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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National Work Life Week: Improving personal effectiveness forever

This week is National Work Life Week so I wanted to share a few insights that have cropped up recently during our Managing Pressure & Building Personal Resilience Workshops.

The workshops have resulted in some dramatic changes in working practices, freeing up valuable hours previously eaten up by inefficient planning, travel time, ineffectual meetings, low energy and lack of engagement.

'This is the best training course I’ve ever attended.  The changes I’ve made since the workshop have helped me restructure my working month and create a more efficient routine for how I manage my time.  This has in turn made the work schedule of my entire team more efficient.  I also learnt to make lifestyle changes that boosted my energy and efficiency which means that not only do I have more time, I can also stay focused and make better use of this time.'

These comments were made more than two years after the workshop which goes to show that a little time spent planning how we work can pay huge dividends in the long term.

The changes made by this participant were very simple:

1) Set a finish time for the day
If you know you have to be out of the office by 5.30pm to get home to eat dinner with the family, you'll run your day very differently than if you'd like to finish work on time but don't treat this objective as a high priority.  On busy days you may find that work creeps just a little beyond 5.30pm but without a firm finish time to aim for, working until 7.00pm and beyond can become the norm.  Do this too often it can be a tricky habit to break.

2) Eat a healthy breakfast
Fuelling yourself properly at the beginning of the day, and topping up your energy levels throughout the day, will improve your clarity of thought, your decision making abilities and your effectiveness.  You'll get more done, more efficiently and you'll maintain a more positive outlook no matter how busy you are.  You'll then have more energy for enjoying life beyond the office in the evenings and at weekends.

3) Protect your regular planning time
A proactive work schedule prioritises quality over quantity.  Getting strategic about who you meet, when you meet, how you communicate, and how you delegate tasks can save you and your team an enormous amount of time and effort.  Regularly review your working practices and make quick changes where appropriate.  This will ensure bad habits don't creep in and will help you focus on why it's important to protect success strategies.  Short cuts are all very well but they often lead to compromised efficiency if left unchallenged.  

Ultimately, the key to a healthy balance in your life is simple:

1. Take responsibility for what you want your routine to look like
2. Plan the necessary actions to lead you towards what good looks like
3. Be clear on the benefits to you and those around you of why it's worth making the effort to maintain your desired balance.  If the upside is exciting enough, you'll always protect your boundaries
4. Take regular action to protect your desired balance

Regular action includes immediate action so why not highlight one or two things you can do differently today that will help you towards achieving the balance in life that's right for you?

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Men's Health, Performance and A Competitive Edge

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:

1. What are your specific objectives with your health, wellness and energy levels?
2. 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?
3. 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?
4. 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.

Get Fit Fast

Do You Know Your Numbers

Portion Sizes

Sleep Problems

Image by Flickr: Matthew Kenwrick

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Create a Healthy Work/Life Balance

When I am coaching clients in the corporate world, I often come across a common complaint: “I have lots of good intentions, but I just can’t seem to find the time to create a better work/life balance”.

Unfortunately, this is a result of working in a fast paced career environment. We know we need to eat healthily, exercise and reduce stress levels, but it won’t happen without some planning. 
Here is the first part of a series of tips on how to manage your time effectively, so you can lead a healthier lifestyle and still have energy for fun without burning out.

1) Decide what you want

People often speak of things being out of balance but don't often take the time to understand what balance means for them.  Set aside time to make a plan of what a good week looks like including work hours, time for exercise / activity, healthy eating, family time, sleep and socialising.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when putting your plan together:

•  How do you want your life to look?
• Who is important to you?    
•  Which activities do you enjoy?

If you thrive on adrenaline and need exciting hobbies to energise you, make sure you put that in your plan. If you prefer a more relaxed approach, make it a priority. The more focused you are on achieving high priority items on the list, the happier you will be with your choices. If something is low on your list, you may need to consider eliminating it all together. When you focus on the goals you really want to achieve, you will feel a greater sense of accomplishment and you’ll enjoy life more.

  

2) Take instant action

Highlight one area of your plan and take action today to making your desired balance a reality. This could be taking some exercise today, eating differently, drinking more water or taking a time out.  Just do something positive for yourself today.

You may find it helpful to use an online planner to keep track of your goals, or if you are a visual person, you could invest in a small dry wipe board to hang above your desk or in your kitchen.

It’s far better to take baby steps with new goals, than to be over ambitious and abandon the whole plan because it’s overwhelming.  The goal is not to over schedule  yourself, but to lay a clear path to living the life you really want. Once you start to make small changes, these will build up over time and before you know it, you will have more control over what you do with your time, and it will give you a sense of satisfaction.

3) Set aside time to review your plan regularly

The more often you engage with your plan and take action towards your ideal situation, the quicker you'll find that you experience a sense of balance.

