Stress Awareness Day 2015

National Stress Awareness Day is November 5, 2015 and to mark the event we've compiled some top tips for you to share with colleagues.

The tips are all simple lifestyle choices that help everyone take daily action to reduce stress and improve energy levels and resilience.

Our Resilience Workshop has been hailed as, 'The best training course I've ever attended'. If you think your team would benefit from support with boosting their personal effectiveness please contact us at info@the-tonic.com

9 Top Tips to Help Manage Pressure and Build Resilience

1. Stress is not the enemy

Managing stress does not necessarily mean eliminating stress from your life.  The key to successful stress management is to know how far you are able to move out of your comfort zone, and how often you are willing to do this.  Provided you anticipate and manage periods of high demand, and balance these with appropriate periods of review and recovery, you'll be in control of your commitments and your attitude, and well positioned to communicate any concerns you may have if you feel you're moving away from your zone of best performance. 

2. Managing stress levels with healthy eating

Each day, aim to consume more foods that calm you than those which can aggravate stress. Oily fish, chicken, turkey, whole-grains, berries and nuts, will all help keep you calm.  Caffeine, sugar, chocolate, pastries, refined carbohydrates, high fat foods and alcohol can all contribute to increased stress levels. 

3. How to get a great night of rest and recovery

To be at your most resilient, you need to rest and recover well at night, but in very busy periods people can find it difficult to relax unwind and sleep well.  Spend a little time researching your guaranteed pre-sleep routine for the period leading up to bedtime to ensure that you are able to fall asleep promptly when you’d like to, and achieve optimum quality and quantity of sleep.  A warm drink and a few pages of a novel may be all you need to ensure good sleep.  Don’t be tempted to work right up to the moment when you drop off.

4. Move more, stress less

Movement helps rid the body of stress hormones quickly so, even during your busiest periods, make sure you move regularly.  Don't view moving away from the desk as lost working time but instead associate it with an opportunity to stay calm, change your perspective, think creatively, and come up with some solutions that might be hard to access while sitting in front of your computer. 

5. Balance your life and set some boundaries

Stress can be caused by too much work (or too much of anything in life) leaving you feeling that the balance isn't where you'd like it to be. You'll find it harder to maintain balance in your routine if you're not clear what good balance looks like so be diligent in planning and making time for the things you enjoy and that nourish your overall success or there are plenty of other less enjoyable jobs waiting to steal that time. 

6. Give yourself a break - regularly

Your mind and body need regular moments of distraction.  Compile a list of small actions that you can do every day that you enjoy, that help you feel totally in the moment and that make you happy. Then find an effective way to remember to put these actions into place. A few moments of reflection / distraction every 90 minutes can boost motivation and focus, and lead to your entire day being more productive. 

7. Drink water, stay calm

Dehydration makes us irritable which leads to stress all round.  Drink your 2-litres every day without fail.

8. Breathe, relax, refocus

It sounds obvious but we think better and feel calmer when there's plenty of oxygen flowing to our brain. Regular breaks to breathe deeply and reassess your priorities for the day will help you minimise stress from morning to night. 

9. Be a stress-reducing role model

Where you can, aim to reduce stress for others.  Simple actions can make a huge difference so look to see where you can support your colleagues and they will look out for opportunities to return the favour.  Consider how you might avoid adding any stress to colleagues today – this is easily achieved by thinking about how you communicate.  Aim to be focused with your emails, conversations and meetings so that you always help others to move projects steadily forward.  Communicate messages that save colleagues time, rather than costing them time.

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Wellness & Personal Performance Made Easy: Part 3

Here is part 3 in the series of articles I wrote for HR Zone...

In the final instalment of our series, we highlight further strategies and behaviours that lead to exceptional results with personal health, wellness, energy and performance. As with our previous tips, these are all simple ideas that, when implemented with consistency, will lead to dramatic and positive results.

Take charge of technology

Technology is one of the greatest sleep robbers around at the moment. While it can be tempting to finish off a document or send a final email, and even if it’s for something we enjoy like checking that last social media update or having a look at a few more holiday websites, the danger is that screen time eats time and before you know it, you’re late getting to sleep and your mind is buzzing. You have to create some boundaries around your screen time and some guidelines for how you use your email. Be proactive in this regard because how we rule our technology (or how technology rules us as it sometimes feels) is usually simply a result of habits forming loosely over time and being left unchallenged. Things like staying up late to clear emails – this may have been a good idea one night but if it ends up being every night then the balance probably isn’t how you’d like it to be.

Clear out the clutter

Your sleep environment should be a haven of calm. Make sure your room is tidy and dark enough to sleep well in. Clear away all clothes, books, magazines, work-related items and remove all exercise kit from your bedroom as well as ridding it of television, technology and associated cables, chargers and wires. 

