The Ice Bucket Challenge for your organization

By: Kris Boesch Thursday July 9, 2015 0 comments Tags: Kris Boesch

By Kris Boesch

Choose People

Last week I heard of a company that did something truly brilliant.

One of their employees was headed in for open-heart surgery. 

The company bought everyone Fitbits, and for every 1 million steps in the month the company donated $1,000 to this employee’s surgery.

The team accomplished 5 million steps and raised $5,000 for their co-worker!

There are at least 8 wins here: 

Win – the employee who received the donation

Win – the sense of contributing to something bigger than yourself (my steps alone

              are not enough)

Win – the sense of camaraderie and team interdependency – we’re in this together

Win – the warm fuzzy felt through participating

Win – the health and well being created by all those steps

Win – the sense of winning, and being on a winning and caring team - celebration

Win – significant morale boost amongst employees 

Win – important side offshoot – increasing the above, increases productivity which

              more than financially pays for the Fitbits and donation

What type of wellness camaraderie program could you create that has these factors:

• Everyone can participate and it’s easy to participate
• Timely with a deadline
• Meaningful – towards an altruistic goal that is tangible for everyone
• Creates well-being for participants in the act of participating
• Encourages camaraderie and a sense of team and unity (my steps alone are not enough)
• Witnessing of one another’s contribution

I would love to hear what you come up with!

About the Author: Kris Boesch

Kris Boesch is CEO and founder of Choose People, a company that transforms company cultures, increases employee happiness and boosts the bottom-line. The Choose People 360° Culture Audit is based on over 1,000 hours of research Boesch conducted with a team of doctoral students in the Industrial Organizational Psychology Department at Colorado State University.  Prior to Choose People, Boesch was the CEO of Exodus Moving & Storage.  Under her leadership, Exodus became the largest mover in Northern Colorado with a turnover rate nearly 40% less than the industry average and a bottom line twice that same average.