Leadership, Strategy And A Race Round The Park

This week one of our wellness programmes featured a 5KM challenge.

It's part of a leadership programme that we work on regularly and the 5K challenge has become a major feature. It doesn't matter how fit you are, taking part is what counts.

The event is a lot of fun for everyone and there are always some keen runners in every group so the competition to be the winner can be quite interesting, but more of that below in our list of three reasons why this type of wellness initiative is a valuable asset to any leadership event:

1) Targeted shared experiences enhance team dynamics and performance
75% of the group took part which is a fantastic turn out for an optional physical activity.  Some ran or walked 5km for the first time, some set a personal record for running the distance, some were out to get some fresh air in the middle of a day of study, some made the most of the social element.  Whatever their individual aims were in taking part, everyone finished the event with a sense of achievement and a great shared experience.  The post-event review and analysis continued throughout the day.

2) Small challenge can create big results
To develop people we need to help them challenge themselves and this can be achieved by creating a variety of environments where they can sign up to initiatives that don't appear to include a huge risk but provide the opportunity for people to walk away from them with a huge sense of satisfaction and achievement.

Prior to the event, most of the group were playing down their expectations of how they would perform.  Aside from a handful of regular runners, the majority of those who took part were just hoping to make it round the course or were planning a mixture of running and walking or a steady stroll around the entire distance.  As it turned out, everyone did better than they expected.  Spurred on by their colleagues and supported by fellow group members they all ran further or faster than anticipated and were pleasantly surprised that a little bit of a push helped them achieve a lot more than they had expected.

3) Bridge the gap between strategy and reality
The keen runners in the group had many conversations ahead of the event about how they would pace the race, what speed they'd start at and what order they expected to finish in.  When the starting gun went, all plans went out of the window.  A couple started faster than everyone expected, others had to decide to go with them or start slower and try to catch up later on.  The tactics were fascinating to watch.  At the finish line everyone was happy with the race they had run even if it hadn't quite gone as they had expected.

For this group the race was a great metaphor for business.  Planning and strategy are all very well but you can only find out what you're capable of and how you can deliver under pressure when you put yourself into a live, dynamic and evolving situation.