Eat your way to a great night’s sleep

Most people are aware of items that disrupt the smooth functioning of our mind and body – these include caffeine and sugary and fatty foods – but it’s not just close to bedtime when we should be wary of consuming these products. The more you disrupt your body’s calm environment throughout the day, the harder it can be to relax for good sleep at bedtime, so aim to keep a stable physical environment as regularly as you can.

Foods that help the body stay calm and focused through the day, and in turn aid good sleep, include protein such as nuts, fish, and turkey, and calcium in the form of kale or spinach. Tryptophan is a great sleep aid and can be found in hummus. Magnesium and potassium are useful inclusions in your routine as they help to relax muscles and you can find both of these in bananas. Porridge is a good choice to start the day and can also be a great sleep aid when consumed for supper. Always focus on unrefined carbohydrates such as brown bread, pasta and rice. Finally, although alcohol may help you fall asleep, it can disrupt the quality of your sleep so use in moderation and don’t come to rely on it.

Make lists and use them

Your ideas for weekly healthy eating should form the basis of your shopping list. It doesn’t matter who actually does the shopping in your house or your office, but make stocking up on what you need a priority. If healthy options are close by, you can follow your plan without too much thinking and get on with your busy day. If you get stuck without these options you’ll end up wasting valuable time thinking about alternatives and interrupting what you’re doing to grab whatever’s available near by. And whatever’s near by might not always be that great.

Carry healthy options at all times

Great portable choices include oatcakes, rice crackers, fruit, dried fruit and nuts. Within each of these categories there’s plenty of variety so you won’t get bored.

Establish your ideal exercise time

There’s no perfect time of the day to exercise other than the time that suits you and will ensure your exercise actually gets done! Consider the options and choose what works best for you. Many people prefer to exercise early as a way to set them up for a productive day. Some would rather get active during the day as a way to create two productive half days, rather than one long day during which energy levels can dwindle. Others like to get active towards the end of the day as a way to draw a line beneath work and move onto their evening. 

Exercise as a sleep aid

Exercise is a great way to keep your mind and body calm during the day and this will aid good sleep at night. Trying to fit in exercise should not become stressful as that can ultimately lead to interrupted sleep, so think about how some level of moderate activity best fits into every day, to ensure you feel calm and balanced, and aim to complete a more challenging workout every two to three days. 

Ideal wellbeing is an ongoing priority

Ultimately, perfecting your ideal wellness routine is an ongoing process and one best shaped by regular reviews of your actions and behavior in relation to your specific, personal wellbeing objectives. This way, you’ll always know which of these the tips in our series, or other wellness advice you’ll come across, will be most useful for you at every stage of your life.

Read part 2 of the series here

And part 1 here

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Eight strategies to improve quality and balance in life

This article of ours appeared first on the HR Zone website.

Regularly we read news stories about how many hours staff work beyond those they are contracted for. It’s claimed that one in five employees in the UK regularly worked unpaid overtime last year, worth over £33bn pounds to the economy. There’s even a day dedicated to working your proper hours, which this year was February 28th, the idea is that those who work long hours take the day as an opportunity to think about their approach to balance in their lives.

The situation is not a straightforward one. For a start, where do you draw the line when it comes to classifying ‘unpaid overtime’? Does this include the time taken for a solution to an office problem to present itself to you while you’re in the shower? Or the detailed review of the previous day’s productivity that whizzes through your head while your children are playing in the park? 

Add all these moments up and it’s likely that the amount of unpaid time devoted to work is even greater than some research suggests. But what about those who love and enjoy their work and are making a conscious decision to shift their work/life balance in that direction for a specific period of time?

We wholeheartedly endorse encouraging people to take time to review their approach to work.  It’s the lack of such moments of review that can, over the course of months or years, result in individuals feeling they’re not in control of their own destiny and this can be a major cause of stress and anxiety.

But beyond thinking about getting out of the office on time, wouldn’t it be nice to end each day having achieved everything you set out to achieve, not just your work but also your personal admin, family commitments, social life and down time?  All of this can be achieved by thinking a little less about the time on the clock and a little more about quality, productivity and the efficiency with which we make use of our time.

A theme that recurs regularly during resilience workshops we run is that staff feel overwhelmed, often enduring days where they are juggling three or four tasks with a further three or four waiting in the background, and all that even before they’ve had a chance to work through their email inbox. The upshot is that they often report feeling unable to do anything to the best of their ability and this can leave them feeling frustrated and low on mental and physical resources. 

The opposite of this situation, and a more desirable environment for us all to work in, is one where staff experience high energy, creativity, and enjoyment, all feelings that boost engagement, productivity, and results. 

So how do individuals go about boosting productivity and achieving greater quality and efficiency in their professional and personal lives?

1. Plan the day

Productivity is always improved if you invest your efforts in the right areas and minimise any wasted time. This means being clear about what each section of the day is about. Get into the habit of planning your day and reviewing your progress regularly as the day unfolds.  Check in with yourself every 90 minutes to ensure you’re always on track to complete what you set out to achieve. 

