This week I am exploring what I think is the missing piece in workplace wellbeing. Inspired by a number of conversations I have had recently with organisations, and the same topic has come up time and again. That is Agency.
On briefing calls, leaders are telling me they want their people to feel more ownership over their wellbeing. They want employees to recognise that they have choices, influence and some control over how they manage their energy, resilience and performance. And I think they are right.
But there is an important distinction here. Encouraging greater agency is not the same as telling people that their wellbeing is entirely their responsibility.
Wellbeing is a reciprocal relationship
Organisations have a responsibility to create working environments in which people can thrive. Workload matters. Leadership behaviour matters. Psychological safety matters. Culture, expectations, flexibility and the pace at which people are expected to operate all matter.
You cannot tell someone to protect their energy while rewarding constant availability. You cannot encourage recovery while filling every gap in the working day. You cannot ask people to establish boundaries if leaders routinely ignore their own.
But the reverse is also true. Even in a supportive organisation, nobody else can completely manage your wellbeing for you.
There will always be choices that sit with us as individuals; that is where agency becomes so important and is the reason I think it’s the missing piece in workplace wellbeing.
Agency turns wellbeing from something that happens to us into something we influence
Agency is our ability to influence outcomes. It does not mean having complete control. Very few of us have that. It means recognising the areas where we do have influence and doing something with them.
That might sound like a subtle distinction, but it can fundamentally change the way we approach wellbeing.
Instead of asking: Why am I so tired all the time?
You might ask: What is influencing my energy that I could change?
Instead of: There is nothing I can do about how busy work is.
You might ask: What part of my working day could I organise differently?
Instead of waiting until we have space to try and feel better, calmer or more motivated, we start looking for the levers that are available to us, to create space and actively influence those feelings.
Look for the one small lever
One of the most useful questions you can ask yourself is:
What is one thing I could influence right now that might have a positive effect on how I feel?
Perhaps it is your sleep. If you know that another 30 minutes of sleep makes a significant difference to your energy the following day, can you aim to go to bed a little earlier, or read a book instead of screen time as the last thing before bed?
Perhaps it is putting some daylight and movement into the middle of your working day. Actually taking a lunch break away from your desk, or inviting a colleague for a walking meeting if that’s possible for you.
It might be protecting one evening a week, changing how you use your phone, reducing alcohol, creating more space between meetings (only book 20- or 50-minute meetings), eating properly during the day or becoming clearer about when you are and are not available.
These aren’t dramatic interventions. That’s the point.
We often imagine that improving our wellbeing requires a big reset. A completely different routine. More time. Better circumstances.
But agency often begins with something much smaller. One lever. One decision. One behaviour tweak you repeat consistently.
Small actions restore a sense of control
There is another benefit to starting small. When life or work feels demanding, trying to change everything can become another source of pressure. Small actions give us evidence that we are not entirely at the mercy of our circumstances.
We make one choice. We notice the effect. We repeat it.
Gradually, that builds a stronger sense that I can influence how I feel and how I respond. That is valuable not only for wellbeing, but for building resilience and sustainable high performance too.
Leaders need to create the conditions for agency
For leaders, there is an equally important question:
Are we genuinely giving people permission to exercise agency?
If you want your team to manage their wellbeing proactively, look at the environment surrounding them.
- Do people have some flexibility around how they use their time and energy?
- Is there space for focused work as well as collaboration?
- Are breaks and recovery seen as a normal part of a sustainable working day?
- How is meeting culture perceived or managed?
- Perhaps most importantly, what behaviours are leaders modelling themselves?
Because role modelling matters. If a leader talks about wellbeing but consistently works through holidays, responds late at night and never appears to stop, the cultural message will usually be stronger than the spoken one.
Agency becomes reciprocal
The organisation creates conditions that make healthier choices possible. Leaders demonstrate those choices in practice. Individuals then take greater ownership of the things they can influence.
What can you influence today?
We cannot control every demand placed upon us. We cannot remove every difficult circumstance. Workplace wellbeing should never become a convenient way of placing systemic problems onto individuals.
But neither should we underestimate our own ability to affect an outcome. Most of us have more agency than we think.
So rather than trying to overhaul everything, start with a much smaller question:
What is one lever I could pull that would make things a little better today?
Then pull it. Small actions, repeated consistently, can create surprisingly big changes over time. And if you lead others, start there too. Look at the conditions you are creating, the behaviours you are modelling and the permission you are giving people to take greater ownership of their energy and wellbeing. Because sustainable wellbeing needs both sides of the relationship.
The missing piece in workplace wellbeing may simply be agency: understanding what we can influence, and using that influence well.
Help your people put this into practice
Agency is something that can be strengthened. If you would like to help your leaders and teams better understand what they can influence, manage their energy more effectively and build healthier ways of working, I can bring these ideas to life through my keynotes and masterclasses tailored to your organisation and teams.
Get in touch to discuss what would be most useful for your organisation.
