Wellness that Works

Five More Powerful Guidelines for the Wellness-Led Organization

We are on the third of four blogs and associated podcasts located at this link – Podcast – discussing the Well-Led guidelines for a successful organization that simultaneously cares for its employees and mission. You can apply these guidelines to lower risk and increase organizational, program, and project success.

Before discussing Well-Led Guidelines six through ten, let me briefly summarize the previous two blogs. The first two blogs are located at Three Key Reasons Your Organization Should Be Wellness-Led and Five Essential Guidelines for the Well-Led Organization.

In the first blog, we gave three reasons why support of employee wellness is essential for an organization intent on ensuring sustainable access and lowering risk. A focus on employee wellness leads to better decision-making, strong camaraderie, a shared sense of purpose, and a reduction in sick days with a corresponding increase in productivity.

In the other blog, we looked at the first five Well-Led Guidelines; all focused on planning with employee health as a critical input. The first five guidelines were:

Acknowledge that overwork is counterproductive, so plan for downtime in your schedule. Do not overallocate your people.
Build downtime away from work during the week to allow people to focus on non-work-related tasks.
Incorporate fun and incentives into work. Indeed, all work and no play makes for a dull existence.
Keep your team energized with healthy and culturally appropriate snacks.
Don’t risk your employees’ health by making them come to the office during a weather or other emergency.

These are just the highlights of the first five Well-Led guidelines. Five Essential Guidelines for the Well-Led Organization has examples of how to do it and anecdotes of what goes wrong if you do not follow the Well-Led guidelines.

Now, let’s jump into Well-Led Guidelines six through ten.

6. Build civility and respect for the individual in all company processes. We all know what happens when people do not treat each other civilly. You have stalemates, animosity, in-action, and resentment. Just look at the dialogue on Twitter now, X, or our current political impasse. On the other hand, we all know what happens when a team actively listens to one another and allows a voice for the opposite viewpoint. You make a better decision, avoid group thinking, and build a shared purpose. But it is not easy. This does not mean you never need a tiebreaker; that is when authentic leadership emerges. Or that you always have consensus. It means that everyone involved understands the reason for the decision and emerges as colleagues who respect but do not necessarily agree. And perhaps, the opposing viewpoint is turned to when the initial decision does not work.

How do you build an organization based on civility and respect for the individual? Believe it or not, I turn to two political figures: our first president, George Washington, and a hero of mine and favorite Professor, Texas Congresswoman Barbara Jordan.

When he was 16, George Washington wrote 110 rules of civility to guide his life. Washington wrote down the rules presumably as an exercise in penmanship but later committed them to practice and memory. They helped develop the decorum, civility, and courage that guided Washington through war and the birth of this nation. You can read Washington’s Rules of Civility here. Washington’s Rules

The rules initially composed by French Jesuit priests in 1565 range from the practical to the profound. Respect and civility toward friend and foe are at the root of the rules. Rule 1 lays this idea out perfectly with the words: “Every action done in the company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present.” Many in the public sphere would do well to take this rule to heart!

Most of the rules have applications today. One of them that I found particularly compelling is Rule 18: “Read no letters, books, or papers in the company, but when there is a necessity for the doing of it, you must ask leave: come not near the books or writings of another to read them unless desired or give your opinion of them unasked also look not nigh when another is writing a letter.” What does this mean for our sixth Well-Led Guideline? When you are in a face-to-face meeting, no laptop or phone use. If you are remote, put your camera on and be present. No multi-tasking.

There are many more applicable rules on civility. We have added a link to my blog on this topic in the blog in the show notes. Washington Rules of Civility for Today

Many of you who pass through Austin have seen the statue of the airport’s namesake, Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Ms. Jordan, who I was fortunate to have as a Professor at LBJ School of Public Affairs, was a towering intellect, the epitome of integrity, and a hero to all Texans. She also encapsulated in one person the power of diversity and the spark and spirit that binds us together.

