Improving Health is session 4 in in our 6-part series Wellbeing at Work: A 6-Part Series for Alumni.

Health is an outcome, a state of being and a resource for living that allows people to function and participate in work and life. We focus on the awareness, motivation, values, and behaviors associated with optimal functioning for both body and mind. Enhanced efficiency, capacity for innovation, the ability to manage and leverage stress, navigate uncertainty, and effectively collaborate are all related to brain health.

This 90-minute session will help you define health in the context of work and practice leadership behaviors that encourage optimal functioning for both body and mind. Several activities will help you understand why health is important and how to promote healthy behaviors and mindsets with those around you. You’ll be provided a guided workbook for the session, and connect with smaller groups of 3-4 in breakout rooms.

What You’ll Learn

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

• Define health and explore implications for leadership
• Identify opportunities to strengthen your health and the health of those around you
• Reduce overwork, multitasking, false urgency, and toxic behaviors known to increase burnout symptoms
• Promote brain breaks, embrace energy peaks, and encourage strategic attention to help others thrive

Please note: To enhance program experience, attendance will be limited and is expected to fill quickly. If you find you can no longer attend, please be sure to cancel your registration to open a spot for others.

More on the series: In this complimentary 6-part series from October 2025 through March 2026, alumni will have the opportunity to experience our Wellbeing at Work Live Online modules, normally available for custom programming.  Join 1 or all, as these program sessions are designed to be experienced on their own or combined for a holistic wellbeing experience.

The post Improving Health: CCL Alumni Network Wellbeing Series appeared first on CCL.

At least, that’s what they say. But for many of us, the holiday season can feel more like the season of stress, long lines, and countdowns. Whether we’re worried about meeting deadlines or in-laws, many of us muddle through the holidays and return to work wondering where the time went.

While some of the events to come over the next few weeks are inevitable, there’s a helpful technique you can use to help maximize your joy this holiday season — it’s called savoring.

Savoring is the scientific term for deliberately enhancing and prolonging your positive moods, experiences, and emotions.

You’ve probably done it before. Perhaps you closed your eyes to help you appreciate a moving symphony performance or stared in awe at your infant’s smile, trying to make sure you remembered every aspect of that moment. It’s important to note that savoring is not a mood or emotion itself, but rather a way of approaching positive emotions. For instance, you could savor feeling awe, interest, delight, love, pride, amusement, or contentment.

Why Savoring Is Linked to Happiness

Consciously savoring the good things in life is important because neuroscience research suggests that our brains have a negativity bias. Negative things tend to stand out in our minds, while positive things tend to be easily dismissed or forgotten. This makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint, given that remembering mistakes and bad experiences (like eating a poisonous fruit or being attacked by a wildcat) was important for survival.

But now, constantly ruminating over what went wrong probably does more harm than good. According to our former board member and positivity expert Barbara Fredrickson, people who see more positive than negative things in their lives tend to be more happy and successful, as well as more resilient leaders.

Considering this, it’s perhaps not surprising that savoring — or being good at taking in good things — is linked to increased happiness, more life satisfaction, and lower levels of depression, and it even enables leaders to support employee wellbeing.

In fact, some research suggests that savoring may be the secret behind why money doesn’t often buy happiness: As people become wealthier, they stop savoring the little things, so while their wealth increases, their savoring doesn’t, and neither does their happiness.

Savoring is also uniquely tied to stress. People who are struggling with rumination, stress, and burnout tend to have a harder time savoring things. But when stress is lifted, savoring seems to automatically kick in. Think of how good it feels to enjoy a quiet morning after meeting a big deadline, or to arrive back in a quiet hotel room after a long, rough day of travel.

Neuroscience research shows that sustained activation of a region of your brain called the ventral striatum is related to both savoring and lower levels of cortisol (a stress hormone), suggesting the possibility that one might help suppress the other.

How Leaders Can Find Joy & Maximize Holidays

Ready to try this positivity booster yourself? Science suggests that these 4 savoring strategies can help you savor joy over the holidays and the last days of the year, or really, in any season:

4 Savoring Strategies

1. Bask in happy moments.

Be present in the moment. Unlike a mindfulness practice, which emphasizes detached observation, savoring involves actively seeking out and soaking in the positive emotions using your 5 senses.

