Metrics provide us with scientific data that can guide change. GNT (Gallup Net Thriving) measures well being, thriving and resiliency. Gallup has designed GNT to not only measure well being but also to find ways to enhance wellbeing across the globe. Ultimately, they want you to thrive. Are you thriving?
The GNT tool is designed to provide data so we can better support people in five areas: career wellbeing, social wellbeing, financial wellbeing, physical well being, and community wellbeing. GNT assesses current and future resiliency.
Metrics inform and guide change. GNT joins other significant measurement tools that are championing change. The United Nations “SDG (Sustainable Development Principals) measures poverty, pollution, hunger, disease and modern slavery” to inform best practices. In addition, ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) guide many of the largest global corporations and accounting firms to expand their vision and impact beyond just shareholder returns. GNT measures wellness, an area that needs global attention.
Jim Clifton and Jim Harter’s new book, Well Being At Work, demonstrates how GNT measures well being in workplaces and communities around the world. And more importantly, they provide strategies and tools to enhance well being by leveraging individual and collective strengths. They provide us with a model of interdependency.
How do you measure how well you are thriving? What are your indicators?
Gallup uses their “best possible life” ladder to measure well being. The tool asks two questions:
Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you.
Q1: On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time? (0-10)
Q2: On which step do you think you will stand about five years from now? (0-10)
How would you answer these questions?
The ladder approach measures three areas “thriving, struggling and suffering”. In a 2020 worldwide survey, Gallup found that 7 out of 10 people say they are struggling or suffering.
Gallup believes there is a second pandemic, a mental health pandemic. Gallup offers the GNT tool and this book to drive change towards better wellness in our workplaces, homes and communities. Their tools and strategies for enhancing wellbeing are accessible and thorough. They provide specific examples on how to leverage your top five strengths in each of the five wellness areas. Their publication is about empowerment and resiliency building.
The title of the book focuses on building resilient and thriving teams at work. The key finding of Gallups wellness research is that when people are engaged and thriving at work, the other four areas of well being will also begin to thrive.
Yet, I believe this book is bigger than that. It is what the world needs now. We need tools to move out of struggling and suffering from this pandemic and on to begin the journey of recovery and thriving.
I invite you to explore their research more deeply. Think about how you can leverage your strengths and the strengths of other to thrive at:
- Home
- School
- As Students
- As Parents
- As Partners
- As Friends and Community Members
- During a Transition
- In a new job
- In the Third Half
Imagine a world where people respond to the best possible life ladder questions with more 10s and less 1s.
What can we do to support each other to move up the ladder towards thriving again?