Ms. Jordan, I, and other students had many engaging debates in the classroom. These discussions were governed by Ms. Jordan’s rules of Civil Discourse, which I took from her engagement in the discussion. I believe each organization should implement something similar.

She understood all angles of an issue. In particular, she could often articulate the opposing views’ perspective better than they could themselves.
She would then clarify where she agreed with their perspective to emphasize where there was common ground.
Only then would she respectfully bring up where she differed from the group or person’s perspective with concise arguments based on her view of the facts.

7. Technology to help, not replace people. This next rule, believe it or not, is related to the one that came before. Organizations, particularly technology-focused ones, can show bias toward technology, just as human-focused organizations can show to the person with the loudest bullhorn. Use technology, particularly AI, in a judicious manner. AI and other technology should be used to free humans from the mundane and to spark creativity from the launchpad of technology. Not to replace them entirely but to add more value to the organization.

8. Celebrate diversity and learn about other cultures. Diversity of opinion and the ability to share ideas across cultures, creeds, generations, and genders is transforming. Each of us brings to a solution a unique perspective that no one else can replicate. It is tempered by our experiences, upbringing, and the place we call home. Each person was put on this earth to fulfill a unique purpose. A true leader’s mission is to meld the singular talents of each person to gain the best result. What unites us is undoubtedly more significant than what divides us; what unites us is the spark of humanity in each person! It is also imperative for personal growth to learn from one another and to celebrate differences.

In rule six, we already talked about how civilly listening to diverse opinions brings better decisions and engages all participants when done right. But it also is essential to allow people to be exposed to other cultures in a non-work environment to build understanding. One way to do this is to build an event like I did with my team. Each year, we had a Festival of Lights where team members all over the globe shared their holiday pictures and discussed their festival of lights (Diwali, Christmas, Hanukkah, Bodi Day, Quanza, and many more). It was not mandatory, but people loved it. It showed the commonalities and differences of our team in a positive light.

9. Always plan for training. Not planning for training when taking on a new venture or bringing a new person into the organization can hurt morale and stymie productivity. In my experience, most people want to expand their capabilities and follow their organization into new ventures. It is, therefore, crucial to provide well-constructed training so people feel that the organization is vested in them and they are enabled for the task in front of them. I have seen too many projects go south because the leadership did not take the time to refresh members on crucial training topics or introduce new training for the new venture.

10. Lead from the bottom. The last rule for this podcast is that you need a mechanism to hear and capture ideas from those doing the work. The best ideas come from those performing the heavy lifting. So, develop an incentive system to capture team members’ ideas and offer incentives and recognition when their ideas are used.

Next week’s blog will examine the guidelines eleven through fifteen. Until then Thrive through Wellness.

Three Key Reasons Your Organization Should Be Wellness-Led

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Today, we begin the first of a four-part series on why your organization should lead with wellness and fitness, followed by subsequent blogs with tips and tricks to get you there!

I was fortunate to be in the Army in my early adult life. One of the perks of the Army is that you are paid to work out every day and keep fitness top of mind. Likewise, the Army has weight standards that each soldier needs to meet. It was part of your role description and responsibility. An unfit soldier will put himself and his unit at risk. I, therefore, had the pleasure and pain to exercise regularly. Sometimes, it was exhilarating, like singing cadence at the top of your lungs while on a battalion run. Other times brutal, such as the yearly Obstacle Course administered by the Department with a Heart at West Point. Exercise and maintaining your weight standard were good, necessary, and part of your job description! While the Army has other wellness areas that continue to improve, they had the fitness component down.

My life changed when I left the military and joined the corporate well in the early 90’s. Early morning calls replaced morning PT. Long hours on planes and in front of a computer slinging code affected my health. At the time, it seemed that fitness and taking care of myself was no longer part of my job description or even opposed to it.