It’s all too easy to ‘fall off the wagon’ or ditch the new healthy eating regime when temptation strikes, but if you consult your plan on a daily or weekly basis, you can keep track of your progress and make changes to suit you.

Don’t feel discouraged if you stumble along the way. Changing a lifetime of bad habits is not easy, and you can always start over again, or tweak your plan to reach more realistic goals.

Stay tuned over coming weeks and we'll help you fine tune each element of your plan.

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image by patriziasoliani at flickr

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How to stay feeling great after a holiday

If your holiday has been a good one, you’ll be returning home with a refreshed attitude vowing never to let things get on top of you again. You'll be feeling fit from all the strolling on the beach and swimming and water sports and you'll be feeling healthy and recharged. Hopefully....

So, now is the time to seize the good feelings and make them last. Here are some tips to help you achieve that goal and maintain your post-holiday optimism.


1. If you want your results at work to be different, make sure you know what you’re going to do differently. If you simply fall back into old habits and behaviour patterns, you’ll end up with the same frustrations you were experiencing before you left so decide what new practical actions you are going to implement and put them into place right away. If you’re going to delegate more, what’s the first thing you’ll delegate? If you’re going to work shorter hours, what do you need to do to make sure this happens?

2. Learn the lessons of the holiday. Holidays are about individuals operating in ways that suit them best so observe how you enjoyed spending your days while you were away. Think about how much sleep you got, what time of the day you got up, what time your preferred bedtime was and what thoughts and ambitions came to your mind when you had some mental capacity to spare. You can’t live your life on holiday but if you can draw some of the positive influences from your holiday into your working routine, you’re less likely to feel compromised by life in the office.

3. Recognise why the holiday has had such a great impact on you and remember it. If you really understand the value of this time off as part of your overall performance strategy you’ll be much more likely to make time for them in the future and to make sure that you make the most of each opportunity to take a break and come back stronger and more efficient. All work and no play......


Photograph by M Dot (Flickr)

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Office life is getting tense - lighten yours up

It's impossible at the moment to switch on the news without hearing about banks closing, mortgage houses collapsing and doom, doom and more gloom where money and the future is concerned.

This is bound to effect the attitude people have to work and employees can start to look around for safer bets. Staff turnover is always higher than any organisation would like but it's costly too. Now is the time to be motivating staff to feel happy and secure where they are and incentivising them to choose to stay put rather than be tempted elsewhere. But how can you do this without throwing more money at the situation? Remember, pay rises don't always get loyalty.

There are many great ways to make employees feel valued and wanted by an organisation and sometimes, it's easy to miss the point and just give a small pay rise or a change of job title. If you're looking for something that will cost you less but inject your business with a bit of buzz, why not try one or all of the following:

1. Wellness Program - a heath, fitness and relaxation program offered to staff is a great way of telling them you value their well being, you want them to be less stressed and you want them to have fun with their colleagues whilst achieving a great personal health goal they may have. Anything from yoga classes to relaxation sessions, running club to team football. These perks will always leave your staff feeling indulged and valued. Find out how to organise events like these for your teams.

2. Get Flexible - Work and Life work well together when they are balanced but when one demands too much at the cost of the other, the individual caught in the middle always suffers. Why not allow staff to work from home once a week with clearly set out targets and a lot of trust. This change can achieve staff loyalty in next to no time and is usually rewarded with hard work - not slacking. Review this each month so both parties know it is working.

3. Start Listening - personal Development Reviews are sometimes ignored by companies but it is the only official time that employees feel listened to so start doing them regularly and make sure issues and gripes get listened to an acknowledged. When employees leave companies, it is often because they feel like a number. Address that issue once and for all by being pro-active. You'll gain their respect.

Photograph by The Flooz (flickr)

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Too Busy in the Office?

Do you hear yourself saying 'Where does the time go..?' or 'I feel like I haven't got anything done?'

Every day around the world a common complaint in the office is that there just isn’t time to get everything done. The result of packed schedules is that workers don’t achieve everything they’d like to during their time at work or they don’t perform to the standard they feel is right for them.

Here are 3 ways to get more done each day, leave work on time and go home satisfied you've achieved a huge amount without being frazzled at the end



1. Set time limits
Rather than starting a task and allowing it to take as long as it takes, decide in advance how long you are willing to spend on each activity. If you’re clear with yourself with what time you want a job completed by, you’ll focus and avoid distraction to make sure it’s done in time. Emails could take no more than 5 minutes; calls no longer than 10 minutes and meetings no longer than half an hour. If you don’t set time limits you can find yourself at the end of a day still trying to complete something you started first thing.

2. Take breaks
If you arrive at work in the morning and the day stretches out ahead of you as one big block of busy-ness, you can feel overwhelmed. Planning regular breaks means you’ll work effectively in short sharp bursts of productivity punctuated with slots of doing something that takes your mind off work and clears your head ready for the next round of activity.

