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Championing Your Workplace Wellness Programme

It can seem like a daunting task if you have the responsibility to make wellness successful throughout your business, so you need to be strategic with how you organise things and accept that, even though you may be able to do it all by yourself, you could be more effective if you have some assistance. Following the model suggested by Dame Carol Black a couple years ago and setting yourself up with some reliable wellness champions around the organisation can be a very successful way to proceed.

Be selective

The best wellness champions volunteer for the role rather than being press-ganged or volunteered by others. Maximising wellness success with the help of champions is all about quality rather than quantity so make sure you have the right personalities on board. Those who have a particular interest in wellness themselves can be invaluable because they understand the concepts, appreciate the benefits of good wellness and have a natural enthusiasm for spreading the word. Once you have the right Champions on board, here are some tips for using them to the best effect.

Share your strategy

Wellness initiatives are most successful when Champions understand how each part of the programme fits into the overall, long-term business strategy. Give them a clear insight into where your wellness programme is headed.

Communicate frequently

Keep your champions up to date regularly using group emails and conference calls as well as individual communications. Communication should be a two way process with frequent opportunities for champions to share their insights and make suggestions based on their own experiences. Different areas within a business can have their own personality and ways of doing things and your wellness champions can provide vital information on whether or not your company wide initiatives will work in their environment as standard offerings or if they’ll need slight adaptations to cater for different audiences.

Train champions regularly

You don’t need to meet in person with your champions so often that it disrupts their regular routine, but it pays to deliver selected updates face to face so that you can build the relationship, congratulate them on their efforts and provide a forum for open discussions on how you can all work together effectively in the future. If you can meet with groups of champions together selected by region or by interest group this will provide the opportunity to train a number of them in one session which will both save you time and will also help champions to interact and discover new ways of managing their wellness responsibilities based on the experiences of others in the business.

Give good feedback

Even if you have many champions, treat them as individuals and ensure they all feel regarded and respected. Follow up on events they are involved in with positive feedback on their efforts and constructive comments for the future that will make everyone’s job easier. Publicise the efforts of successful wellness Champions or maybe even create a Champion of the month or quarter.

Give them the whole picture

Wellness champions don’t only require information on initiatives that are coming up, they also need insight on how to plan these events, manage logistics, and how to communicate events and initiatives to their colleagues. Spend plenty of time explaining the best ways to market each initiative and make sure they have access to all the resources they require. Chances are that Champions will be fitting their wellness commitments in around their day job so aim to make things as easy as possible for them.

Create systems where possible

Rather than repeating the same discussions or sending out similar versions of core information to many champions, develop standard systems and operating manuals where possible. These don’t have to be lengthy but a clear guide on how to implement the main elements of your wellness programme could save much time and anxiety further down the line. Involving champions in the development of these systems and manuals can refine the processes quickly and improve working relationships in the future.

Keep your Champions engaged and motivated

Where possible during training sessions and communications, provide new wellness knowledge that Champions can use for themselves and impart to their colleagues. The more they learn the better Champions they’ll be and the more information they have, the greater the buzz around wellness they’ll create.

About Author: Jeff Archer is Director of The Tonic, a corporate wellness company specialising in helping people achieve optimum energy and performance, every day.