Companies and I at that time did not yet see the impact of wellness on work. The drive for more billable hours and seemingly higher productivity dominated. This corporate culture (or my take on it) resulted in weight gain, loss of my health, and a decline in productivity over time.

Luckily, the corporate culture and my thought processes changed around 2010. Corporate wellness programs, such as those at Google, Microsoft, GE, Salesforce, and Accenture, to name some of the top ones, are now focused on fitness and the human aspects of work. I greatly advocate for these programs and credit the wellness programs of my prior company as instrumental in turning my life around. It is why my wife and I started our company, Wellness Leadership, LLC. To read about the five corporate programs that helped restore my health, click the link in the show notes titled Five Corporate Wellness Programs that Saved My Life.

Before jumping into my three top reasons for investing in the wellness of your employees, let me give you a few statistics. I got this from a compilation of several sources on the Gapin Institute website.

Companies with highly effective health and wellness programs report 11% higher revenue per employee, 1.8 fewer days absent per employee per year, and 28% greater shareholder returns.

In companies that provide health and wellness support:

91 percent of their employees say they feel motivated to do their best (vs. 38 percent of those without)
89 percent of their employees are more likely to recommend their company as a good place to work ( vs. 17 percent)
91 percent of their employees have a positive relationship with supervisors (vs. 54 percent)

Expanding upon these facts, let me give you my take on why I think a focus on the wellness of the members of an organization improves an organization’s outcomes.

Here are my top three reasons why:

Improves Decision Making. The enemy of all good decisions is stress. Exercise and fitness help relieve stress and keep away fatigue. A simple 20-minute walk will provide a few minutes to clear your mind, allowing you to focus on the problem. Better yet, get up and walk around the office during a phone meeting when things get heated. The simple step of standing up will shake off the cobwebs that tend to collect during back-to-back calls.

Builds Comradery. The best thing about the Army was the camaraderie. One way it was built was through morning PT. While I am not advocating that each company go on a company run each morning, I recommend a common fitness program to build spirit de corps. Such a common fitness program helped me to know my colleagues better through fitness events (MS 150, Annual Veterans Walk, etc.) and programs (active rewards programs, Fitbit competition). One simple example was a random competition I and some colleagues engaged in one Saturday. One of my friends started a Fitbit weekend competition, and although we were all in different states, we kept apprised of the others’ progress. We all engaged in friendly and sometimes hilarious banter through the Fitbit app as we each surpassed 10 miles.
Reduces Sick Days. Staying fit helps to keep you out of the doctor’s office and in yours during working hours. Research conducted at Brigham Young University, the Center for Health Research at Healthways, and the Health Enhancement Research Organization suggests unhealthy eating is linked with a 66% increased risk of loss of productivity. In comparison, lack of exercise is associated with a 50% increased risk of low productivity. My experience bears this out. Before returning to fitness, I was habitually hit with bronchitis and, at least twice a year, pneumonia. Both resulted in sick days and loss of productivity when I worked through it. Since returning to my target weight and improved fitness, I have had neither bronchitis nor pneumonia. I’m not sure how many days have been saved, but approximately a week a year. There was an increase in productivity on those days when I should have been recovering, and I drove through and worked despite my illness.

These are the top three reasons an organization should focus on member wellness. Increased productivity, esprit de corps and better decisions are just three reasons wellness is imperative in the work world. In blogs over the next few weeks, I will further discuss 15 guidelines for the Well Led organization. Until then, lead through wellness!

2018-11-042021-02-03Don GrierLeave a comment

Wellness and work usually are not thought to go together. Phrases such as “You will work yourself to death” and “work/life balance” have slipped into our lexicon. The Japanese even have a word for it – Karōshi which translated literally means work yourself to death. Beyond these terms, most have experienced stress eating or skipped workouts because we were either too tired or had an early morning call.

