Creating a culture of health in the workplace can be a daunting task. It takes a group of champions to help implement a culture of wellness. Here are eight strengths of a wellness champion that can help impact the culture of wellness in your workplace.
- Lead by example. People often mimic the behaviors of those around them. So while telling your colleagues about the importance of eating more vegetables is great, chances are, if you're still bringing doughnuts to morning meetings, you won't see many changes. Wellness is a journey that takes teamwork. Be an example of what wellness looks like and how it can be a part of the everyday lifestyle.
- Support others in their wellness goals. Changing behaviors to live a healthier lifestyle is a big challenge. A wellness champion will support and encourage these goals, no matter how big or small. This means being someone others can rely on in both easy and difficult times.
- Recognize healthy behaviors. Find a way to honor and recognize those who are practicing healthy behaviors, especially those who are trying to make lifestyle changes. This will help them know that others are noticing as well as motivate them to keep working toward their goals.
- Walk and talk. When it comes to meetings, try to schedule walking or standing meetings, whenever possible. This will help create a more active culture in your workplace.
- Bring in healthy snacks. Swap out doughnuts, pizza, and candy with healthy snack options. This will instill a healthy workplace culture as well as provide employees with healthy snack ideas.
- Offer onsite wellness programs. Whenever possible, advocate to bring wellness programs onsite, such as biometric screenings, flu shots, or lunch and learns. It'll let your colleagues know that health is important to the organization, and it takes away the struggle of going out to get things done.
- Take away temptations. It's really difficult to say no to unhealthy behaviors when they surround you. Help make the healthy choice the easy choice by removing candy, junk food, and other unhealthy stimuli around the workplace.
- Make time for fun. Having fun is an important part of our mental, physical, and emotional wellbeing. Find ways to get colleagues together, away from work projects. This can help build camaraderie as well as boost your mood and productivity.