7 Steps to Successful Long-term Wellness in your Business

Keeping the Momentum Going

Many wellness programmes begin with a fanfare, and rightly so.  If you’ve invested time and resources in developing the best wellness programme possible for your business, you’ll want to shout about it from the rooftops when it’s ready to launch.  You can then stand back and enjoy the flurry of activity and enthusiasm as staff sign up and get involved in the exciting new initiatives.

The long-term success of any wellness programme can be at risk however if the initial enthusiasm dies down.  To prevent this, it’s vital to think beyond how you get started with wellness so for guaranteed ongoing results for your business, here’s what you need to consider.


1. Be strategic
At the earliest possible stage of planning your wellness initiatives, decide what time frame you are working to and communicate this clearly at all stages to everyone involved.  Outline the planned evolution of wellness and explain the schedule of which initiatives you’re considering at each stage.  Above all, be explicit that wellness is here to stay and will become an integral part of your business culture.


2. Shout about wellness whenever you can
Publicise all events in order that staff know what’s coming up and that there are always wellness resources for them to make use of when required.  Don’t by shy about advertising all the positive results you achieve with the programme.   Recognising those who perform well is a great way to let everyone in the business know that the initiatives are working and also gives them a clear idea of what results they can expect if they get involved.


3. Identify key advocates
You need wellness champions placed around the business to help maintain the profile of your initiatives.  These individuals can help promote your initiatives formally with marketing materials and informally by simply speaking to colleagues about what’s happening.  They can also provide feedback from the front line on how your initiatives are being received and how you may wish to modify your approach to meet the requirements of the end users.


4. Be flexible with your approach
Wellbeing initiatives must always be relevant for them to be successful.  People change and the business environment moves on so make sure you regularly review your range of initiatives so you can discontinue anything that isn’t working and experiment with new ideas when appropriate.  Be clear on which initiatives are successful and popular and make sure they are always readily accessible to those who’d like to make use of them.  Don’t immediately discontinue those initiatives that aren’t subscribed to in huge numbers.  If they work for a few people then they’re worth keeping.  If you cut any initiative, communicate why this is the case and provide alternatives so that no one feels short changed.


5. Encourage sneezing
One of the best ways to maintain ongoing enthusiasm for your wellness programme throughout the business is to foster an environment where people want to talk about how great it is, regardless of whether you encourage them to do so or not.  There are certain products that people just love to tell others about how their life just wouldn’t be the same without them, take SKY+, the iPhone or Skype as just a few examples.  This unprompted and enthusiastic marketing – sometimes known as sneezing – is fantastic for reputation building so when your designing and refining your wellness programme it’s a great idea to give some thought to which elements will really get people excited and ‘sneezing’ about what you’re doing to everyone they come into contact with.


6. Develop events for the diary
If your wellness programme includes popular elements that can be repeated on a regular basis, this can help maintain awareness and engagement in the programme as a whole.  If you organise a sporting tournament, make it an annual event, diet clubs should have weekly weigh ins and if you have wellness experts visiting your business make sure they arrive at least once a month so everyone knows when they are there and when they can make use of this resource.  Ongoing competitions with regular publicised updates of the latest results can help maintain momentum with your programme.


7. Accountability leads to results and positive reviews
If you include wellness modules on leadership or training programmes, make sure they are a regular feature so that those who attend know there will be more information available in the future and also an update on how they are progressing since the last module.  This element of accountability with your initiatives will lead to better results for individuals which in turn leads to a more positive buzz about wellness throughout the business.


The bottom line is that it’s easy to generate and maintain enthusiasm for any aspect of business when it’s successful.  As long as your employees are engaging with your wellness programme and experiencing positive results, and your initiatives are well subscribed and performing well according to whichever criteria you and senior management have agreed, your wellness programme is positioned to go from strength to strength marked by increasing enthusiasm with the passing of each month.


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Five Simple Steps for a Stress Free Life

In the UK, November 7th is Stress Awareness Day.  So here are some useful tips to help you and your staff avoid rising stress levels.

1. Acceptance
There's a possibility that life might not always be plain sailing.  There are times when we need to push out of our comfort zone to grow and develop.  This can lead to feelings of anxiety or stress but will also usually result in some positive change or improvement in your life.  Embrace it, don't fight it.


2. Understanding
The stress response is a natural one designed to protect us.  Feeling stressed is a sign that we feel out of control and that we need to act.  Once you are in the habit of responding appropriately to feeling stressed, you will feel calmer, sooner.


3. Honesty
Stress has mental and physical implications.  You must be honest about your responses to stress and whether or not they will really help you feel better.  Faced with a super busy day ahead, loading up with caffeine and a sugary breakfast will only leave you feeling more stressed.

Alternative choices such as porridge or eggs with herbal tea or water will calm your system and help reduce stress levels.  Because stress arises when we feel things are beyond our control, find simple ways to take control wherever you can and return to a state of calm, clear thinking as quickly as possible.


4. True Stress Management
Managing stress does not necessarily mean eliminating stress.  The key to success is to know how far you are willing to move out of your comfort zone and how often you are willing to do this.  You can then manage how quickly you make progress through life without ever feeling overwhelmed.


