Posts tagged ‘Sustained Engagement’

Jul 7

The Health and Wellness Industry FAQ: Small Budget – What Should I Do First?

Wellness Exists at the intersection of Contentment and Aspiration.

To live there, You Must First Choose to Move Out of the Village of Someday…

NOTE :

Over the years I’ve been asked a number of questions about the health and wellness industry. This is question #8 of the top 10 most frequently asked questions. The responses are, of course, neither right nor wrong. They are simply my impressions from over 35 years of field experience.

QUESTION #8: “If you had the barest of budgets but were charged with the responsibility of improving employee health, what activity or initiative would be number one on your list?”

RESPONSE: I strongly believe that hours spent at the workplace are the easiest to design and control. With the stroke of a pen a CEO can create a:

As a CEO, I may not be able to dictate what you do the other sixteen hours but I can certainly shape the environment and promote a healthy agenda when it’s on my time and my dime. When you’re in charge, you get to make the rules.

Today’s CEO gets to call the shots. If they want Free-Fruit-Fridays and a smoke-free campus, all they have to do is say so. As long as they conform to the letter of the law (and, in a union shop, provisions agreed to in collective bargaining) corporate rulers get to rule, absolutely. Healthy food in cafeterias, safe and inviting stairwells, health awareness campaigns and flu clinics are easy to administer and the cost is minimal. Creating a smoke-free campus and banning sugar sodas, candy dishes and high-sugar-high-fat celebration “treats” costs nothing more than the courage and conviction needed to make it so.

So, my answer is, “Create a Healthy Corporate Culture.” Now, if you have additional dollars, here are numbers two through ten:

2. Personal Health Surveys, Biometric Screenings and Follow-Up Counseling

3. Healthy Heart Awareness, Education and Intervention Classes

nutrition and weight control (both over and under weight)
exercise (yoga, stretching, aerobics, light resistance)
stress management
tobacco cessation

4. Link Insurance Premium Contribution to Wellness Activities and Metrics

5. Employer Sponsored Healthy Competition Campaigns

6. Subsidizing Fitness Club Memberships

7. Healthy Employee Recognitions and Rewards

8. Financial Management

9. Healthy Babies and Parenting Skills

10. On-Site Fitness Center

Nov 28

HIGH PERFORMANCE WELLNESS: Part V – Once I CHOOSE a Goal What’s The Likelihood I’ll Stay With It?

well·ness, \ˈwel-nəs\: a dynamic objective and subjective progression toward a state of complete physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual, economic and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Incremental improvements can occur from pre-conception up to and including a person’s last breath

– MH Samuelson

Position Statement:

Wellness is located at the intersection of Contentment and Aspiration. To live there, you must first choose to move out of the Village of Someday.

– MH Samuelson

NOTE

What follows is Part V of a seven-part essay on work/life balance. While the basic information applies to everyone who accepts pay in exchange for effort, the focus of this essay is on the skills needed to emotionally, physically, spiritually, intellectually, socially and financially thrive in a fast-paced, early stage, entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial venture.

The Process of Change (That’s Really What We’re Talking About)

Change! No matter how badly we want it for ourselves or for others, sustainable, meaningful, change is a process, not an event. The process is linear and sequential. It progresses from intellectual, to emotional, to visceral before it becomes cellular.

The Intellectual Phase: We are informed (passive)
The Emotional Phase: We are engaged (active)
The Visceral Phase: We are moved to action (active)
The Cellular Phase: We are the change (passive)

The KEY stage is the visceral stage. Or, as Howard Beale would say, the “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!” stage.

Measuring Passion, Opportunity & Probability

Respect the power of the possible. Probability is the product of statistical variables, possibility, however is a defined empty cup waiting to be filled to the brim by your courage and determination. Without passion, setting long-term goals are meaningless regardless of available resources. In all cases passion will trump opportunity.

Using The Probability Gauge,™ select one of your achievement goals and chart both the passion you feel toward the goal as well as your available resources (opportunity). The point of intersection will give you an idea of how feasible this goal is.

Sustainable change does not exist…until your soul awakens and your bones start shakin’