2. Get in the zone

Most people know what it feels like to be working efficiently or to be ‘in the zone’, and there are many simple, practical things that can be done to inhabit this arena more often. Many elements of achieving this peak performance state are particular to individuals – it has a lot to do with getting proper rest, how active your are on a regular basis, how you manage relationships and communication, and your general outlook on life. 

One thing everyone can do is to engage with the times they feel positive and effective, and note down what has led them to these circumstances. The greater understanding you have of how you achieve this performance level the easier it will be to recreate it more often.

3. Take a lesson from the world of sport

Athletes are instructed that every part of their training is geared towards improving their performance. There's no time or value in empty training hours. You should adopt the same strategy. Every minute of the day should be directed towards a chosen outcome. Your aim is to be more proactive and less reactive with your schedule. 

The benefit of this approach is that it puts all of your daily decisions into a context and you can say yes or no to additional requests accordingly. It also mean that the occasional conversation with colleagues or flick around social media is fine if this time is seen as recovery between important tasks rather than a distraction from these tasks.

4. Think about your energy balance

To improve quality in everything you do, make sure there are plenty of things in your day that boost your energy. Also be aware of everything you do that could rob you of physical and mental energy and leave you feeling less productive than you'd like to be.

Energy robbers can include coffees, teas, sugary snacks, high fat foods, eating too much, skipping meals, sitting still for too long, too much time spent on one project, lack of variety in your day, prolonged periods of stress or pressure, feeling overwhelmed or feeling under-utilised. A good habit to get into is noting down moments when you sense your performance level is compromised and identifying what you think has caused this lull in energy.

Solutions will be found in simply reducing the frequency of energy draining triggers and also focusing on what you can do proactively to boost energy. Items on this list include taking short breaks, staying hydrated, eating healthy meals and snacks regularly, moving regularly through the day, delegating better, communicating more efficiently, getting fresh air and sunlight, and making notes of success moments and key learnings.

5. Listen to the rhythms of your body

Our concentration naturally ebbs and flows every 90 minutes so get to grips with the points in the day when you feel most effective and schedule important tasks for these moments.  Activities involving your full attention and focus should be punctuated with less demanding tasks during the lower moments of your energy cycle – you can catch up on emails or do some research here – or get together with others who have different rhythms to you and feed off their energy.

6. Take some time for you

Completing one or two personal tasks can not only provide you with a welcome distraction from work but can also reduce stress levels for the entire day.  Taking time to do something for yourself, even if this means doing nothing for short moments during the day, can make a huge difference to your effectiveness and enjoyment of the day as a whole.

7. Remember what it’s all about

Too much time spent doing things that are inconsistent with your core beliefs and values can leave you feeling frustrated and ineffective.  One other way to restore productivity and quality to your day is to remember why you do what you do.

We've already said that all work tasks should be directed towards a specific end but it's important to also focus onwhy your job is important in relation to what you want out of life.  Even if you have a role you love, it is possible to lose sight of this when things are busy.  Remind yourself regularly of the contribution you’re making to your master plan and the fact that you have chosen to follow the path you’re on.  Taking responsibility is always an energising step.

Even if you’re not the biggest fan of the job you’re currently doing, put it in the context of a means to pay the bills and pursue some of the things you enjoy outside work.  Or think of if as a necessary step on the journey to finding your ideal job.  Focus on where your current role is taking you and this will infuse you with energy to work efficiently and get there faster.

8. Get some sleep

There’s no better aid to productivity and quality than a good night’s sleep. It can make a world of difference. March is National Bed month, so there's never been a better time to start getting the rest you need.

The bottom line is that if you are able to engineer a routine where you plan well and are able to give full attention to every task in hand, whether it be a work project or a family gathering, you’ll restore a sense of balance and satisfaction in everything you do.  Always strive for quality rather than quantity and your days, weeks and months will be much more rewarding.

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Some Wellbeing Motivation: Simple Changes, Fast Results

As we approach the end of February I thought it might be helpful to share some feedback from a few workshops we've run since the beginning of the year.

As ever, those who've had good results have kept their lifestyle changes simple and have been rewarded by feeling the benefits quickly.  Here are a few ideas for changes you might want to make and the positive results you could experience.

Thanks for the reminder. I did achieve some goals.   I lost two kilogrammes, slept better, ate less.  I will keep doing these things. 

The chosen commitments were:

• Eat more vegetables and better portion sizes
• 3 times exercise per week.  Every time more than half hour
• Sleep regularly

Thanks for the reminder: wellbeing goes well and and I lost 2 more kilos already - gym nearly twice a week.

