Health and wellbeing in the corporate world: The Human Leader playbook

We care about health and well being in the corporate world

A quick note before we dive into the article.

If you are reading this because your teams are tired, tense or quietly burning out, you do not have to figure this out on your own. The Human Leader Workshop is a practical, embodied way to help your managers lead with calm, clarity and genuine human connection in a hybrid, AI-shaped world.

1. Why workplace wellbeing is now a leadership conversation

Health and wellbeing in the corporate world used to sit in a separate box: an Employee Assistance Programme, a mindfulness app, a poster about “resilience” in the lift.

That separation is breaking down.

Recent statistics from the HSE show that in Great Britain hundreds of thousands of workers each year are reporting work-related stress, depression or anxiety, with mental health issues now the primary driver of work-related ill health and a major cause of lost working days. (HSE Media Centre)

At the same time, research on workplace loneliness links low connection with higher burnout, lower performance and higher turnover intentions. (PubMed Central)

ISO 45003, the first global standard for psychological health and safety at work, now frames psychosocial risk – things like high workload, low control, poor support or bullying – as a core management responsibility, not a wellbeing “extra”. (PubMed Central)

Add hybrid and remote work, rapid AI adoption, constant change projects and cost-of-living pressure, and you have a perfect storm.

For many organisations, “health and wellbeing” is no longer about yoga classes or fruit bowls. It is about questions like:

• Can people do their best thinking here?

• Do they feel safe enough to tell the truth?

• Do leaders know how to calm a room, not just manage a spreadsheet?

That is where the Human Leader comes in.

2. What we really mean by health and wellbeing in the corporate world

In this playbook, health and wellbeing are not soft extras. They are four interlocking layers that either support performance or quietly erode it.

2.1 Physical and nervous system health

• Sleep, movement, posture and breaks.

• Workload rhythms that allow some recovery.

• Nervous system regulation – the ability to shift out of “fight/flight/freeze” into a calmer “rest and connect” state.

Systematic reviews suggest that structured breathing practices can reduce stress and anxiety and improve mental health, partly by increasing heart-rate variability and supporting parasympathetic activation. (PubMed Central)

Qi Gong – a traditional mind-body practice – has also been associated with reductions in stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms across different groups, especially when practised regularly over several weeks. (PubMed Central)

2.2 Psychological safety and emotional climate

• Can people speak up when something feels wrong?

• Is it safe to admit “I’m at capacity” or “I don’t understand”?

• Are mistakes used for learning or for blame?

Without this, even generous wellbeing programmes will sit on top of a fearful culture.

2.3 Social connection and belonging

Hybrid and remote patterns can be a blessing for focus, but they can also quietly isolate people. Reviews of workplace loneliness show strong links with burnout, lower job satisfaction, poorer performance and stronger withdrawal intentions. (PubMed Central)

Younger workers who started their careers online appear particularly affected in several surveys, reporting higher levels of loneliness and stress in home-based roles.

2.4 Meaning, purpose and values

Finally, wellbeing is deeply tied to meaningful work:

• Do people understand how their work matters?

• Is the stated purpose aligned with daily decisions?

• Are values visible in how meetings, feedback and targets actually run?

A Human Leader acts at all four levels – body, emotion, relationship and purpose – consciously and consistently.

3. The Human Leader model: four pillars

The Human Leader Workshop is built around four practical pillars that any manager or senior leader can learn and apply.

Pillar 1: Nervous-system aware leadership

Human Leaders understand that stress is a body state as much as a diary issue.

They learn how to:

• Notice fight/flight/freeze in themselves (tight chest, racing thoughts, shutdown).

• Use simple breath and posture resets to settle.

• Co-regulate a room – slowing their own breathing and tone so others can settle too.

This is not therapy. It is basic leadership hygiene in a high-pressure environment.

Micro-practice to try now (90 seconds)

1. Sit or stand with your feet flat on the floor.

2. Breathe in through the nose for a count of four.

3. Exhale gently through the mouth for a count of six.

4. Repeat 8–10 breaths, letting your shoulders soften on each out-breath.

Notice: has your focus or mood shifted, even a little?

These tiny practices align with research showing that just a few minutes of slow, structured breathing can improve mood and reduce stress markers. (Nature)

Pillar 2: Psychological safety and courageous clarity

Human Leaders design meetings and conversations that feel safe and clear:

• They set the emotional tone at the start (“We’re here to learn, not to blame”).

