A Framework To Enable Human Flourishing
For those that have been following my ramblings over the last year or so, you’ll know that I (or we?) have been on a journey to uncover what it actually means to be ‘human-centric’.
Whilst the journey will undoubtedly continue for some time, the learnings so far culminated in a working definition of human-centricity:
“A purposeful way of being, that enables yourself and fellow humans to flourish holistically.”
Without going back over old ground in this newsletter, in a nutshell the idea is that to be human-centric, we have to consider the human(s) at the heart of everything we think and do.
So as an example, I’ll use Tony’s Chocolate - just because I’ve recently eaten some!
If you aren’t familiar with the history, the company was born because its founder was appalled at how prevalent child slavery is in cocoa farming and other industries that supply ingredients for chocolate bars like hazelnut.
But more than just that, he was disgusted at how most of the big chocolate brands in the world were unwilling to do much about it, despite all the evidence the founder presented to them from supply chains during his time investigating.
Of course, the company wanted to make delicious chocolate that its customers would enjoy. And as a B Corp, it strives to look after and support its employees.
However, they were not prepared to achieve the above at the cost to humans elsewhere on the planet who were working in poor conditions and paid pittance, and certainly wouldn’t condone child labour.
Their aim therefore, is to ensure the humans they work with are more able to live better lives as a result of their collective behaviours, attitude and decisions.
By choosing to buy their chocolate (I should add I’m not affiliated with them in any way, just a fan!), customers are also able to be human-centric as they contribute towards this endeavor, and boycott other brands that are enabling slavery to continue.
That’s the human-centric element of the definition. And yet, I couldn’t help but ask myself - what are we actually trying to achieve by being human-centric? What is the overarching intention behind it and what will it result in?
It’s this question that led me to don my goggles, dive more deeply into the waters of positive psychology and discover ‘flourishing’…
Flourishing Holistically
The idea of flourishing holistically is something else I’ve written about in a previous newsletter.
Part of the challenge is that there are multiple definitions of flourishing in circulation:
“to find fulfillment in our lives, accomplishing meaningful and worthwhile tasks, and connecting with others at a deeper level—in essence, living the “good life”” - Seligman
“Flourishing is the product of the pursuit and engagement of an authentic life that brings inner joy and happiness through meeting goals, being connected with life passions, and relishing in accomplishments through the peaks and valleys of life.” - Soots
“to live within an optimal range of human functioning, one that connotes goodness, generativity, growth, and resilience” - Fredrickson and Losada
“a state where people experience positive emotions, positive psychological functioning and positive social functioning” - Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand
Regardless of the definition, the common theme is that flourishing is multi-dimensional and encompasses many, if not all, areas of our lives both individually and collectively, where we essentially experience more positive emotions or experiences than negative.
This made me curious about how, as human-centric individuals, we might enable ourselves and others to flourish individually and collectively - which brings us to the image of a potential framework above.
Although very much a work in progress (and open to critique by the way), it was born out of a synthesis of a variety of models that are focused on supporting and/or measuring human development at various levels.
I’ve included a list of the models at the end of this newsletter1 and happy to hear about any others I may have missed! They range from the ever familiar Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, right through to the Kingdom of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness.
What I noticed when exploring the models, regardless of whether they were aimed at a micro (individual) or macro (country) level, were a number of common themes that when grouped together formed four core elements of wellbeing, and five key pillars that enable our wellbeing to be positive. All of these facets are interlinked and in my mind need to be taken into account if we are to confidently say we (individually or collectively) are flourishing.
The Five Pillars
Each of these pillars goes really deep and are worthy of separate newsletters in their own right, so a headline summary for each will do for now!
Personal Care
Having worked in the NHS for a number of years, I’ve seen first hand how important this pillar is to our wellbeing. Whilst maintaining good health through exercise, nutrition, quality sleep etc. forms part of it (as indicated by the ‘Health’ sub-category), the models suggested a number of other elements.
Our ability to grow intellectually, emotionally. To grow our resilience. The expansion of our recognition and understanding of ourselves, others and the ‘systems’ in which we live. Our esteem and compassion towards self and others. Our mindfulness.
We often associate ‘personal’ with self which it can be, but it can also refer to fellow humans. Similarly we have a responsibility to care for self if feasible, but to be truly human-centric, we also have to care for those around us and humanity collectively.
Live Within Healthy Ecosystems
As important as caring for ourselves and one another may be, it’s far more difficult to do so effectively if the ecosystems (natural and artificial) in which we live are detrimental.
For instance, our health and wellbeing is affected by our housing and workplace conditions, including the amenities available. Our ability to access knowledge (libraries, universities etc.) and robust support systems such as healthcare and transport services.
On the natural side, the wider environmental quality (pollution, access to green spaces etc.) can have a great impact, along with the ecological diversity and resilience, at a local and global level.
Belong Within Cohesive Communities
There’s a lot of research into what it means to belong and how it’s an intrinsic need for us. But I think a sense of belonging is not enough to flourish. For me, the ‘systems’ (labelled communities in this framework) we belong to also need to be cohesive for this pillar to be effective in improving wellbeing.
What this looks like, includes positive interactions and relationships (both seen and unseen) between people within the communities, where attention and in some cases love is given freely. Where each of us has our rightful ‘place’ and are able to usefully contribute towards the whole and a shared purpose, receiving recognition from others as a result.
The health of the community is also vital. For instance, diversity and inclusion is a given. The community is resilient to both internal and external events that may impact cohesion (such as an attack from others). Sufficient human support is provided amongst community members - not just in times of need but to help generally encourage and enable flourishing.
Individualisation
On the face of it, this might potentially be the more controversial pillar as I’ve seen a lot of debate recently about individualism vs. collectivism and how we’re too focused on ourselves. Maybe it needs renaming, but what this pillar relates to is the need to somehow incorporate and/or accommodate the unique elements of a person or persons, depending on the context.
By ‘Authentic Living’, what this means is going about life in a way that provides meaning and purpose (which could refer to shared purpose within a community), fulfills our passions and interests and utilises both individual and collective strengths.
This would also require us to factor in ‘Intrinsic Needs’ which can be broad and change, but might include laughter, play, rest, creative expression or a sense of accomplishment.
All of this could be enabled through ‘Personalisation’, utilising a Human Centered Design type approach to leverage our biorhythms, habits, rituals, environments and anything else of use so we may flourish.
Retain A Sense Of Safety
Another common feature of the models researched and rightly so, as it can be difficult to achieve all of the above if we’re focused on surviving.
Safety might relate to economics - what level of income or financial wealth we have and whether we can sustain it. Or our ability to invest and for those investments to be protected.
It could also mean security, including physically, phycological, emotional and social, as well as job security.
To broaden things further, we also need a level of personal freedom which encompasses legal rights, social tolerances, freedom of speech and so on.
That was very much a rapid run-through of the five pillars. Any thoughts, good or bad, are welcome, as I’d like to utilise this framework to help community leaders flourish and enable them to help those they serve to do the same :-)
Thanks for Reading!
That’s it for this month; if you enjoyed the newsletter, please consider subscribing so you can join us on the journey to unlock what it means to be human-centric and how we can make it a reality!
Equally if the idea of being human centric resonated with you, I’d invite you to connect with me on LinkedIn and share your thoughts.
Brené Brown’s Wholehearted Living
United Nations Human Development Index
John Whittington’s 3 Core Needs (chapter 15 of the book)
OECD’s Better Life Index (used Wiki link as more user friendly than OECD website!)
Carol Ryff’s Six-factor Model of Psychological Well-being (again, used Wiki as more accessible)