A well run team challenge can really motivate employees to become more active (and we have just the event for you).
One of the great things about growing up in Australia is the chance to be involved in organised sport. Whether it’s Auskick footy, kids’ soccer or little league baseball, most kids have a connection with some sort of team sport at some point in their childhood and most parents have served their time as weekend taxi driver and cheer squad. It’s exactly the start you’d want for a healthy life – one where regular physical activity is firmly established as a lifelong healthy habit.
Except sadly, for most of us it doesn’t last. For every thirty-something year old playing in their local touch-rugby team after work there are many more of us who have dropped out of team sports altogether.
That’s a real pity because when it comes to physical activity the company of others brings added benefits. Our motivation and commitment is often stronger for a start. We’re more likely to make that training session for the team (and really push ourselves while we are there) than go for a solo workout in the gym. When it comes to working up a sweat, children will do things for the coach and the team that they’d never do for their own parents. The fact is most of us feed off the energy and enthusiasm of our team mates and the only thing more motivating than a personal goal is a team goal.
It doesn’t even have to be a competitive sport - we’ll cycle much harder in a pack than we will on our own and we’ll almost certainly have more fun. And when physical activity is the social high point in your week you have the makings of a lifelong passion.
Shared activities that combine fun, physical exertion and team spirit should be a part of every organisation’s corporate wellness program. There is a smorgasbord of options to choose from, all of which welcome corporate teams with open arms. But before you send that email announcing that every employee will defend the firm’s honour in the next Tough Mudder (hyped as ‘probably the toughest event on the planet’) just make sure the event is a good match for your people. Being part of a corporate team should be a positive experience so choose an event that is achievable and fun for people whatever their fitness level. Individuals should be encouraged to set goals that will stretch them but also given the help they need to achieve them.
Which brings me, (predictably enough) to the HBF Run for a Reason, which this year is on 25 May. I don’t pretend to be unbiased but I’ll argue that this is a corporate team event that ticks every box. With a 4 kilometre course as well as a 12 kilometre course this is one event just about everyone can finish, whether they sprint, walk or propel themselves in a wheelchair. It’s an event where participants choose their own reason for taking part, something that provides a powerful motivation for a corporate team. There are few things more moving than watching a team cross the finish line together, with the image of a recently lost workmate on their shirts.
What makes this event a physical activity program (and a very inexpensive one at that) rather than just a one day event are the free training sessions that HBF runs in 14 locations from Mandurah to Joondalup in the eight weeks before the day itself.
But you knew all this already didn’t you, because you’ve already entered a team in this year’s HBF Run for a Reason Woodside Team Challenge and have your eye on the prizes that go to the largest team and the team that raises most for charity.
No? Well the good news is you still have time. Entries to the Woodside Team Challenge close on 12 May – just go hbfrun.com.au .
I look forward to seeing you and your colleagues at the start line.
