The Small Business Wellness Initiative

One example of an evidence-based effort to help small businesses was the Small Business Wellness Initiative. This segment of the workshop reviewed the core elements of this program and tools for launching an initiative in any community (also see www.sbwi.org)

Leadership Join-in (cont.)

 

Unfortunately, many health promotion programs focus on impacting the lives of the employees at the individual level, and merely request the support of these programs from leadership, possibly creating a "wellness is for them" attitude among managers. It is time to move beyond 'leadership buy-in,' and time to move to 'leadership join-in.'

 

TAKE ACTION (3 TIPS FOR LEADERSHIP "JOIN IN")

There are plenty of things a company, and their leaders, can do at the organizational level to emphasize health to the whole population. For example, the organization can make health a part of the mission/vision/values of the organization, change the policy, and/or alter performance feedback methods. However, none of these truly engage the leadership to personally commit to living a healthier lifestyle or behavior change. Alternately, it may help to focus on the local group or team-level cultures and the leaders of those work environments.  There are three key actions you can take to engage direct supervisors as well as higher-level managers and integrate 'Leadership Join-in' into your wellness culture initiative.

 

TIP 1: Offer programs and topics that are relevant to managers. It is important to understand that managers are susceptible to risk factors that are different from their employees (i.e. lengthy/frequent travel, heavy workload, long-hours, and concerns of personal/professional crises). Therefore, programs and activities should be offered or available to address these issues. Some of these risk factors may only appear to apply to your current senior level management, but we are talking about prevention. Informing younger leaders how to cope and manage these risks can only help them excel as they climb the leadership ladder and stay healthy as role models.

 

TIP 2:  Communicate the impact that leaders and managers have on their team and the organization. Many leaders don't realize, and many organizations under-emphasize, the real impact that a leader can have on the organization. In reality, managers and leaders can behave in ways that either negatively or positively impact the organization and their direct team. We call this the 'ripple effect.' The particular way that a manager lives, behaves, and leads their team can all send 'ripples' out into the organization. In creating a healthy culture, it is imperative that your leaders are sending out positive 'ripples.'

§  Are your managers acting as healthy role models (e.g. currently healthy or currently making efforts) or are they taking health for granted?

§  Do their leadership behaviors enhance the work environment or create chaos?

§  Do they support healthy activities and behaviors, or reward the bad?

Once a manager begins to understand their impact, they can become aware of those personal behaviors and actions that may be creating negative ripples. They can also begin to see those behaviors that create positive ripples. The next step is to begin to commit to actual behavior changes. Understanding this impact, beginning to make more positive healthy efforts, and integrating all this into the way they lead can take a lot of support. Therefore...

TIP 3: Integrate coaching into wellness offerings for leaders. This is a cutting-edge approach that may be the future of the wellness culture change industry. Coaching for leadership can be beneficial in many ways; coaching can 1) help facilitate the un-doing of unhealthy leadership and lifestyle habits that have been picked up along the leadership ladder, 2) help prevent the unhealthy leadership and lifestyle habits in young managers, and 3) provide the ongoing support and mentorship that managers need to avoid career derailment (through poor health, habits, or leadership) and that are costly to organization. The support, the follow up, and the accountability provided by coaching can be the key to long-term lifestyle and leadership behavior changes. Combining leadership and wellness coaching is the obvious next step if you really want to create a culture of health.

Ultimately, when leaders address personal risk factors, understand their impact on others, and make behavior changes then you will begin to see the culture shift in your organization. After all, your leaders and managers are the driving force of culture change. Why not ask them to 'join in'?

If you are interested in wellness program and coaching for your leadership, you may be interested in our ExecuPrev™: LiveWell ~ LeadWell program. To learn more, contact Ashleigh Schwab at aschwab@organizationalwellness.com.