The chosen commitments were:

• Go to the gym 2+ a week - lose 2 more kg
• Drink 2 litres of water, no more than 3 coffee = more productive
• Reduce sweets to once a day

So far , I've got all 3 of my commitments on track.  Now to maintain the momentum J

The chosen commitments were:

• Run, cycle, swim or gym 3 times/week
• Sleep more than 7.5 hrs at least 3 times a week
• Drink more water.  More than 2 litres a day.  And reduce caffeine/coffee in morning

Another participant has quit smoking and one noted that he'd finally managed to change his pattern of snacking throughout the day to achieve better energy levels.

Another commented, 'Thanks for a good session the other week.  it was very well received'.

You're very welcome.

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Free Toolkit To Boost Health & Energy In Your Organisation

To make it easy to keep your staff healthy, happy, engaged and motivated, sign up for our free wellness toolkit.  

The toolkit includes access to everything you need to inspire colleagues to get active, eat well, sleep better, build personal resilience and achieve a balanced lifestyle.  

The toolkit contains:

• Regular wellbeing tips: practical advice for your colleagues and strategic input for your business

• A regularly updated catalogue of fact sheets on key wellbeing topics

• Real world reviews of wellness initiatives in action to help you refine your ideal programme

• A complimentary wellbeing audit for your business - the simplest way to pinpoint how to take the wellbeing of your staff to the next level

• Preferential rates on our wellbeing workshops leading to results like these: 'More energy, less stress, get fit and eat well'

• Preferential rates on our wellbeing days and events generating feedback like this: 'How to run an amazing wellbeing event'

To receive your free company wellness toolkit all you need to do is email us at info@the-tonic.com and write 'wellness toolkit' in the subject line.

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Six Steps to Build Cast Iron Resilience

This article we wrote first appeared recently on the HR Zone Website.

Personal resilience – simply expressed as our ability to deal with everyday challenges and maintain a positive state of resourcefulness – is influenced by two factors: how we feel physically and how we feel mentally.

The issue for many people is that their approach to maintaining a resilient state is reactive rather than proactive. We’re happy to bowl along quite happily from day to day under ‘normal’ working conditions – normal usually implying busy for most people these days – but when the pressure ramps up, we begin to feel the strain. 

Not only do we find ourselves underprepared for our periods of peak challenge, when we experience extra pressure, we resort to ‘emergency measures’ that often make the situation worse and actually make performing to the best of our abilities more difficult. 

We steal time from sleep to pack more into our schedule, load up on caffeine to get us through each busy day, grab sugary snacks to keep our energy levels up and dedicate more hours to the job to wade through our ‘to do’ list at the cost of our family, hobbies, exercise time and social life.

While these coping strategies might see us through challenging periods, there’s a danger that we may need to take time to recover from pushing ourselves in this way, but most workers don’t have the luxury of quiet periods during which they can recharge their batteries. Add up all these ‘recovery’ periods where we might end up operating at half pace or less, and that's a lot of potentially productive time wasted over the course of a working year. 

An additional danger lies in the fact that the coping strategies we adopt to see us through busy periods often turn into our everyday behavior patterns. Before you know it, people find they’re working a 12-hour day fuelled by caffeine, skipping meals and exercise and sleeping poorly as the norm rather than as the response to a ‘one off’ period of peak demand.

The key to developing personal resilience, mental and physical, for the short, medium and long-term, lies with planning and routine. A little bit of time spent designing strategies for success in this area will pay dividends every single day. You’ll breeze through the demands of everyday working life and rise to the challenge of even the most overwhelming of circumstances. 

The Resilient Body

1) Why exercise is your friend

When work gets busy, time gets squeezed and all too often exercise slots disappear.  But when the pressure is on, physical activity is one of the best ways to deal with the stress that can build up within us.  Not only does it help to keep you calm, it provides you with valuable time to clear the head, organize your thoughts, deliver oxygen to the brain and come up with creative solutions.  Make sure you always:

• Focus on short, regular bursts of activity
• Plan your time for exercise and protect these slots
• Associate exercise with success, not as something that takes time away from you being successful. Knowing you make better decisions when your mind and body are alert will ensure you get active and get the best possible results at work

2) Eat for energy, not for comfort

The link is clear between how we fuel ourselves and how we are able to perform.  Priority issues for most people are energy levels and mood management, so the simplest way to achieve a healthy eating routine that boosts resilience is to ask yourself – and answer honestly – ‘is what I’m about to eat or drink going to provide me with positive energy and good mood for the day, or rob me of energy and good mood for the day?’

• If you’re unsure about what works for you and what doesn’t, keep a diary for a few days
• Experiment with a variety of meal and snack options so you can establish the food routine that leads you towards your best performance state
• Stick with your successful food routine when things get really busy. If you begin veering towards increasing amounts of caffeine, sugar, fat and alcohol you’ll dramatically impair your ability to perform, just when you need to be at your most resourceful

3) Sleep well, perform well

A good night’s sleep is directly linked to the two points above. If you manage your energy levels with good food choices, and offset any stress with exercise, you’ll be far more likely to rest and recover well through the night. Beyond this you need to:

• Establish your optimum quantity of sleep and set your bed time and waking time accordingly
• Endeavour to disrupt your sleep routine as little as possible through the week and weekend
• Design a pre-sleep routine that will lead you gently towards the moment when you fall asleep quickly and experience a guaranteed night of quality sleep

Sleep is vital for efficient performance and effective recovery so should always be a priority in your quest for resilience, never an afterthought.

