Guest: Katina Sawyer, PhD | Book: Leading for Wellness: How to Create a Team Culture Where Everyone Thrives
This week on Working on Purpose, I sat down with Dr. Katina Sawyer, co-author of Leading for Wellness, to unpack the “Generator” leadership method—an approach that elevates well-being, engagement, and performance.
“Generators allow employees to thrive and reach their full potential; Extinguishers exhaust employees and put barriers on their paths.” — Katina Sawyer, PhD & Patricia Grabarek, PhD
Why it matters
Wellness isn’t a perk. It’s the system your people work inside every day. When leaders design that system with intention, teams do their best work—and they stick around.
What Generator leaders do differently
- Build cultures, not checklists. Apps and step challenges don’t cure burnout; redesigning workload, autonomy, and norms does.
- Tie wellness to results. Supported people deliver higher-quality work, innovate more, and fuel profitable, sustainable growth.
- Lead the experience. Employees judge wellness by everyday leadership behaviors—boundaries, recognition, psychological safety.
From idea to action
- Fire the work persona. Lead with realness—clarity, candor, and humanity build trust fast.
- Model the tone. Demonstrate balance, gratitude, and recovery; your energy sets the culture.
- Honor preferences. Segmenters want clean boundaries; Integrators blend. Adapt instead of forcing one style.
- Be a boundary bouncer. Protect time, keep workloads sane, and set realistic goals. That’s not coddling—it’s performance design.
The ripple effect
- Employees: higher performance, satisfaction, and staying power.
- Leaders: stronger teams and credibility that lasts.
- Organizations: better profit, innovation, and resilience.
- Communities: well people take well-being home—this is leadership with social impact.
Try this this week
Pick one: shorten a meeting by 15 minutes, remove one low-value deliverable, or set a clear “no after-hours reply” norm for your team—and uphold it.
Your turn: Are you leading like a Generator or an Extinguisher? What’s one policy or norm you’ll change to protect real wellness?
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💬 Join the conversation! The most effective leaders challenge the status quo. Will you be the one to redefine what thriving leadership looks like in your organization? Drop your thoughts below.
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