walking for health
NaeNae55
3,243 Posts
Hello Forumites:
This year I have put on two Biggest Loser contests. The first was much more successful than the second. So now I am considering a walking contest. I would like your input. Please look at my vague ideas below and help me improve and define the rules for my contest.
Employees would belong to a team.
Each team would individually keep track of how much they walk. They can use a pedometer or keep track via other methods (my boss doesn't want to buy pedometers for the employees.) We can use an average of all team members (no budget), the highest walker, or add them all together to get the week's walking total.
I will get a map and show the various teams making progress. We can walk to a city, around our country, or to some other country. The miles walked for each team will be recorded on the map weekly.
The contest will be over either when a team reaches the goal or after a set number of weeks. Not sure which is best (perhaps whichever comes first), and if we choose weeks, how many weeks will need to be determined.
I have a decorated pig called "Winifred the Weekly Winner" or the "Winnie" to go on the person's desk who walked the most miles (or perhaps to the leader of the team.)
I am thinking it might be important to have managers be leaders of the teams in order to get employee buy in, but not sure about this.
Please give me your feedback, especially if you have done something like this for your work. Maximum participation for this even is 12 employees (3-4 teams), so please keep that in mind.
Thanks for your help!
This year I have put on two Biggest Loser contests. The first was much more successful than the second. So now I am considering a walking contest. I would like your input. Please look at my vague ideas below and help me improve and define the rules for my contest.
Employees would belong to a team.
Each team would individually keep track of how much they walk. They can use a pedometer or keep track via other methods (my boss doesn't want to buy pedometers for the employees.) We can use an average of all team members (no budget), the highest walker, or add them all together to get the week's walking total.
I will get a map and show the various teams making progress. We can walk to a city, around our country, or to some other country. The miles walked for each team will be recorded on the map weekly.
The contest will be over either when a team reaches the goal or after a set number of weeks. Not sure which is best (perhaps whichever comes first), and if we choose weeks, how many weeks will need to be determined.
I have a decorated pig called "Winifred the Weekly Winner" or the "Winnie" to go on the person's desk who walked the most miles (or perhaps to the leader of the team.)
I am thinking it might be important to have managers be leaders of the teams in order to get employee buy in, but not sure about this.
Please give me your feedback, especially if you have done something like this for your work. Maximum participation for this even is 12 employees (3-4 teams), so please keep that in mind.
Thanks for your help!
Comments
Just a thought.
Sharon
Now, since you asked for a Biggest Loser story...
We have a contest every year here. I have won twice in four attempts, despite being the most fit person at the starting weigh in. I have no hesitation starving, dehydrating, and running myself to near-death to win a competition. (And $100.) This year, even though I am actually a few pounds below my winning weight from the end of the last competition and would therefore[B] not[/B] be a threat to win, I was specifically dis-invited from the competition. I consider that my strongest victory yet.
::pb&J::
I don't worry about buying new pants!
Each team's miles will be tracked by a team leader and I will post results in the employee lounge, where we will also have maps with colored yarn showing our progress. As we go along, I will post little tidbits about the city or part of the country we are supposedly walking through.
At the end of the contest we will have a healthy foods pot luck with recipe cards which I will make into a little recipe booklet.
I am having employees bring in their pedometers so we can check the calibration, and I have also sent out a pdf with Aerobic Mile Equivalents which our insurance provider gave us. I think I have everything covered, and am hoping the employees will really enjoy this. I will let you know how it comes out. Please keep your fingers crossed for us.
Phase I lasted 6 weeks. We started with 2 teams (luck of the draw), one with 7 members and one with 6. We used a handicap for the 2nd team (daily average of all members), and when it lost a member, we used the member's daily average for the rest of the challenge. It started well, but the 1st team had several strong walkers so the 2nd team soon fizzled.
I gave out little prizes along the way that I could tie to the state the walkers were in (like grapes or popcorn). I also sent out a weekly email to all employees hilighting how far members had walked, and giving praise to specific people who increased their walking significantly. That part was good, but when the 2nd team fizzled things really slowed down. There wasn't much point to the prizes, and the same person kept the Winnie trophy the entire time.
Even on the 1st team we had members who didn't report their steps. So I can see next time we will need to rethink our teams. Also, the end of the challenge coincided with a luncheon we were aleady having. Now we are entering food season around here. I am not sure when I can schedule our popluck, but I will manage it somehow.
Phase II, Finish our Trip, begins next Monday (I didn't help my cause by the big break but I was very busy with fiscal year end and open enrollment.) I sent out a survey and only those who want to continue will be in the second Phase. I will add all the steps together until we reach our final goal, the Empire State Building. The miles left are less than half of what our first team walked in 6 weeks. Instead of weekly, team members will report to me daily. I will award the Winnie every day at noon, and the final winning results will be based on an increase in percentage of steps taken on average from Phase I.
I have also issued a challenge to the non-walkers. They are to guess what day we will reach our destination. I am not releasing the names of the walkers, or even how many we will have so that should make it interesting.
I learned a lot during this walk challenge. My biggest lesson was in planning. I definitely need to have things better planned and decided upon before we begin (like the date of the popluck). It was fun and got employees motivated to get moving, which was the entire point. I believe I will try this again, but probably in the spring.