The Resilient Mind

When it comes to achieving the most resilient state of mind, the rules are pretty similar as those for managing your energy levels – you need to think of all your daily activities in terms of whether or not tasks drain your energy, or provide you with energy and motivation. The bottom line is usually that the tasks that help us feel as though we’re making progress will energise us, while those that are repetitive or seemingly pointless will drain our energy.

Some examples are obvious – making sales, winning business, making successful decisions are all motivating and fuel our resilient state. Admin, expenses and jobs we’ve done a thousand times before can slowly but surely suck the life out of your resilient state. But what about some of the elements of day-to-day office life that could go either way? How to we approach these?

4) Make meetings count

One of the elements of office life that people say drains their energy is meetings, however, this needn’t be the case.

• Have a clear agenda for every meeting, a schedule, and someone in charge of sticking to the agenda and the schedule
• Establish in advance what each meeting needs to achieve. People need to bring ideas and opinions to meetings rather than simply trying to organise their thoughts during the meeting
• Summarise clear action points and deadlines for these actions to be completed. Too many people spend their time running from meeting to meeting collecting a list of things to do that they never get around to actioning.  Add some accountability and urgency. You’re looking for results, not more meetings to discuss what didn’t get done

5) Take charge of your email

Technology is supposed to make our lives easier but there’s nothing like an ever-growing inbox to steadily grind down your resilience.  There are some simple strategies that help in this situation:

• Set specific times to check and respond to email. Turn it off in between these times
• Assess each block of email time for efficiency and continually refine your plan for how you can manage your email most effectively
• Lead by example. Consider everyone who will receive the messages you send out and how they might respond. Avoid unnecessary clogging up of others’ inboxes and ask yourself how you would respond to the emails you’re sending
• For some email traffic, ask yourself if there’s an alternative, particularly if the person you’re emailing sits not far away from you. Although effective at times, email can be limiting. Sometimes you’ll progress things far quicker by talking than emailing. Which brings us to our last point…

6) Communication: it’s not what you know, but who you know

A major challenge for many people is…other people.  Like them or not though, we have to work with them. Some of the most resilience-testing moments occur in business when the pressure is on and we’re relying on teamwork, but there’s a lack of understanding between colleagues.  This is generally due to relationships being built on weak foundations meaning the team isn’t as solid as it needs to be when things get squeezed.

• Invest in relationships. It pays to be proactive. People will be there for you when you need them if you were there for them in the past
• Get to know people, not job titles. A faceless colleague might help you out of a tight spot if you’re lucky.  A friend in the office who you know well and spend time with definitely will, without question
• Be honest, authentic and congruent, and others will be too

Resilience is a vital skill: practice every day

Ultimately many people know what they should be doing to maintain a resilient state, but they often think they don’t have time.  So while it is true to say that you probably don’t have time to think about all of the above in great detail every single day, you do have time to spend a few moments each day reviewing your approach and making changes where necessary.  This takes no time at all and before you know it you’ll be equipped with the habits you need to be effective, successful and resilient all day, every day.

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47 Tips for Corporate Wellbeing Programme Success

You can read the original version of this article we wrote for HR Zone here.

Most corporate wellbeing programmes have a simple objective. To provide staff with knowledge and motivation to make informed lifestyle choices that result in energy, enthusiasm and engagement in all areas of work and life.

A simple objective yes, but sometimes easier said than done, so to help you fast-track the success of wellbeing in your business, here are some tried and tested tips.

1. Have a strategy: No serious business project will succeed completely without a clear strategy.  Your wellbeing programme is no different.  Spend time planning what you want to achieve with the programme, why you want these results, who you are targeting with specific initiatives and how you will monitoring results?

2. Be creative: Corporate wellbeing started with health insurance and gym memberships and now includes dance sessions, resilience workshops, martial arts classes, massages, health assessments and podiatry to name but a few.  For your programme to be popular and be a success, always keep an open mind about what your staff might find most interesting and most beneficial.

3. Build a portfolio of initiatives: Not every element of a wellbeing programme will ignite the passion of every individual in every business.  The most effective wellbeing programmes are made up of a wide range of targeted initiatives with regular review of the portfolio to ensure that all initiatives are relevant and value for money.

4. Consistency is key: Your wellbeing vision for the business needs to be understood throughout the organisation and wellbeing should be a consistent and ongoing feature of company culture.  This is why you need a strategy.  The strategy will dictate the content, tone and frequency of initiatives and communications.  Regular initiatives that are well communicated will encourage maximum numbers of staff to get involved.

