Use The 3 Principles Of Behavior Change In Your Wellness Program Today
When it comes to driving successful behavior change, where do you start? While behavior change is ultimately a lofty goal, there are simple ways you can enact some of these principles today. Here’s how:
Principle #1: Empower people with a team.
The idea here is to provide users with information and support so that they can feel empowered and in control of their health, and supported to make decisions. It’s not only a doctor who can help with behavior change – it’s a person’s entire network which includes doctors, wellness & benefits leaders, health coaches, spouses, caretakers, and friends and loved ones.
Takeaway: As you develop your corporate wellness strategy, think of how your company – not just you – can empower your employees to take control of their health. Do you have a wellness & benefits team and a network of wellness champions? Ensure those teams have focused, discrete roles to foster a culture of wellness.
Take a cue from Emory University, who credits their wellness champions with their successful wellness program. Set the strategy for your wellness & benefits team and enable them to tap into wellness champions to be their boots on the ground.
Principle #2: Co-create personalized plans.
During the webinar, Moore put forth his belief that the key to helping people be successful with their health is a focus on proactive steps and prevention. For these measures, there needs to be a foundation that begins with little steps rather than lofty goals.
Takeaway: In a perfect world, every individual would have their own personalized health and fitness plans. For your corporate wellness strategy, consider how you can infuse enough variety in choice to help people build out sustainable wellness goals for themselves.
One way to go about this is to consider your employees as made up of a couple of different fitness personas or fitness types, and strategize how to cater to their needs. For instance, you might have a subset of “Concerned Changemakers” in your workforce. These are people who are aware they’re not active enough and want to change that – but they’re not sure how to begin. You can learn more about this fitness persona and more in our white paper, “The 4 Fitness Personas and How to Bring Out Their Best.”
Principle #3: Blend care into daily life.
A seamless way to drive healthy change is to integrate that change into everyday life so that adopting healthier behavior feels more natural.
Takeaway: One way to approach this is infusing health change into workplace policies, and even thinking beyond office walls. An easy way to (literally) step outside the cubicle and toward better health is through activity challenges.
If you’re looking for ideas aside from step challenges, you can even consider an active minutes challenge and a distance-based challenge that encourage aerobic exercise that don’t require walking or running. For actionable advice on these types of challenges, check out our guidebook, “4 Challenges to Take Employees Beyond Steps.”
This article is not intended to substitute for informed medical advice. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or condition. Always check with your doctor before changing your diet, altering your sleep habits, taking supplements, or starting a new fitness routine.