I used to think like that! I was the literal work iron man or so I thought. Before I changed my ways, I would work 16 hours days while eating Plucker’s fried wings and macaroni washed down with cupfuls of peanut M&M’s and Starbucks. I thought I was masterful but I was being mastered. It did not work out. By the end of 2014, I was an over-stressed, overweight, and disgruntled man trying to keep my head above water. I was neither felt well or worked well.

I began to realize that it was neither work over wellness or wellness over work. The key to working at your peak is to enact wellness that works! What do I mean by wellness that works? It is the synergistic effect that wellness and work can have on each other. Get more healthy and you can work more efficiently. Work more productively, then you have more time for wellness. Sounds too good to be true? Well, my story is a testament to the potential positive effects that wellness and work have on each other.

Let’s roll back to where I started off – the end of 2014. I had put work over wellness for many years. The end result of this exercise occurred in October, 2014. I was walking out of the delivery center at 3 AM – the last man out the door. Tired and sleepy, I missed a step, tripped and knocked myself out. When I came to, I could not lift myself off the ground with all the weight I was carrying. I ended up crawling until I could get to the bumper of my car and use it as leverage.

Then and there I vowed that I needed to do something different. So among other things (joining WW, going to the doctors), I enacted Don’s four rules for wellness that works:

(1) Well rested, well tested, never bested! – The first thing that I did was to get more sleep. Sounds easy? It wasn’t. At first, I thought I would miss something if I was not on each and every late night call. I was driven to be in the know and show the “manager’s flag” on every call.

But that attitude was making me unhealthy and also was not the best leadership style. Sure it is important to get on critical calls at critical times for support of your team and to add to the solution. But not every call and not all the time. Hovering over everyone makes them think you do not trust them and may even detract from the solution. It also makes you tired and unable to think.

It was really hard at first checking off the phone after providing guidance. But when I did, three things begun to happen. I sometimes came up with the answer as I rested and slept on it. My team realized I trusted them but was there when they needed me. Lastly, I was overall less stressed and unkind during the day. My team appreciated my new disposition and I appreciated feeling better. Bottom line: when anxiety starts to creep, go to sleep!

(2) Workout and Work Go Together! – I used to know this back in my Army days but forgot it as a consultant. As a soldier, we were paid to work out each morning. It was a necessary and important part of our job. Being fit helps you not to quit!

But as a leader in the private sector, I forgot that important point. My convenient excuse was that I couldn’t work out because I had to go to work. It was only after I again realized that you can work out while working and that working out helps you work that my life begun to change! I begun to block out time at least three times a week to workout and refused to take calls at that time. Also, I got an app on my iPhone that notified me every hour to do a simple set of exercises for 3-5 minutes. The best way to get rid of stress is to sweat it out. It also helps you stop the negative talk in your head as I wrote in this previous blog Stop the Negative Talk and Take A Walk.

(3) Work Hard, Play Hard! This is an old saying and a good one. But I give it a slightly different bent. Most people think you first must work hard to get to play. Others note that when you play too hard, you can’t go to work the next day! But you can have fun at work and playing hard can make you work harder. Take sometime to talk and joke with your team to break up the day. Find a hobby that helps you unwind. For me, I love Karaoke. I sometimes even sing in the woods, as this blog attests Why Not? I’m Singing in the Woods!

(4) Join Wellness that Works for wellness that works! The last rule is perhaps the most important. If you want to learn additional ways to increase your wellness and you work productivity, join Wellness that Works (the organization formerly known as Weight Watchers and still goes by WW). The weekly meeting provide more lessons on how to mix wellness with work such as mindfulness and goal setting. I could go on and on about WW (and I did in this blog The Why’s of Weight Watchers!), but rest assured it is wellness that works!

I will end with a picture that shows that work and wellness can go together. Here is me at Devil’s Lake in Wisconsin taking a call that ultimately resulted in us getting additional work. The old Don would have take the call in the hotel and skipped the time with my daughter. Instead I took it from the top of this mountain. If I was not well I could have not climbed up to get reception and do my work! Be well, do work!