5. Tackle popular topics: Most people have an interest in food and drink and how our consumption of various items affects our mood and performance.  A company-wide healthy eating plan combined with some key messages targeted at specific audiences within your business will help staff make sense of the mass of nutrition information out there, and provide them with healthy eating ideas and strategies that they feel are relevant to them, their family and their professional commitments.

6. Get everyone moving: Some people love exercise, some people hate it, and a large proportion of the working population have simply forgotten how good it can feel to get active.  Get staff involved in some shared activities or challenges and remind them that fitness can be fun.

7. Make sure everyone has access to the resources they need, when they need them: Some people procrastinate over making lifestyle changes for years, but when they decide the time is right, they want results immediately.  Help employees take advantage of moments of motivation by ensuring you have a range of initiatives and resources available to tap into when they’re ready and a clear process for them to access these resources.

8. Make use of technology: Printed information still works for many people looking to make lifestyle changes but you also need to provide online resources in the form of text, audio and video clips so that all staff are able to access wellbeing resources in a format that suits their learning style and will also fit their schedule.  Sometimes they might want to read full details of a specific element of wellbeing while at other times they just want to download a podcast of video they can play back later on the train for a quick burst of motivation.

9. Tap into social media: If you can get staff talking positively about healthy lifestyle choices and the benefits associated with these, you can change the tone of conversations around the organisation and help individuals move away from finding reasons not to do what they know is right and instead strive to make the most of every opportunity to enhance their energy levels and performance.  Social media and fitness, healthy eating and mindfulness Apps provide a great way for people to track progress, research information, and communicate with, support and motivate each other.

10. Target individuals: This may sound like a lot of work, particularly if your organisation employs thousands of people, but only by researching the requirements of individuals will you come up with the wellbeing programme that caters for the majority and provides you with the best value for money.  Think creatively about how to gauge demand – this is where a team of wellbeing champions comes into its own for localised research – and you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can pinpoint what will work most successfully.  All businesses have popular characters with their finger on the pulse so make use of these individuals to help you with your research, whether it be structured questionnaires and surveys or informal conversations.

11. Keep people informed: Communicate clearly about your programme keeping staff up to date with what’s on offer and why people should take advantage of your initiatives.  Even the most carefully planned wellbeing programme will have limited results if people aren’t aware of its existence or they’re not clear on why they’d want to participate.

12. Employ creative marketing: It can take repeated exposure to messages before people are motivated to act so broadcast your wellbeing messages from a variety of angles.  Email updates area great but can get lost in the sheer volume that many people are dealing with so supplement these with posters positioned cleverly around your business (toilet doors are a great place to ensure your messages are always seen). 

13. Nudge staff in the direction of wellbeing: Don’t just communicate with information.  A water cooler is a prompt for people to stay well hydrated.  A fruit bowl reminds them to eat their 5-a-day.  Providing staff with pedometers reminds them to keep moving.  When we get busy it’s easy to forget about healthy living or let it slip down our list of priorities.  The more you remind people of the positive choices available to them, the more regularly they will choose to do the right thing.

14. All regular business events should have a wellbeing component:  Staff meetings provide a great opportunities to include wellbeing messages so team updates should always include a quick reminder for everyone to prioritise wellbeing and share ideas on how to make this easy in a busy environment.  What works for one is likely to work for others too. 

15. Wellbeing encourages quality work: A short break to stretch and breath can enhance concentration and productivity and reduce stress levels.  Encourage staff to take regular moments through the day to re-establish their focus.

16. Associate wellbeing with professional success: Training, development and leadership programmes should always include an element of wellbeing.  Staff attend these programmes in order to develop their professional success.   A fundamental part of this success is making sure they are in the best mental and physical state to perform at their best.  Including a combination of strategic wellbeing in the form of workshops, and practical wellbeing in the form of sessions that get people moving, will cater for all learning styles, ensure that messages stick and make each event memorable.

17. Reinforce wellbeing behavior and remove barriers to healthy living: All meetings, reviews and planning sessions should feature plenty of water, fruit, nuts, seeds, healthy snacks and meals as well as the traditional supply of coffee, pastries and sandwiches.  There should also be regular micro breaks to allow people to stretch and clear their head for more focused thinking and to maintain a positive learning state. Movement should be encouraged with breakout sessions on the go, ideally outside if the weather allows.

18. Focus on the benefits of wellbeing: Send regular communications relating to why people will want to take advantage of your programme.  Most individuals know what they should and shouldn’t be doing in relation to healthy living so you need to get them motivated in relation to all the possible benefits of taking prompt action and sharpening up their approach in this area.  Focus on the results they’ll experience, rather than what they’ll have to do to achieve these results.

