Performance at Work Interview – Mandi Wendt

When you first walk into a company to assess their health and wellbeing, what is it that you look for or what is the first question you ask management?

I ask management if I can spend at least half a day sitting within their office. I believe you need to watch how people go about their day because a lot can be learnt just from observation. Sometimes there can be a difference between what a company says their staff do and what the staff actually do. For example, saying they have a culture where they actively encourage staff to leave work at work but then half the office walk out at 5pm with their laptops. It’s not to ‘catch’ the company out, its purpose is to obtain imperative information you don’t normally get. And in this example, the company may very well have a policy around taking work home but perhaps it’s simply not communicated well enough.

What is your greatest frustration when you are coaching your clients towards greater performance?

To have the health of employees as a key business strategy. In Australia we’re lucky because yes, we’re a bit conservative sometimes but we’re also open enough to take on board some important initiatives. Secondly to teach workplaces that health education is indeed important but in order to get a ROI the focus needs to be on ‘employee healthy action’ and gradual culture change.

What do you find is the main area people just don’t get and why do you think that is?

A lack of a healthy experience and what this can do for them. Often, a lot of these workers have never paid much attention at all to some key areas of their health and because of this, they have never experienced that feeling of being healthy and then of course what they can achieve when they do feel good. A lot of the time too we come across people who have, when they were younger, led a healthier lifestyle but they’ve got so caught up in their new habits they have temporarily forgotten what it was like to be able to perform well at work and in life. It’s a matter of providing the tools or motivation to give them this experience.

What is the biggest opportunity you see for your clients at the moment?

Stress management. As is often the case, we don’t tend to put something on our agenda until it becomes an issue. People have been teaching wonderful stress management techniques for years but we’ve seen an increase in people coming apart because of a lack of knowing how to manage themselves. It seems to be that in the last 12-18 months some workplaces have come to learn that ‘prevention is better than cure’, which is a good thing. I always believe it’s better to learn something late than not learn it at all. The companies who invest in stress management will enjoy some better business outcomes, recession or not.

In your experience, does successful change come from the top down or vice-versa?

Successful change can come either way. The key is to make sure that both management and staff have their objectives met through the program. What an employee wants out of a corporate health program is completely different to what management wants. Success will come easier if every individual employee is encouraged to find what works for them. A one-size fits all approach, regardless of who drives it within an organisation, will have limited success.

What are some of the most successful/popular services/programs you offer to the corporate market?

Any program that facilitates a behaviour change. The most successful programs are the ones where employees know they’ll get a reward at the end. I have heard people say this is a superficial way of viewing corporate health but motivation is imperative. I simply respond by saying, ‘well you can have an unhealthy, underperforming workplace or one that is thriving through rewarding health.’ People are always driven in life because of the perceived reward at the end, that’s human nature.

How do you measure your success in your business?

We’re a little different at Slaice. We don’t count our success by the number of seminars or information material we distribute, we consider ourselves successful based on the number of clients who are taking action and therefore seeing results in their business.

What is your vision for workplaces over the next 5 years?

I believe health and wellbeing is the next green initiative. I see health and wellbeing high on the agenda for workplaces in the near future. Slaice looks forward to being at the forefront of making this happen.

Performance through Health video

New video added to Slaice website.

Foot to the floor, spark plugs (temporarily) misfiring!

It’s fair to say I’ve just come off a rather hectic week. More honestly I bumped a lot of things including some good health habits. I now need to do what I preach and that is, in times like this not to be overly hard on myself. There are periods where you literally put your head down and do what you need to do – to the detriment of even the best healthy plans. You can never escape the fact that life has a wonderful way of shaking things up when you least expect or want it to. During times like this, it’s not about being perfect, it’s about powering through because that’s what you’ve got to do but this is done with a clear acknowledgement of what you are forgoing – good eating habits, exercise, recovery etc. So instead of trying to do everything you know you should be doing, focus on just one or two things – something is better than nothing!

