Information alone won't motivate 'couch potatoes'
February 1, 1997
Information alone won’t motivate couch potatoes’
We overeat, don’t get enough exercise or sleep, and routinely ignore warnings such as the Surgeon General’s fall announcement that lack of exercise is as dangerous to you as smoking.
What’s a good wellness expert to do?
"Logical information has never worked," claims Lewis Schiffman, president of Atlanta Health Systems, a wellness consulting firm. "If it did, everyone would exercise, nobody would smoke, and nobody would eat at McDonald’s. What we need to do is to find a significant payoff or benefit for each individual."
Motivating employees to take advantage of the wealth of corporate wellness programs continues to be a major challenge. Wellness experts say ingenuity, a good sense of humor, and an unwillingness to give up are the keys to success.
"Overall, you really need to listen to the voice of the customers [employees] and try to meet their needs," says Judy Webster, RN, MSN, manager of the corporate wellness program at Santa Clara, CA-based Applied Materials, a manufacturer of semiconductor equipment. "And the program definitely needs to be fun; we spend so much time working."
The computer age has not helped to inspire exercise, notes Webster, who serves as corporate health and fitness consultant to the San Diego-based California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, chaired by Arnold Schwarzenegger. That’s especially true, she notes, of younger employees and employees of tomorrow.
"In general, we see an increase in the number of couch potatoes in our society, starting with our teenagers, who are incredibly inactive," Schiffman agrees. "More and more, we are becoming a society of fat people."
It’s ironic, he adds, that exercise one of the original cornerstones of wellness is still underutilized. "It’s not because the technology or the facilities aren’t there; it’s purely a matter of motivation," he insists.
But how do you motivate employees to exercise? By finding out what turns them on, says Webster. "Last year, we conducted a customer satisfaction survey and asked employees what would motivate them to exercise. They said they wanted a financial incentive, so we offered a reduced health care contribution," she says.
You also can take an existing program and adapt its design to fit the workplace, she suggests. "Here in America, our focus may be on reducing cholesterol levels, while in Europe it may be on building esprit de corps recreation and team-building," she explains. "At a manufacturing facility you may have a flexibility program to promote injury prevention. Then, during that class, you can promote the fitness center."
Finally, she says, you must never forget the three most important factors for a physical fitness program: visibility, visibility, visibility.
"We try to thread fitness throughout the culture of the company," she explains. "During every quarterly executive business review we have five minutes to talk about the status of our program. We go to staff meetings, we have a wellness column in the company newsletter, and we teach wellness classes within Applied Global University [a company continuing education program.]"
In addition, Webster maintains program visibility through:
• a wellness web page;
• inclusion in company recruiting materials posted on the Internet;
• a wellness brochure in the company packet of written promotional materials;
• a one-hour wellness presentation that is a formal part of the company orientation program;
• a one-hour segment in Managing at Applied, a corporate management training program;
• two marketing videos one targeted at employees in general and one at managers;
(For a closer look at some of Applied’s highly successful fitness programs, see story, p. 17.)
Rx: Ruthless compassion’
Schiffman’s says some wellness professionals also need an "attitude adjustment" when it comes to motivating employees to exercise. "To get results, the wellness coach needs to stop being polite and be willing to get personal with his clients," he asserts. "[This means] helping them identify the truth and helping them overcome the mental barriers they create that prevent success."
In other words, the wellness professional who wants results must have "ruthless compassion," a concept similar to "tough love," he explains. "You must be ruthless about insisting that people make healthy choices and keep their agreements. You must be compassionate because you care about that person’s health and well-being," he says.
Other than lack of time, some of the most common excuses Schiffman hears are: family responsibilities, tiredness, and lack of motivation. But none of these is an acceptable reason, he says. "When a person tells me they have family responsibilities, I ask, You mean to tell me that it is not possible to have a family and exercise?’ When they say they’re tired, I say, You’re tired because you’re not getting enough exercise, and/or you’re eating the wrong foods.’ And when they tell me they lack motivation, I suggest to them that motivation is not something you get like an over-the-counter drug, but it’s something you create from within by having a vision and a purpose."
[Editor’s note: For more information on fitness programs that work, contact: Judy Webster, Applied Materials, 3165 Kifer Road, M/S 2811, Santa Clara, CA 95051. Telephone: (408) 235-6632. Fax: (408) 563-5653.]
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