Blog: Personal Wellness – the Strength to Endure
A client engaged us to help them increase the stamina of the 50 employees within their division … the goal – help them find the strength to endure.
I don’t have to provide any other context than today’s date – August 25, 2020.
The customer, part of a health care system of more than a dozen hospitals, was concerned with the wellness of their people. They had not seen each other face to face in over 5 months … some had suffered furlough, pay cuts, home schooling and all manner of ‘pandemic’ protocol. A live meeting was scheduled for a local outdoor amphitheater to accommodate distancing, then after months on the calendar, the event and process was moved to virtual at corporate mandate.
Not a great start. The president asked me, what now? Anytime I help any person or group ‘get better’ I always start with the following:
1. Know thyself – start with requesting small data applicable and personal to this individual or group (leave the rest of the world for another day)
We set up an anonymous survey – we got the information, no one else
We asked only 3 questions … to rate their level of health from 1-100, to rate their level of happiness from 1-100, and to reveal what they would say if they could only ask “just 1 thing” of a wellness coach
We collated the aggregate data … we pooled the responses to all three questions, including text analytics
2. Paint a picture – word clouds and verbatims representing their collective voice were offered in the opening and establishing segments of the virtual meeting
Their collective level of health – “75” (range of 25-100)
Their collective level of happiness – “70” (range of 45-100)
The most common word themes revealed in their questions included; “balance”, “stressful”, “personal”, “happy” – and most frequently, simply the word “HOW” to get it done!
3. Answer their questions – we anonymously (but personally) responded to their needs. Literally all of the 50 people provided a health and happiness score, and 90% of the individuals provided a single question for our wellness experts
We filled our virtual time together with a robust discussion of their needs and our recommendations. They were very happy and engaged – in many cases staying after the time allotted to get the answers they sought. In closing, I’d like to offer a final guiding principle for a successful virtual wellness retreat – make it “multi-touch”. We reinforce the retreat over several weeks by sending tools and solutions specific to the needs they expressed.
We’d love to conduct a virtual wellness retreat for you – or simply talk it over. Call, email or text – we have answers for you.
Don Brown dedicates his career to ‘helping people with people’ in leadership, sales and customer service. Bilingual and experienced at the executive and line-level alike, you see the results of his work across dozens of industries, including brewing, automotive, airline, banking and medical equipment.
Speaking, writing, coaching and selling to the best – Ford Motor Company, Anheuser-Busch, United Airlines, Harley-Davidson, Jaguar Cars, Hilton Hotels and many, many more – Don takes great pride in long-standing customer relationships (some running well over twenty years).
He can be reached at don@donbrown.org
Natalie Peterson is the creator of The Stamina Protocol™, Stamina to Care and Fuel & Fit – Habits for Life. She helps successful people and organizations battle the symptoms of burnout. Instead they gain the ability to take back their time, double their energy, and increase focus so they can finally be more successful at work and not arrive home stressed out with nothing left in the tank.
Natalie has 13 years’ experience in organizational development and human skills training. Natalie holds a Master Trainer Certification in Situational Leadership® , The Leader’s Protocol® , The Service Protocol® , Forte Communication, and is a Marshall Goldsmith Certified Executive Coach.
Natalie has traveled all over the United States and Latin America implementing leadership curriculum’s into organizations, across every industry, from healthcare, to retail, and global call centers. She has a Master’s in Exercise Physiology, a certification as a Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA, Precision Nutrition Level 1 & a 200-hour Yoga Teacher Certification.
She can be reached at natalie@donbrown.org