Now I’ve ‘come out the other end’ so to speak, what is fundamental is the actions I choose next. The first step is to commit to return to all my performance habits immediately. I need to ‘re-fuel’ my system. When a V8 Supercar comes into a pit-stop, it is very quickly attended to and serviced so it can get back out on the track. The same strategy applies to your health when you’ve been zipping around at a million miles an hour.

The second step is to ensure I am ‘health-ready’ for the next time. I must keep my healthy habits going as much as possible to pre-arm me the next time life creeps up and takes hold. The healthier I am, the more robust I’ll be, the better I’ll perform regardless of the situation. For example, it is uncommon for an athlete to go their whole careers without an injury but the ones who are able to prolong their physical participation in sport are those who make sure that once they’ve gotten over their injury they develop and stick to a plan (based on flexibility, strength, diet, recovery) to prevent it from happening again…or at least to the same degree. Just as an athlete needs to be ‘health-ready’ in this respect, you need to be ‘health-ready’ before encountering your next situation. This will make a massive difference to how you feel at the time, your perceptions of the experience and your performance capabilities throughout.

So the fact you’re experiencing stress because of what life throws you becomes irrelevant – it happens and most of the time you can’t control it! Your focus should be on what you can control and that’s how you plan on treating yourself health-wise before, during and after to deal with it. Afterall, health affects everything!

- Mandi Wendt, Slaice, mandi@slaice.com.au

How to retain staff now and when the market turns

Regards of the economic climate, owners need to look after the people who look after their business. The health of staff should be a priority to retain workers. At a basic level, employers have a responsibility to ensure people don’t burn out and are healthy enough to show up for work. Long-term they will be seen as an employer of choice because of the wellbeing support they give now

The number one concern for our corporate clients at the moment is stress. Going to work is becoming a burden, they believe they need to push harder and harder in order to keep their jobs, their health is being severely affected – mood, concentration, behaviour, energy, immune system – and they don’t feel supported in their roles. One of our executive health coaching clients, blames his stress and ill-health on his work. To compound the issue, whenever he goes to take lunch he feels pressure from his co-workers to forgo the break. This shows a complete lack of understanding of just how powerful having healthy, happy employees is to a business.

Staff health and wellbeing should always be a necessary spend. Now with businesses requiring ‘all hands on deck’ this means a need for fewer sick days and increased performance when at work. Giving staff the opportunity to participate in health and wellbeing activities is an investment. Yes it may mean staff use some company time to do this but the business well and truly makes that time back with more engaged staff during all other working hours. Their chances of keeping staff in any economy, is greatly heightened.

At the end of the day, people will choose to work at a place where they are looked after, valued, supported and happy. Healthy staff have a far greater capacity to be happy than sick ones.

- Mandi Wendt, Slaice, mandi@slaice.com.au

People still get it!

I have been really encouraged this week – people still get it! On Monday I was talking with a HR manager who, despite the economy and budget cuts, still has staff wellbeing as one of her top priorities – how lucky her staff are. As I explained to her, there are a variety of factors which increase team performance and health and wellbeing is a major component of that.

I also met a lady at the dog park on the weekend whose husband is now in a stressful job and he not only doesn’t have time to exercise to the capacity he would like but he feels pressure from his other work mates when he tries to. Again I was encouraged, here’s why – he is far along the process of being a self-sufficient, healthy person – he is listening to his body, he knows what he has to do, he is just having difficulty given the structure of his day and internal work pressures to take positive action and he is honest about acknowledging this. He knows his performance potential, he has experienced both good and bad health – he is on the brink of doing something about it, and his wife gets it as well!!! He’s about to take an overseas holiday with his son and I hope he thoroughly enjoys it.

I do worry about the culture of his workplace though as I’m told they have a health and wellbeing program in place. I would encourage their HR department to take a more proactive approach in gathering feedback on how their staff are feeling health-wise and how well they believe they are being supported by the company. They need to get that these are really stressful times and yes staff wellbeing still remains a priority! It’s about looking after the people who look after your business and thankfully some companies truly get it!

- Mandi Wendt, Slaice, mandi@slaice.com.au