This comes more easily when you set your intentions ahead of time regarding where, when, and what you’re going to savor. For instance, if you plan to savor your family holiday dinner, you might notice special smells of your favorite foods, the sound of laughter with your relatives, enabling you to feel more grateful for your time together and less perturbed by a snide comment or a dry turkey.

• Try it out: Try selecting a few specific moments or events over the next few weeks that you plan to savor. Maybe it’s watching loved ones unwrap gifts, savoring a tasty meal, or being fully present when the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve. Whatever the occasion, remember to take in the enjoyable sensory, emotional, and relational aspects of the experience and hold on to them for as long as you can.

2. Wear your joy on your sleeve.

Put a smile on your face. Really! Another way to elevate your positive experiences is through your non-verbal behaviors and expressions. We typically think of our physical reactions as simply the result of our emotions (for example, we smile because we feel happy). However, science suggests the chain reaction goes both ways — smiling actually makes us feel happier, while hunching our shoulders and crossing our arms can make us feel more upset.

• Try it out: This holiday season, try intentionally laughing, smiling, hugging, exchanging high fives, jumping for joy, and doing the happy dance to amplify your happy moments.

3. Engage in positive mental time travel.

Let your mind wander. Even if you aren’t experiencing something positive in the present moment, you can still practice savoring. We all have the ability to “time travel” within our minds to a more positive moment — whether it’s sometime in the past or in our anticipated future. Studies show that vividly reminiscing over positive experiences in the past and eagerly anticipating future joyful occasions can boost your happiness levels, both in the moment and over time.

• Try it out: Think about a time when you felt so happy, you thought you would burst. Remember how you felt in that moment (Giddy? Grateful? Excited?). Replay the event in your mind as if you were reliving it. Remember what you were thinking, seeing, doing. Recall who else was there and why that moment was so special.

Alternatively, you could take a moment to think about what aspect of the upcoming week you’re most excited about. Really immerse yourself in the vision of the positive things that could happen.

4. Share your gratitude with others.

Connect meaningfully. While the first 3 savoring strategies can be done solo, this last one requires connecting with other people. Research suggests that sharing positive events with others is a great way to further amplify and savor the good things in your life. This strategy works best when you share with someone you’re close to and when that someone is likely to mirror back your positive emotions.

This creates an upward spiral of positivity. In fact, some research suggests involving others in your savoring can not only increase the positive impact of events, but also boost your mental and physical resilience.

This is consistent with our findings about the importance of gratitude in the workplace, too.

• Try it out: Do some savoring with others this holiday season by taking the time to connect with people who are important to you. Get hot chocolate with a valued colleague, or put aside work to spend quality time with a family member you don’t get to see often. Use the opportunity to share what’s going well in your world, reminisce over a memory or experience you both shared, or let them know how grateful you are to have them in your life.

A Final Word on Finding Joy With Savoring Strategies

Of course, all new habits take some practice, so don’t let yourself get frustrated if you forget to use these savoring strategies or if you don’t find joy and feel positive results right away. Just keep them in mind and try them again later. With time and practice, savoring can help you be a happier person and more effective leader, bringing more joy to the world — and to yourself.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

Let us help you be more intentional about cultivating positivity in your leadership through savoring strategies and other wellbeing tips. Stay updated on our latest insights by signing up for our newsletters.

The post How to Maximize Joy & Savor the Holidays appeared first on CCL.

Making Connection is session 3 in in our 6-part series Wellbeing at Work: A 6-Part Series for Alumni.

Connection involves forming and maintaining healthy and strong interpersonal relationships, which help to guard against burnout and create an environment in which all employees thrive. Connection is related to the level of trust within teams, the quality and strength in relationships, motivation, commitment and is deeply tied to a sense of belonging.

This 90-minute session will help you define connection and practice leadership behaviors that help those around you feel more connected and engaged at work. It involves several activities to help you understand why connection is important and how to build it. You’ll be provided a guided workbook for the session, and connect with smaller groups of 3-4 in breakout rooms.

What You’ll Learn

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

• Define connection and explore implications for leadership
• Identify opportunities to strengthen connections both in person and virtually
• Enhance others’ connection, belonging, and commitment inside of an organization

Please note: To enhance program experience, attendance will be limited and is expected to fill quickly. If you find you can no longer attend, please be sure to cancel your registration to open a spot for others.