• They model fallibility (“I may not have this right – help me see what I’m missing”).

• They respond to bad news with curiosity rather than punishment.

This creates the conditions for:

• Early risk raising (rather than buried problems).

• More honest performance conversations.

• Faster learning loops.

In the full workshop, we practise simple scripts and check-ins that leaders can use the very next day.

Pillar 3: Connection, belonging and rhythm in hybrid teams

Human Leaders see connection as a strategic asset, not an optional extra.

In hybrid, this means:

• Designing clear rhythms: which conversations are best online, which must be in person, and how often.

• Protecting social time that is not disguised status reporting – genuine check-ins, peer circles, shared rituals.

• Watching for signs of loneliness or disengagement and acting early. (PubMed Central)

Pillar 4: Purpose, boundaries and sustainable performance

Finally, Human Leaders hold the tension between caring and challenging:

• They keep purpose and priorities clear so teams are not drowning in low-value work.

• They set realistic boundaries around availability and responsiveness.

• They are honest about trade-offs (“If we say yes to this, what must we say no to?”).

This is where wellbeing and performance stop fighting each other and start aligning.

Bring Human Leader skills into your organisation

If you are reading this and seeing your own teams in these patterns – high stress, quiet disengagement, too many “urgent” projects – The Human Leader Workshop is designed to help.

Together with my co-facilitator, we combine:

• Evidence-based breathwork and Qi Gong practices.

• Live practice of psychological safety conversations.

• Practical tools for hybrid rhythms, boundaries and connection.

You can explore how it would work for your organisation here:
The Human Leader Workshop

4. Where ISO 45003 and psychosocial risks fit in

ISO 45003 gives organisations practical guidance on managing psychosocial risks – things like high workload, low control, poor support, unclear roles, and bullying or harassment. (PubMed Central)

In simple terms, it asks:

• Do we understand where work itself is harming people’s mental health?

• Are we assessing these risks in a structured way?

• Are we acting on them, not just recording them?

A Human Leader approach dovetails with this standard by:

• Turning psychosocial risk language into day-to-day leadership behaviour.

• Helping managers spot and reduce risks early (for example, chronic overwork in one team).

• Creating more honest conversations between HR, Health & Safety and line leaders.

This cornerstone article can sit alongside more focused pieces such as:

• From policy to practice: Bringing ISO 45003 to life in your culture

• Measuring what matters: Proving the ROI of wellbeing programmes

Those pages can go deeper into policy, metrics and governance, while this playbook gives the big-picture human story.

5. Somatic tools: Breathwork and Qi Gong for modern workplaces

Many leaders know the theory of wellbeing but feel stuck at the question:

“What do I actually do with my team on Monday?”

That is where somatic tools – practices that involve the body – become incredibly practical.

5.1 Why the body matters for leadership

Stress is not just a thought. It is:

• A tight jaw in a tense meeting.

• A shallow chest when the calendar is full.

• A numbness or shutdown when conflict erupts.

Evidence shows that slow-paced breathing can increase heart-rate variability, support vagal tone and reduce stress and anxiety, offering a simple and accessible tool for everyday regulation. (Nature)

Qi Gong combines gentle movement, breath and attention. Reviews and meta-analyses point to small-to-moderate improvements in anxiety, depression and general psychological wellbeing, especially when people practise regularly alongside standard care. (PubMed Central)

5.2 A simple “Reset in Three” routine for teams

In The Human Leader Workshop we teach a three-step micro-routine that can be used before difficult meetings or after heavy tasks:

1. Feet – Feel your feet on the floor, soften your knees.

2. Breath – Three slow breaths (in for four, out for six).

3. Reach – Gently stretch your arms up and out, as if widening your field of view, then let them float down.

This takes under a minute, but done together it:

• Signals that the organisation values nervous system health.

• Helps move people from “threat mode” to “curious mode”.

• Creates a shared embodied language for “resetting” rather than pushing through.

You do not have to call it Qi Gong. You can simply call it a “Reset in Three” and integrate it into:

• Weekly team huddles.

• Start of strategy days.

• De-briefs after intense delivery periods.

6. Building your Human Leader roadmap

A single workshop can be powerful, but real change comes when you join the dots.

Here is a simple roadmap you can use.

Step 1: Name your current reality

Use data you already have:

• Absence rates related to stress or mental health.