19. Anticipate excuses: Just as most people know what they should be doing when it comes to healthy living, they’re also very familiar with the reasons why they don’t quite get the results they know they could be capable of.  Find out the most common reasons (otherwise known as excuses) cited within your business for not optimising wellbeing choices – it could be lack of time, workload, travel commitments or considerations outside of the office – and highlight solutions to these issues regularly when communicating about your programme.

20. Wellbeing should be proactive: Don’t just tell everyone (again) about the negative implications of high blood pressure, cholesterol or body fat.  Provide them with an opportunity to find out their current measurements and get specific advice on how to make improvements where appropriate.  Heart disease isn’t known as the silent killer for nothing and a simple screening will reassure many and provide positive actions for others.  Knowing the facts combined with a simple action plan for maintaining healthy numbers will motivate far more people to do make positive choices than yet another list of negative associations with generic health risks. 

21. Take things to the next level: To maximise the success of your programme, always plan one step ahead. If a corporate gym membership is relevant for your business, set it up, but don’t stop there.  Think about how you can fast track results for those keen to take advantage of it with targeted training information and coaching.  Consider innovative ways in which you can persuade waverers to take the plunge and get themselves along to the gym regularly. This could be some type of challenge, loyalty reward scheme or social and fun element. Then think about what you need to do to appeal to and encourage similar results for those who will never be attracted to a gym.  Simply setting up initiatives isn't enough, you need to encourage maximum participation and results at every stage.

22. Prioritise areas where benefits are far reaching: Healthy living information will benefit individual employees and, in turn, their colleagues, family and friends. Knowing what choices to make and being motivated to make them helps people feel better at work and throughout the rest of their weekly routine. Energetic and dynamic role models inspire others to follow their lead and very soon your office will become a vibrant place to be.  Think carefully about which initiatives in your programme will generate such a depth of success that they eventually sell themselves.

23. Think bespoke: General wellbeing tips are great but targeted messages are even better. The content and tone of your communications can be easily flexed to appeal to office workers, engineers, scientists, sales teams, technical experts, creative types, financial minds, those who commute, those who travel and anyone who works from home. Specific populations that receive bespoke messages are far more likely to sit up and take notice.  They’re also far more likely to take action and get results.

24. Be original: Just one or two original elements to your programme can ignite interest in the whole range of initiatives. 

25. But there’s no need to reinvent the wheel: Being original might not mean continually devising new initiatives but can be achieved by putting your organisation’s spin on some established tried and tested ideas.  The way in which your initiatives are branded or how they relate to company culture and values might be what make them most appealing to your staff.

26. Encourage personal responsibility:  Make it clear that you are happy to provide initiatives and resources as long as staff continue to take advantage of them. Collect data on the popularity of initiatives both by participation and with feedback on results achieved. Aim to have a variety of initiatives in your programme and prioritise value for money.

27. Create accountability: Every initiative should have moments of review that encourage staff to focus their efforts within a specific time frame.  If initiatives are too open ended, the speed of results will be too.  Wellbeing days should be regular to encourage staff to make progress between events.  Workshops and training modules should include follow up at regular intervals.  Lifestyle coaching programmes are a great way to add motivation as well as accountability to any wellbeing programme.

28. Create an environment ripe for quick success.  There are a few different theories on how long it takes to change a habit and achieve positive results but what’s clear from human nature is that often people take as long as you give them to complete specific tasks.  Deadlines and expectations can be used to your advantage when it comes to wellbeing communications.  Broadcast messages that focus on the simple but effective changes people can make right now to achieve positive results sooner rather than later.  This approach very quickly removes perceived barriers to wellbeing success.

29. Give meaning to wellbeing: Making the right choices with healthy living can seem like an abstract concept for many or a low priority in the middle of a busy day.   Make sure you regularly communicate the clear relationship between what we eat, how we get active and how we slept, rest, recover and manage stress; and how we feel moment by moment through the day and perform through the week.  The more immediate people perceive the benefits of making healthy choices to be, the more likely they are to stay on track.

30. Add a sense of urgency.  Good wellbeing shouldn’t be about hoping things will be better in the future, it’s about knowing what to do right now to make things better today.  Encourage people to act now rather than procrastinate and illustrate in detail how small steps in the right direction can add up to huge results.  One less coffee, a healthy snack, a carefully planned evening meal and a bit of fresh air will increase energy levels today, aid good sleep tonight and encourage a more productive tomorrow.  Start this simple process right away and every day to come can be more rewarding.

31. Broadcast success stories: One of the biggest motivators to for staff to make wellbeing changes is reading stories of people like them having achieved great results. The more you publicise success stories, the more interest you will have in your programme.

32. Tackle wellbeing myths: Many people have established beliefs about a whole range of wellbeing areas. They may think that healthy eating is expensive or that workouts need to be long in order to be effective. Providing them with alternative approaches can be an immediate trigger to success.  A simple food plan with meal ideas and costs can show people how economical (and tasty) healthy eating can be. A selection of sample workouts that illustrate how to achieve fitness and weight loss results with 20-30 minute workouts will motivate all those who are pressed for time to get active.