5. Be a Team Player
Just as others may cause you stress, so you may cause stress for those around you.  Pause for a moment and think about what you do that could cause stress for others.  Then consider alternative approaches.  If everyone in any team or family asks themselves this question, overall levels of stress are greatly reduced.


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Getting Value for Money from Your Wellness Programme

However large or small your wellness budget is, one thing is for sure, you'll be looking for maximum return on your investment for every pound you spend.  The simplest way to achieve this is to target every single one of your initiatives towards a specific audience.

One way that we achieve this with our clients is to begin wellness programmes with initiatives that allow us to research the audience while making a difference from the outset.

You can read one example of how this approach was successful here

A simple, effective, value for money wellness solution:
http://the-tonic.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/simple-effective-value-for-money.html

From what we learned during this initiative we went on to help the client set up:

• Regular wellbeing days around the country
• Resilience and stress management workshops
• A company wide health eating plan
• Weight management clubs
• Sporting tournaments
• Regular office massage
• A comprehensive online wellbeing toolkit
• Establishing local wellbeing champions and providing regular training for them

All of these initiatives have a regular audience which ties in perfectly with the organisation's objective of setting up a wellness programme that includes something for everyone.

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A Guide to Outsourcing Your Wellness Programme

To develop the best wellness programme possible for your organisation, seeking external input can be invaluable.  Here are some key points to consider when looking for wellness providers.

Be clear on what you are looking for
You’ll either be at the stage where you have a clear idea of what you want from your wellness programme and you’re looking for someone to help you deliver on the plan, or you may have simply had initial thoughts on what you’re looking for and you require some creative input into what will work best for your organization.

Some providers are best positioned to bring your existing ideas to life quickly by providing you with resources you don’t have access to and enabling you to tap into their tried and tested systems.   Others adopt a more consultative approach and will help you take a strategic view of how a wellness programme could develop within your organization over time.  It’s important to decide which approach suits you best in the early stages of selecting providers.

What level of input do you require?
You need to decide what kind of wellness initiatives you are looking to set up and how much you want to be involved in the ongoing servicing and development of these initiatives.  Do you want a supplier that, once appointed, will simply report back to you on a regular basis with a review of how the initiatives are progressing, or do you want to actively manage your initiatives more closely in order that you can review and refine your approach quickly and efficiently?

Do you want a provider that will act as a virtual wellness department for your business leaving you free to focus on other priorities, or do you want retain a more hands on approach?

Do your research
When it comes to checking out potential providers you need to be diligent in your research.  Be patient when making your decision as this could save a lot of time further down the line:

• What experience do your potential suppliers have? 
• Are they regularly delivering the kind of services you’re looking for?  
• What do their current clients say about the work they do?  
• Do they have experience in your business sector?  
• Can they demonstrate a track record of delivering the results you’re looking for with your wellness programme?

Interview thoroughly
Personalities are important.  You need to be able to trust your provider to deliver the right services at the right time; you’re looking for someone to make your life easier after all.  Shop around and decide if you’re looking for a one-stop shop single provider for a variety of services or if you need to research the best supplier for each component part of your strategy.

Quiz potential providers thoroughly on how they would apply their knowledge and experience to add value to your wellness programme.  Listen out for key questions they should be asking you during the interview process.  Your provider should be curious about your overall strategy for wellbeing and how they fit into the plans for the short, medium and long-term.

Who will go the extra mile?
You should be convinced that your provider not only has thorough relevant knowledge and experience, but that they understand or have the potential to understand your organization.  The best providers are able to quickly get to grips with the personality of a business as this understanding helps enormously with the delivery of wellness messages.

A provider that can help you deliver the most effective wellness initiatives and ensure these are communicated clearly in a manner that will engage and motivate your staff will guarantee your wellness programme is a success, so don’t settle for anything less in your choice of who to appoint to assist you with this vital area of your business.


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Sharpen up your Decision Making Skills

Last week I presented at one of our client's offices.  The subject was 'Effective Decision Making' and I covered:

• How to create a work-life balance that really does work
• A 7-step plan for determining priorities
• How to say no while keeping everyone happy

Those who attended the presentation said:

• An extremely valuable event
• Would like a longer session
• Very useful, very relevant to my work role
• Really helped me think about my prioritisation skills and new ways of getting things done
• Very useful resource material to refer to in the future

We covered a lot of material but there was one key piece of advice that was applicable to everyone.  I'm happy to share it with you.

The ability to make effective decisions will be dictated by how energetic, focused, engaged and in control you feel.  To ensure you remain in this positive frame of mind at all times, create clearly defined appointments in your schedule to review your effectiveness.  

A simple pattern to follow is:

• 1 hour review time per month.  At the beginning, end or in the middle of the month, you decide.

• 20 minutes review time per week.  Recommended to be in the middle of the week rather than Monday morning or Friday afternoon.

• 6 minutes review time per day.  This can be broken into three mini-reviews of 2 minutes each to keep you track throughout the day.

In total that's just 52 review / planning hours per working year.  Less than 3% of your time if you work a 35 hour week.  52 hours invested in yourself that can make an enormous difference to every single minute you spend at work and which will also have a positive impact on your life outside of work.

With summer coming to a close and many of us heading back into the school run and busy work schedules, this is a crucial time to plan how you make the best decisions for your life.

What are you waiting for?  Get reviewing and get effective.

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