3. Move on quickly
One person we worked with had a 40 minute time limit for everything he did during a day. Whether it be proposals, costings, meetings or lunches; whatever he was doing, he’d move on to the next task after 40 minutes. He claimed that after this time he stopped having useful thoughts on each task so he’d move on to re-energise his brain. He also built in a slot during each day to return to any tasks with thoughts that came into his head while he was thinking about other things.

The key to success with getting more done is to maintain energy and focus throughout each day. This is best achieved by making progress so always keep in mind how each task you take is moving you forwards. If at any stage you feel your not making progress, your energy and motivation will wane and results will slow. You're at work to get things done and achieve a something, but you don't want to spend all your time there and hours thinking about the office when you get home.
Do it, Get it Done, Get home.

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3 Ways to Make Your Office Better

Office life, when it's fun and productive, you don't mind being there at all. And you're earning money as a bonus. When it's tense, boring or worse, bitchy, it can be hell on earth. And no amount of salary can make it feel OK. 

So what can you do to turn your office into a more appealing place to be without firing the boss and all the people you don't like?

Here are the 3 most successful methods we've used to turn the atmosphere and productivity of an office round in the past. With advice on how you can do it for your work space.

1. Start a Softball Team / Soccer Team
We introduce team sports to office and organize tournaments. Softball is usually the most successful because unlike other sports, not many people are 'experts' and it is as inclusive for men as for women. It's a fun game which means that although it gets competitive, there is still lots of laughing and camaraderie. We manage the whole even for organizations but if you were to try this in your office, the key to making these tournaments work is appointing someone in the office to be the Chief Tournament Officer. They put up the print outs detailing game dates and league tables etc. There is always someone in the office who loves a bit of a spreadsheet! Bosses love this because it creates a unity amongst staff, it's a real leveller - CEO plays alongside junior exec etc. and it promotes a feeling of loyalty to the company.



2. Relaxation Sessions
We usually train staff to get fitter and help them to unwind and manage their sleep and stress. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how well stressed out (men in particular) take to the relaxation and yoga sessions we offer. We learned pretty early that by labelling the sessions as yoga, the employees would always arrive skeptical about it all. When we called them Relaxation sessions, everyone was motivated to give it a go. Despite it being the same thing. The most successful has been sessions the day before employees have to do presentations or run important meetings. It seems to take the nerves away and leave a sense of calm. So perhaps try organizing these in your company the day before a pitch or AGM.

3.One to One Sessions
OK - these tend to be a more costly benefit offered to lucky employees but they are hugely effective in helping employees increase confidence, self esteem and balance home life and work life so much better. most people get pushed and pulled in all areas of their life and always feel that something suffers. It doesn't have to be this way and simple coaching techniques and analysis of their current situation often leads to a light bulb moment for people. They rarely slip back into their old habits.
If you were to try and do something similar for your office, perhaps start mentoring programs that deal with life as a whole and not just career progress.

I hope you get to try one of these options - or all of them - with your office and I'd love to hear your questions and feedback. Every office can be made better - I haven't come across one yet that couldn't.

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Nice Co-Workers Means More than Salary

According to a new report out this week, a good salary isn't what makes us happiest about going into the office everyday. It's getting on with our co-workers that makes the job the most rewarding. The Happiness index also concluded that workers increasingly need work to be stimulating and interesting. Getting paid isn't enough of a reward. This is great news

For a long time now, I've believed that people who talk about work life balance and struggling to make it work are looking at it the wrong way. Work and Life shouldn't be completely separate because each is of huge value. Work is important to making us feel that we are contributing something to the world, adding value to something and getting rewarded for it.

The perfect situation would be a job that gives us a greater sense of self and makes us feel good at something and a home life that is stimulating and relaxing in equal measure. The people that manage to achieve this are those who work hard in both areas of their life rather than see home as a refuge from the office.

This report claims that good relationships with your co-workers is more important than salary in terms of making you feel happy at work. It can even influence people staying on at a company. (read: reduce recruitment costs) Some of the workplaces I've visited with work, the happiest firms are always the places where there is a camaraderie amongst staff and a belief in why they are all there working so hard. The least happy work environments have been those where hierarchy reigns and employees have never even met their big boss. We're all human beings and thrive on relationships. Why should work be any different?

One final interesting point to come out of the study was that the happiest worker profile in the UK was Female, over 60 years old, beauty therapist living in the North East England; The unhappiest was Male, 40-49 year old, builder living in Northern Ireland. take from that what you will but I think the fact the one job is very nurturing, all about human contact and pleasure giving speaks volumes.

Read the full report here.

