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THE PREMISE
Personal and organizational change go together.
On the one hand, it’s a big ask expecting to fit
into an organisation if you’re not changing.
On the other hand it’s a big ask trying to change
an organisation if the people aren’t changing.
The Healthy People, Healthy Workplaces program is
designed to
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a. |
inspire and
motivate people to look after themselves |
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b. |
inspire and motivate them to work together
to turn their organisation/group/faculty into a vibrant and dynamic
force within their community. |
The seminar begins with participants focusing on
what they want for their
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health and fitness
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personal career direction and
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organisation.
If you don’t know what you want there’s a high
likelihood that you’ll be buffeted by the waves of turbulence, not only in the
workplace, but everywhere. It’s very difficult to manage change and stress when
you don’t have a clear ideas of what you want. And as they say , if you keep
doing what you've always done you'll continue to get what you've always got.
The day is divided into three parts
• Healthy
People
• Healthy
Career
• Healthy
Workplace
SECTION I - HEALTHY PEOPLE
I see lots of stress and body system dysfunction
in the workplace. Click here and you’ll see first hand the sorts of stress that
people are under. (In particular look at the Mind and Body profile and the
Stress profile.) In this, the first part of the seminar I take people through
several profiles, the Mind and Body profile and the Stress Risk profile.
I collate the responses and provide the group with
an audit report, something that
looks like this.
I conduct a program along the lines of the Seven
Habits of Fit and Healthy People.
I talk about where stress comes from, what it does
to you and what you can do to better manage it.
I see lots of unhealthy people. They frequently
blame their work for the way they feel, but like most things, the cause of the
problem rarely resides where the problem is manifest.
The workplace is frequently blamed for
stress and musculo-skeletal dysfunction because it’s a big, soft, slow-moving
target. It’s easy to complain about something at work, rather than complain
about something you’re not doing for yourself. Participants need to be aware
that the cause of the stress is frequently not at the site where the stress is
manifest. It generally comes for a dysfunctional internal locus of control.
During this segment of the program participants
will have the opportunity to step back and take a good look at themselves.
SECTION 2 - HEALTHY CAREER
Being in the right job, one that is congruent with
your personality, one that suits your intelligence strengths and is something
you’re passionate about is the foundation of managing stress at work. If you’re
in the wrong job it can be hell on earth. I see lots of people who are in the
wrong job. They usually blame their organisation.
Once the foundation is laid there are a few simple
laws of work to be aware of: -
1. The
first law is manage yourself
2. The
second law is manage your manager
3. The
third law is work with your fellow workmates.
I emphasize the point that for happiness at work
you need to get on the front foot and start managing, yourself, your manager and
your work colleagues. If you don’t do that you’ll get shoved from pillar to
post.
Completing the Career Satisfaction profile
provides people with a very good indicator of what they need to do to better
manage their career.
Wouldn’t it be good to have a job that you’d love
doing so much that you’d do it for nothing, but which you did so well you’d be
paid handsomely.
I’d base this section of the seminar on the Career
Satisfaction seminar.
SECTION THREE - HEALTHY WORKPLACE
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1. |
Working together
The first aspect of this third section of
the seminar is the
working together aspect. I get participants to complete the
How People Tick personality profile - a simple profile in
which people make an assessment of their personality according to the
Eagle, Owl, Peacock or Dove personality classification.
More and more organisations are using this
profile, instead of Myers-Briggs because it is simple to grasp. The
discussion that ensues is most illuminating. There is an additional cost
of the book which is something like $25 per person but well worth while.
Once people are aware of their personality
differences and how one personality type is likely to react with another, then
they are on the way to understanding each other better and getting on with each
other better.
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Charting the course
The second part of the Healthy Workplace session
involves putting the participants into a number of syndicates each of about 6
people and focusing on three main questions
1. What
was our organisation like 10 years ago?
2. What
is it like now?
3. What
do we need to do to get it ticking over nicely, so it
becomes
a vibrant and dynamic organisation?
The first question is brainstormed as a warm up.
it's frequently the case that the past is glorified. Things were better in the
old days.
The brainstormed answers to the second and third
questions are grouped into clusters and further brainstormed so people can get a
clear picture of what the organisation is like now (it’s strengths and
weaknesses) and more importantly what needs to be done to remedy any
deficiencies and built on strengths.
The thrust of this aspect of the seminar is
getting participants to create a shared vision for what they need (and want) to
do to further their organisation’s mission.
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PARTICIPANT GROUPS
I recommend the seminars be conducted for groups,
with their managers.
They’ll come away from the day with a
renewed sense of purpose and group cohesion. Often if people do these seminars
on their own they go back to where they’ve come from and keep beating their
heads against brick walls (a major cause of workplace headaches!).
CHANGE
On the subject of change, it’s generally the case
that things change when I change. That concept has been around since
antiquity. The person I can influence most is myself. Once I’m aware of the
mechanics of change I can start to work on myself. It’s amazing how much others
change when I change!
The other model I use is that personal change
precedes and then attends organizational change. It’s hard for me to fit
into an organisation that’s changing if I’m not changing. Conversely, if I’m a
manager trying to change an organisation and the people aren’t changing, then
it’s like pulling teeth.
By the end of the day participants will have set
goals – for themselves and their workplace. A critical question is ‘What can
I do to make this a better workplace.’ You’ll be amazed at the responses
people will come up with. Most people want their workplaces to tick over nicely.
Once the seminar is over I collate and publish
those responses in a report to the team manager or program coordinator.
MY WORK
You can take a look at some of the programs I run
by scrolling up the page.
ABOUT JOHN MILLER
I’m a physical educator who’s knows something
about health and fitness and has had enough experience working in organisations
and managing organisational change to be able to weld these two streams
together.
Take at look at my CV here.
CONCLUSION
The day provides participants with an holistic
look at their life and their work. They’ll be engaged. They’ll set both personal
and work goals. They’ll have some fun, work as a group and, as I said earlier,
come away inspired and motivated to enjoy their life and their work.
This is the program designed to give workplaces a real shot in
the arm.
It's a big ask expecting to stay healthy without keeping yourself
fit.
It's a big ask expecting to get better by having someone do
something to you; sooner or later you have to do something to
yourself.
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