act less as controllers of output and more as partners in development.

Research consistently shows that employees who receive regular, strengths-based coaching are more engaged and more likely to stay with their organisation (Gallup, 2023).

Effective coaching conversations include:

• Open-ended questions rather than directives

• Exploration of strengths and energy, not just gaps

• Future-focused reflection

• Shared accountability

Instead of: “Here’s what you need to improve.” Try:

“What strengths can you bring to this challenge?”
“What support would help you succeed?”

“What does success look like for you here?”

Coaching conversations also create space for wellbeing dialogue. When leaders regularly ask about capacity, motivation and growth, they identify burnout risks earlier and support sustainable performance.

Flourishing at work is sustained when people feel:

• Heard

• Valued

• Capable

• Supported

Coaching builds all four.

3. Develop leaders as culture multipliers.

Leadership behaviour cascades throughout an organisation. What leaders consistently say, reward, tolerate and prioritise becomes culture.

Gallup’s research shows that managers account for up to 70% of the variance in team engagement. This means leadership capability is not a peripheral issue - it is the central lever for organisational flourishing.

Investing in leader capability is one of the most effective levers for organisational flourishing.

This might look like:

• Emotional intelligence (leading self)

• Effective, inclusive communication and coaching conversations (leading others)

• Ways of working that support productivity and potential (leading the work)

• Creating flourishing environments (leading the system)

From managing performance to cultivating flourishing.

Flourishing at work is not a ‘soft skill’ initiative. It is a strategic choice about how performance is generated and sustained.

For leaders, the opportunity is significant. You influence the systems, rhythms, rituals and behaviours that shape everyday experience at work.

The most successful organisations of the future will not be those that extract the most effort. They will be those that create the conditions for people to thrive - consistently, sustainably and collectively.

Flourishing is not accidental.

It is designed.

Check-out our Flourishing Professionals practice lab and our Leadership Development programs to explore the idea of Flourishing at Work.

ELLIE MASON Ellie is a leadership development facilitator and coach, and an organisational design consultant. She supports the change-makers, P&C leads, and Org Dev teams to design and intentionally create the employee experience to align strategy, leadership, and culture. She loves talking about how they’re holding the tension between the needs of the business and the needs of their people.

Ellie is also a leadership development program curator, facilitator and coach. As a big believer in unlocking potential, she designs leadership experiences that connect to organisational systems. Whether it's helping SMEs transition to leadership, or guiding seasoned pros through fresh challenges, Ellie curates engaging programs, practical tools, and real conversations that inspire growth.

She's all about helping people lead with confidence, clarity, and curiosity. Encouraging leaders to build cognitive capacity in order to strengthen capability and close that pesky knowing-doing gap. Her mantra is “what might be possible?” and her goal is to unleash potential.