More on the series: In this complimentary 6-part series from October 2025 through March 2026, alumni will have the opportunity to experience our Wellbeing at Work Live Online modules, normally available for custom programming.  Join 1 or all, as these program sessions are designed to be experienced on their own or combined for a holistic wellbeing experience.

The post Making Connection: CCL Alumni Network Wellbeing Series appeared first on CCL.

Dates: Wed., Oct 22, 2025 – Wed., Mar 11, 2026

Leading with wellbeing is associated with engagement, creativity, job satisfaction, and performance. Specifically, high levels of wellbeing have been shown to reduce employee burnout and enhance trust, innovation, and resiliency.

As an exclusive learning opportunity to the CCL Alumni Network, we are excited to offer a complimentary 6-part series, where alumni will have the opportunity to experience our Wellbeing at Work Live Online modules, normally available for custom programming. Join one session or all, as these program sessions are designed to be experienced on their own or combined for a holistic wellbeing experience.

We developed these modules to help participants explore the awareness, motivation, values, and behaviors for optimal functioning of both body and mind. In them, we focus on 6 components of leading with wellbeing that help leaders enhance their own leadership and wellbeing — as well as that of their colleagues and direct reports. The 6 keys to leading with wellbeing are:

1. Purpose
2. Growth
3. Health
4. Agency
5. Connection
6. Resilience

As you engage in the series, you will learn to:

• Identify 6 areas of leading wellbeing at work
• Practice wellbeing-related leadership behaviors and beliefs
• Create environments where others can thrive

By the end, you’ll be equipped with skills needed to foster environments where you and your teams can truly thrive.

Series Overview

Stay connected throughout the series as we explore all 6 dimensions of Leading Wellbeing. Each session builds new insight and practice to strengthen how you lead and live.

Session 1: Finding Purpose | Wednesday October 22, 2025

Clarify your core values, learn to align personal purpose with organizational goals, and practice ways to help others do the same.

Marin Burton, PhD

Session 2: Building Resilience | Wednesday November 12, 2025

Define resilience and practice leadership behaviors that help those around you positively adapt and grow in response to challenges.

Andi Williams, MAEd

Session 3: Making Connection | Wednesday December 10, 2025

Register Here

Identify opportunities to strengthen connections both in-person and virtually, and enhance others’ connection, belonging, and commitment inside of an organization.

Paige Graham, PhD

Session 4: Improving Health | Wednesday January 21, 2026

Register Here

Discover how leaders foster brain health, energy, and resilience for peak performance.

Peter Ronayne, PhD

Session 5: Recognizing Agency | Wednesday February 18, 2026

Register Here

Learn to boost autonomy, confidence, and motivation — key drivers of wellbeing and leadership.

Julie Neill, MSc

Session 6: Catalyzing Growth | Wednesday March 11, 2026

Register Here

Explore how a growth mindset and learning culture fuel individual and organizational success.

Dana Washington, MA

The post Wellbeing at Work: A 6-Part Series for Alumni appeared first on CCL.

HERO (Health Enhancement Research Organization) is a member-driven national nonprofit organization dedicated to identifying and sharing best practices in the field of workplace health and wellbeing. The 2025 HERO forum aimed to bring together like-minded leaders intent on advancing best practices for health and wellbeing into workplace cultures.

For the past 25 years, HERO has been dedicated to turning science into practice in the advancement of employee and organizational wellbeing. Bergeron’s session was recorded and will be available to all HERO members.

Read more about our research-based recommendations for listening skills.

The post CCL’s Diane Bergeron Presents Listening Research at the 2025 HERO Forum appeared first on CCL.

As social sector organizations face increased change and uncertainty, leaders often find themselves pulled in many different directions. It can be challenging to find the time and attention to focus on wellbeing — or anything — yet wellbeing is critical to sustain individuals, teams, your organization, and the communities you serve. Whether or not you’re in a formal position managing others, you can make a difference in the wellbeing of leaders at your organization and, in turn, the continued impact of your mission.

Join us to explore strategies for increased wellbeing at work in this interactive session designed specifically for those working in the social sector at nonprofit, education, and public health organizations.

What You’ll Learn

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• The impact of disruption on team and leader wellbeing
• The 6 research-based components of wellbeing for leaders of others
• Tips for how to apply these components in your role and organization
• How supporting wellbeing can support your mission and impact

The post Wellbeing for Leaders in the Social Sector appeared first on CCL.