33. Provide a personal experience people will remember: Wellbeing presentations and workshops can convey a huge amount of information and work most effectively when they include an interactive element that will engage each participant, paint a clear picture of how they can personalise the messages and ensure they leave with a motivating individual plan of action.

34. Encourage staff to learn by doing. If you’re aiming to help staff improve their fitness and energy levels, don’t just explain the benefits, make sure they experience them. Fitness sessions, yoga, Pilates, self defence classes and dance workshops will all leave people with a smile on their face and a sense of achievement. Healthy eating workshops should be made interactive with props, demonstrations, menu ideas and tastings.  Stress management coaching needs to include practical strategies staff can implement right away and benefit from immediately.

35. Encourage staff to model business success strategies and apply them to wellbeing: Chances are that with a little more planning, each individual’s wellbeing efforts could be more effective.  Applying the proven office strategy of plan, do, and review to wellbeing is an easy way take results to the next level.  Most staff employ this strategy regularly to complete projects successfully and on time, but sometimes people simply forget to apply what works in one area and use the techniques elsewhere.  Remind them to be as strategic with achieving their wellbeing goals as they would with any other important task.

36. Create a supportive environment: Check your wellbeing messages are consistent with the environment in which staff operate each day. When advocating healthy eating, make sure you have a wide range of choices available in the staff restaurant and that there are alternatives to traditional items in vending machines. Ideally there should be some food preparation facilities or a microwave so that staff are always able to be self supporting with meals and snacks if they choose to do so.

37. Think small for big results: When it comes to healthy living, feeling great and getting results that last, small actions really do add up. Regularly remind staff (in a variety of ways so the message doesn't wear off) that one or two extra glasses of water a day can massively improve their energy levels. Just 15-20 minutes of walking a day could add up to more than 20 miles a month. And just one extra piece of fruit or veg a day will provide valuable vitamins and nutrients to boost immunity.

38. Move with the times: Staff face different wellbeing challenges throughout the year, so while some of your initiatives will be fixed features in the programme, you can also inject new life into your initiatives regularly by targeting seasonal themes. The wellbeing behaviours staff think themselves capable of in the winter will be different from during the summer so make sure you keep them supplied with relevant guidance.  You can also tap into national and international health awareness weeks and months to keep your programme prominent on the organisation’s agenda.

39. Positive action with a sense of purpose: Sitting still for too long at work crushes physical and mental efficiency.  We were designed to move regularly so encourage staff to get mobile when they can and, when they are on the go, move quickly and with a sense of purpose.  This will get the blood flowing to wake the body and provide extra oxygen to the brain to enhance creativity and focus.

40. Get meetings moving: Most of us have seen someone looking drowsy in a meeting but this is far less of a problem if meetings are conducted on the go. Walking while meeting keeps people alert and also focuses their mind on discussing and retaining vital information rather than doodling rambling notes they forget about as soon as they leave the room.

41. Know your audience: Some employees are competitive and will respond positively to individual and group wellbeing challenges.  A more technical audience may benefit from a regular supply of detailed facts and figures to motivate them to change. Always be aware of the differences in male and female motivation when it comes to wellbeing behaviour change and tailor your initiatives and communications accordingly. 

42. Keep initiatives simple and create talking points: Basic health or fitness assessments provide staff with clear measurements of their current wellbeing and provide a benchmark for future progress. Many employees are keen to know their numbers but don’t have the means to find out what they are.  Providing regular opportunities to gather information and track progress is easy to set up and can create a real buzz around your office.

43. Boost engagement: Many people have questions around wellbeing topics but they rarely have the opportunity to have these questions answered.  Setting up wellbeing awareness events where staff can ask their questions to experts not only provides them with valuable information they can act upon quickly but also enhances your reputation as a caring employer thus improving engagement in the long-term.

44. Get some personality into your programme: Some corporate wellbeing programmes are endorsed by household names while others are backed by key players from the organisation.  Either way, adding the right face or faces to your initiatives can provide staff with clear role models to follow and results to aspire to.

45. Time your initiatives appropriately for maximum impact: During periods of increased pressure, resilience coaching for individuals or workshops for teams can be the difference between staff scraping through tough times or embracing their circumstances and using moments of challenge to learn and grow stronger for the future.

46. Offer flexible solutions: Wellbeing coaching can be conducted over the phone as well as via face-to-face contact meaning you can offer elements of your programme to staff no matter where in the world they’re located.

And finally,

47. Always aim for the biggest bang for your buck: Plan initiatives that will really get people talking about wellbeing and excited about the programme you’re offering.  Remember, targeted initiates may last for a few weeks or months but the results can live on for many years to come. The best wellbeing programmes have the potential to change lives forever.

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