Man hiking at a scenic location — Getting my walk in while working at Devil’s Lake

Don’t Stop Believing: A Weight Loss Journey in Three Intervals

2018-10-142018-10-14Don Grier3 Comments

Over the last few months, I have been training to be a Spin Instructor. The thought that I could be a spin instructor a few years back was unimaginable. Cresting at 358 lbs., I could not ride a bike for more than a few minutes without one of two things happening. Either I would throw out my back, or so much pressure would be applied to a certain area that it would become numb, worse yet.

Guy on Cycle — I am on the Edge of Glory

I only started to do spin after I had dropped some weight. Then, I fell in love with spinning. Part of it was the music, part of it was the exhilaration, but most of it was my instructor, Corey Ellis. You can read more about this hero of health in this blog. Heroes of Health Series, Episode 2 – Corey the Cycling King

I knew I had to go that extra step after finishing 4 hours of spinning during Lifetime Fitness St. Jude’s Fund Raiser – Ride for a Reason. I decided to get certified as a Spin Instructor. The added benefit is I get to be trained to Corey. See the picture of me, Corey, Kaisa, and another cyclist after the Race for the Cure.

On October 20^th, I will get the chance to teach part of a Spin Class for the first time and I am totally stoked. I have come up with my Simple Set (a series of spinning intervals timed to a music) that speaks to both my weight loss journey and obstacles that we all need to overcome in life.

I have come up for a title and a subtitle for my Simple Set. The main title is For Excellence We Strive. The secondary title is called “Don’t Stop Believing, Even When You Are Living on A Prayer, Because You Could Be on The Edge of Glory” (a careful read will tell you the name of my songs!). Here is the meaning of the two titles.

The main title is “For Excellence We Strive” for two reasons. First, it is the motto for my class at West Point, the class of 85 (more later). The second reason is during the training, the cyclist will have three opportunities to strive for excellence only to be beat it in the next interval. Why? Because the excellence of today is the mediocrity of tomorrow. You must always strive for excellence, and when you achieve your goal, it is not time to revel and become complacent. No, it’s time to strap on your cycling shoes, clip in, and race to beat your previous best!

I will not repeat the second title but instead tell you why I picked the three songs:

Don’t Stop Believing – Journey. This first song represents the start of my weight loss journey and simulates climbing up a hill that slowly ascends. As you make the first few steps on the path to health, it is important not to stop believing you can do it. Even though the climb is getting harder after the first few moments of success, you need to keep pushing.
Living on a Prayer – Bon Jovi. This second song is prefect for the mid part of any weight loss journey. Three times in this song, you climb up as you pray that you overcome the next obstacle that is in your way. And three times, you reach the exhilaration as you find success; only to meet the next hill. I also picked this song because it has the lyric “Oh your half way there, oh Living on a Prayer”. I remember my half way there moment on my weight loss journey. It was at my 30^th West Point Reunion when I had lost one half of my weight goal (see picture below)

Picture of Classmates — Half Way There – West Point Reunion

Also, many times as I got stuck, I was Living on A Prayer. Praying that I would not give up. Praying that I could do it. Praying for a New Life!

On the Edge of Glory – Lady Gaga. I will not lie. I picked this last song as a tribute to Lady Gaga after seeing her performance on a “Star is Born”. But, then I realized how well it fit. Ask any Lifetime member of Wellness that Works (the organization formerly known as Weight Watchers) and they will tell you the last few pounds to your goal are the hardest. But it is essential not to stop when you are on the Edge of Glory. The song is perfect for this last set because during the verses you climb large hills but then at the end you feel the exhilaration of the chorus as you spin out at 110 RPMs!

So, there you have it. I am on the Edge of Glory and hopefully I will achieve it on October 20^th. If interested, message or text me when we solidify the exact time. It will be at Lifetime Fitness Austin (still trying to figure if it is North or South).