Monday 10th June is the beginning of Men's Health Week in the UK.
It's always a busy week for us as it provides the perfect opportunity to engage a wider audience within many of the businesses we work with.
Men can be a little reticent when it comes to taking the best care of their health, attending regular check-ups and incorporating positive lifestyle change into their routine. That said, since we've been working in corporate wellness, which is well over ten years now, there has been a noticeable change.
Now we encounter far less of the bullish, head down and let's get on with it no matter how tired, lethargic, unwell or busy I feel attitude, and we experience many more examples of men pausing to think about how they can improve the quality of what they do and how they feel.
The tide has definitely turned and there are plenty of specific examples of men embracing wellbeing and achieving great things in our ongoing series of wellness success stories.
But what if your business still contains guys who so far have proved resistant to any number of positive wellbeing messages? How do you get them inspired?
Here's how we do it.
Make wellness strategic
Getting active, eating healthily, sleeping well and managing stress are all great intentions but in isolation these ideas aren't always enough to make men break established habits. A few key questions that bring an element of strategy and planning to the concept of wellness can make all the difference, for example:
- What are your specific objectives with your health, wellness and energy levels?
- If you were as fit, healthy, energetic and effective as you'd like to be, what would be happening in future that isn't happening now?
- If you were to begin today, what will you do differently to bridge the gap between where you'd like to be with your wellbeing, and where you are now?
- What's stopping you from achieving your objectives and what possible solutions are available to you?
It's very rare that after considering the above, someone forgets all about wellness and goes back to what they were doing. Sewing the seeds of these thoughts always encourages people towards a positive change, even if the process may take a while in some cases.
Invoke the corporate role model
Many men respond more positively to the idea of making wellness changes as a way to improve how others view them than they do to the idea of making changes that will improve their health and energy levels.
Ask guys what type of a role model they'd like to be seen as and most would prefer 'fit, dynamic, energetic, capable and healthy' to a reputation for being able to eat more, drink more and stay out later than anyone else. (This is certainly one of the areas where we've seen changes over the years).
So find out what matters to the men in your organisation when it comes to acting as role models and then tailor wellness initiatives to provide easy access to information, resources and initiatives that will help guys behave consistently with their role model aspirations.
Appeal to the inner competitor
Most men like wellness initiatives that have a team or competitive element to them. Planning an office running club, 5-a-side football league or a fitness challenge such as a pedometer challenge or 'who can cycle the furthest on a month' will get people moving. Get to know different sections of your staff and make challenges relevant for specific groups.
Finally, the fact that Men's Health Week is an annual event raises one further question for everyone:
Are you in a better situation with your health, energy, performance, life balance and happiness than you were this time last year?
If you are, fantastic.
If not, what can you do to begin making progress towards a better result this time next year?
Here's a series of Men's Health related tips that will really make a difference right away and in the long-term.
Image by Flickr: Matthew Kenwrick
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