• Engagement survey scores on workload, trust, recognition and belonging.

• Turnover patterns in key teams.

Set these alongside national trends so leaders understand this is not “just us” – it is part of an economy-wide pattern of stress-related ill health and lost working days. (Health and Safety Executive)

Step 2: Start with leadership, not perks

Instead of launching another app, ask:

• Do our managers know how to regulate their own stress in the moment?

• Do our meetings actually feel safe, or just polite?

• Are people lonely in our hybrid set-up?

Focus early investment on live leadership training that integrates:

• Nervous system skills (breathwork, posture, pacing).

• Psychological safety behaviours.

• Simple connection rituals for hybrid teams.

This is exactly what The Human Leader Workshop is designed to do.

Step 3: Map your content and conversations

Use this cornerstone article as the hub, and build a library of shorter, focused articles that speak to specific roles and concerns, for example:

• Rehumanising the workplace for hybrid teams

• Trust as your competitive edge: The science of psychological safety

• Human-centred leadership in the age of AI

• Micro rituals for human connection: Daily practices for hybrid teams

Share these via:

• Internal leadership newsletters.

• HR and L&D learning hubs.

• LinkedIn and thought-leadership campaigns.

Each piece links back to the Human Leader narrative, so people hear a consistent story rather than fragmented initiatives.

Step 4: Align with ISO 45003 and your duty of care

Work with HR, Health & Safety and senior leadership to:

• Identify the top psychosocial risks in your context.

• Choose one or two that leadership behaviour can directly influence (for example, role clarity, support, change communication).

• Use Human Leader tools to shift those patterns over six to twelve months.

This means your wellbeing work is not just “nice to have”. It becomes part of how you demonstrate duty of care and reduce risk.

Step 5: Review, learn and celebrate

Finally, decide up front how you will tell if this is working:

• Fewer stress-related absence days.

• Higher scores on psychological safety and belonging.

• Lower turnover in critical teams.

Share stories of leaders who:

• Used a simple breathing reset before a tough meeting.

• Changed how they run one-to-ones.

• Introduced a weekly “connection ritual” that people genuinely look forward to.

These stories make the Human Leader approach feel real and repeatable.

FAQs: Health and wellbeing in the corporate world

1. How is a Human Leader approach different from standard wellbeing training?
Most wellbeing offers focus on individual coping – apps, webinars, or one-off talks. A Human Leader approach works at three levels at once: the leader’s own nervous system, the emotional climate of meetings and conversations, and the rhythms and rituals of hybrid work. It integrates wellbeing into leadership, rather than treating it as a separate topic.

2. Will this clash with our existing leadership framework?
In most organisations, it actually strengthens what you already have. The Human Leader model can sit underneath your existing competency framework as the embodied foundation – helping leaders have the calm, clarity and human connection needed to deliver whatever your framework expects.

3. Do we need to talk about breathwork and Qi Gong by name?
Not at all. Many organisations simply talk about “reset practices” or “somatic tools”. We always adapt the language to your culture. The key is that leaders are comfortable using simple body-based tools to manage their own state and support their teams, without anything feeling “out there” or uncomfortable.

4. Is this suitable for remote-first or global teams?
Yes. The tools we use are simple and camera-friendly – short breathing practices, light movement that can be done seated, and structured check-ins that work well online. The biggest gains often come in remote-heavy teams, where small changes to rhythm and connection have a huge impact on loneliness and burnout.

5. How long before we see a difference?
You may notice small shifts immediately – calmer meetings, more honest conversations. Larger changes, such as reduced stress-related absence or improved engagement, typically emerge over three to twelve months, especially if you combine the workshop with follow-up practice, internal champions and clear support from senior leaders.

Final steps and invitation

If you have read this far, you already know that “business as usual” is costing too much – in energy, in sickness absence, in quiet disengagement, and in the human stories behind your dashboards.

You do not need to fix everything at once.

You can start by:

• Choosing one leadership group.

• Giving them an embodied, practical experience of Human Leader skills.

• Supporting them to experiment with small, repeatable changes in how they meet, plan and care for their teams.

That is exactly what The Human Leader Workshop is built to do.

If you would like to explore how this could look inside your organisation, and what a tailored Human Leader roadmap might involve, you can find the workshop details and next steps here:
The Human Leader Workshop

I look forward to connecting with you in my next post.
Until then, be well and keep shining.
Peter. :)