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Surfing the net is good for the office

They used to call them tea breaks. And some folk call them fag breaks. But for the majority, it's all about E-breaks. That 10 minute surf online to get your banking done or read emails on Facebook. These mini breaks have become a life line to people in offices and helps to break up the day but as more and more companies block Facebook and other social networking sites, have they made a mistake?

According to a new report, surfing the internet actually makes workers more productive because it boosts morale and helps reduce stress.

Seemingly, the right length of break to surf the internet can be even more beneficial than the good old fashioned English tea break which has always been at the heart of successful British working culture.

This research illustrates something that we've known for a long time which is that there are two key factors to creating the ideal workplace.

1. Make sure every single person within the organisation is catered for when implementing staff benefits and incentives.
The tea break appealed to everyone in the past because:
a) everyone drank tea and
b) it was a legitimate time away from the work station. E-breaks are popular because most people either enjoy surfing social networking sites or appreciate time to take care of some personal admin online. Other popular incentives such as flexible working hours and trading hours worked for extra holiday work well because they will appeal to the majority of the workforce at some time, whether it be now or in the future.

2. Make sure benefits and incentives do actually benefit the staff and the organisation.
Every single individual likes to be recognised and appreciates being valued. Providing workers with a benefit that is all about them is the best way in the world to encourage them to think positively about you as an individual in your role in the business and to feel valued by the business as a whole. If they experience these feelings regularly, they will perform to the best of their abilities for the majority of the time. In short, the right incentives, delivered the right way mean everyone's a winner.

When we work with our clients we make sure that participants in our programmes have the opportunity to receive help and advice on all aspects of their health, fitness, diet and lifestyle. We never forget that people have equally important roles to play in their lives as well as being employees. We always try to ensure that employees have the opportunity to work on personal issues both from the workplace and in their wider world, meaning they can develop skills that benefit them personally as well as the business.

And this is the kind of feedback that tells us we got it right...

Since we began the programme, the impact to the participants at both a personal and business level has been fantastic and we're seeing a real improvement in motivation, happiness and quality of work - thus impacting on the service to customers.

If you're interested to read more about how we can achieve such results, visit our website

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Don't Hate the Office, Work It!

There's so much more to be gained from going to the office everyday (salary aside). You can learn so much - and get paid for it. Confused? Okay, let me explain. When it comes to learning new skills at work, what do you think employees value the most? Mastering power point presentations or perhaps Leadership training? Well, a report published last week in the Human Resources Magazine listed the things at work that employees learned which they found most valuable. The list included:

• Communication Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Team Working
• IT Skills


It’s clear from the above list that what people most value from their time at work is their ability to develop life skills. There’s not much emphasis on learning specific tasks, systems and procedures, but there is great importance attached to learning skills that make you better able to work with or manage the people responsible for the tasks, systems and procedures.

This comes as no surprise to me.

It is consistent with the business people that we work with on our programmes. By teaching people how to look after their health and wellbeing, we provide them with all the resources they require to maximise their energy, increase their mental capacity and improve their focus and efficiency. These skills are invaluable in the workplace but also enable people to operate more effectively in every area of their lives. Learning these skills within the working environment means staff view their employer positively. Sometimes, people struggle to see how looking after staff wellness can transform the performance they get. To answer that, here’s a quick run down of the top three tips for keeping staff engaged and fully motivated.

1.Every day is learning at work day
Everyone needs to work but fewer and fewer people these days are motivated by just earning a living. They want to learn some thing new every day and always feel as though they are growing and developing. If you can ensure that your employees go home to their families feeling positive and saying, ‘guess what I learned today at work’, you’ll have a much more lively workplace than if employees simply report that work was 'Oh, you know, same old same old' or, worse than that, 'I don't want to talk about it.'

2. Keep it simple
Communication skills, interpersonal skills and team working are all things that you might think would come most naturally to anyone in the workplace but, as our list suggests they are areas that people most appreciate having the opportunity to work on.

The same goes for eating well, taking exercise and managing stress. You might think that handling these areas is easy or that they’ll take care of themselves but they are often the areas that are most overlooked. Offering staff simple, practical and consistent information and advice ensures they can make easy progress in these areas. It also sends a very strong message that being at work doesn’t mean putting the rest of your life on hold, rather you can learn new information at work that has positive implications for the rest of your life. Not so much work – life balance, more work as part of life balance.

3. Make it relevant
When it comes to health and wellbeing, the message you deliver to staff is all important. If staff think that all you’re interested in is keeping them healthy so you can drive them harder then you’ll have trouble motivating them towards even the most exciting initiatives.

If they understand that what you’re offering them is designed to help energize them and upgrade how they feel while they’re at work while also injecting them with energy and enthusiasm for what ever they choose to do outside of work, they’ll be much more likely to view your initiatives favourably.

Show this post to your boss, it may just get them thinking.
And if you are the Boss, what are you waiting for?

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