Management tips

Corporate wellness and professional excellence

Dr. K. Kuhathasan CEO Cenlead

'Corporate Wellness' is not just about exercises and gyms, but an understanding on the resources essential for physical and mental well being. It is about how to plan and execute a fitness routine, select the right kind of food, improve self confidence and thereby improve efficiency and most importantly, manage stress.

The concepts of corporate wellness has seven dimensions.

Social wellness is the process of creating and maintaining healthy relationships, in the workplace. Social wellness goes a long way to arrest stress at work.

Physical wellness is the process of having a healthy fit body.

Emotional wellness is the process of making and maintaining a positive realistic self-concept and enthusiasm about life and work.

Career wellness is the process of making and maintaining choices that are meaningful and contribute to your personal and professional growth.

Intellectual wellness is the process of using your mind to create a greater understanding of yourself and the universe. It also involves continuing professional development and keeping yourself updated with latest knowledge and techniques.

Environmental wellness is the process of making choices to create sustainable human and ecological communities, improving the quality of air, water, land and space.

Spiritual wellness is the process of "experiencing life" while seeking meaning and purpose in human existence. Spirituality allows one to have consistency between values and behaviours.

The World Health Organisation defines health as "a state of physical, mental and social well-being.

Health provides firm foundations for a successful professional excellence and a long and happy life. Due to high stakes involved in the modern working environment, executives cannot take good health for granted. They must put in special efforts to remain healthy. To enjoy good health, every executive must:

* Acquire minimum knowledge and awareness of all critical elements essential for good health and be aware of 'risk factors' in achieving good health.

* Adopt a healthy lifestyle as a long term strategy for good health. This includes good thoughts and conduct, a balanced diet, a minimum regular physical exercise, good inter-personal relationships, meditation and relaxation.

Increasing awareness

Although there is an increasing awareness amongst executive regarding the need for maintain good health, there are vast areas of ignorance. Apart from the fact that sound health is essential for health and happy life, sound health is also the key to efficient performance of managerial functions.

An executive is an important and critical person in achieving organisational objectives. He occupies a much higher place in the hierarchy of resource; higher than the equipment and machinery.

There are elaborate instructions for installation operation maintenance, periodic inspections and breakdown repairs, for the machines. You have a user manual for the machines. But, do you have a personal healthcare manual for yourself?

Defining fitness

Fitness involves bringing the body to optimum efficiency, having the required muscular strength and endurance, power, speed and flexibility, It presupposes burning of excess calories to eliminate obesity and promotion of purification and circulations of blood by cardiovascular and muscular processes. The workplace of today is totally different from what it was just a few decades ago.

Today it's different, Job descriptions have become more complex and advances in technology have only added to the complexity. Moreover, employees today work for longer hours and facilities much as the Internet, mobile phones make it possible for them to remain connected to their workplace anytime and anywhere. Employees are expected to be 'available' at all times.

Today's workplace is characterised by long working hours, sedentary jobs, stress laden work, pressing deadlines and accessibility to high - fat foods at office cafeterias make matters worse. Wrong diet and lack of adequate exercise make people unhealthy.

It is, therefore, necessary for managers to understand, appreciate and adopt healthy work life, based on the following:

Social health

Being socially healthy means you have friends and others with whom you discuss your problems and exchange ideas, information and knowledge. Your social health involves interacting well with people and the environment and having satisfying relationships.

Mental health

Your ability to organise yourself well for your work is defined as mental health. Being mentally healthy means you are open to learning new things and accepting new ideas. You have a sense of self-worth and tolerate things that are different.

You can cope with stressful situations because you know that stress is a part of life that can be managed. You have to maximise your personal strength and minimise your weakness. "A healthy mind is a healthy body." "A healthy mind can only dwell in a healthy body."

Emotional health

Your ability to control feelings so that they are expressed in positive, productive and appropriate way. While everyone experiences bad feelings at one time or another, emotionally healthy people can overcome the difficulties. An emotionally healthy person enjoys life and views hardships or difficulties as challenges. An emotionally healthy person will be able to express negative emotions in a pleasing and pleasant way.

Spiritual health

Spiritual health involves your relationship with everybody in your organisation, at home and in society. It also involves the role of spiritual direction in your life. For some people, spiritual health means deeper religious involvement. For others, it involves understanding your individual purpose in life. Being spiritually healthy means you are working to achieve your spiritual potential, to find harmony in living. You are at peace with yourself and those around you.

Health wellness

The above aspects of health contribute to your total health. It may be obvious that you may be physically fit, but if you cannot get along with your seniors and juniors at your organisation, then you are not completely healthy. You may be good in your work, but if you feel depressed and anxious most of the time, you are not healthy.

Occupational health can be defined as the state of well-being that comes from realising your potential in each of the above aspects of health.

They will contribute towards a healthy and happy professional and personal life. Optimal health is described by the term wellness. A state of wellness is achieved by looking at your total health picture from a positive perspective.

"He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything". Good health and a sound mind will be the precious gift of those who adopt the above principles of wellness.