Health Wellness Newsletters

Gaining senior level management support is crucial to the success of a exercise initiative.

Whether or not the changes you would like to make involve the work environment, overall policies or specific programs, successfully beginning your ideas depends on upper-level management support.

Support from upper-level management is vital for three reasons -

o  You must have their agreement to involve personnel in a workplace initiative.

o  When senior management compensates attention to and supports an program, workforce also see the program as worthwhile.

o  Management has the power to give work time and money to support the wellness program.

It’s important to keep senior management involved throughout a physical activity program, but at three points you will need support for -

o  An overall concept, including a go-ahead to assess what personnel want to do within the limitations of your workplace environment.

o  A detailed plan (based on the assessment above) coupled with resources to carry out the plan.

o  Evaluating the initiative to improve it along the way or to advocate for continuing or expanding the initiative.

Approaching Management

Before approaching upper-level management to gain initial support for promoting exercise during the workday, do your homework.

o  Pull together a corporation case clearly outlining how the corporation will benefit by promoting exercise during the workday.

o  List the individual, social and corporate advantages of physical activity and the advantages of being active during the workday.

o  Present some general ideas about what the health promotion program might include.

Expect questions like the following from executive management -

o  Just how this help our business?

o  Exactly how can we motivate employees to participate?

o  Exactly how much will it cost to run this health promotion program or make this change?

o  Precisely how are we going to know a year from now when this was a good use of time and resources?

Ask managers about the range of activities they would support. Often managers have ideas of their own they would like to see acted on to increase the worksite.

Remember to include middle managers when gaining support for your health promotion program. They may be very helpful when you need volunteers to lead teams in corporate exercise challenges.