The 7 Priorities of The FitLeader: Part 1
The 7 Priorities of The FitLeader: Part 1
Part 1 of the 7 Priorities of the FitLeader will focus on the 3 Wellness Priorities of a FitLeader which I have identified to be the most critical following extensive work with many high level executives.
The Wellness Priorities of a FitLeader
Internal Relationship with Physical Wellness
Structure around Physical Wellness
Spontaneity of Physical Wellness
One quality that executives seek for themselves and their employees is the ability to sustain high performance in the face of ever-increasing pressure and rapid change. At FitVision we work with individual executives and employee groups to develop FitLeaders. A part of what makes a FitLeader is an individual whose strategy for performance management addresses their Internal Relationship, Structure and even Spontaneity with the areas of Exercise, Nutrition and Recovery.
Our efforts aim to help executives build their capacity for what might be called supportive competencies but we deem them to be vital to performance. I know what you are thinking, of course executives can perform successfully even with a structureless activity plan, a poor diet or even if they smoke, drink or weigh too much. They cannot perform to their full potential working just off of technical acumen alone and this will eventually lead to a cost over time—to themselves and to the corporations for which they work. The best long-term performers tap into the positive benefit that all of the 3 areas stated above can deliver.
We regularly reference Energy at FitVision and specifically your ability to manage it effectively. The most important ability here is mastering the movement between energy expenditure (stress) and energy renewal (recovery). In today’s society, we are led to believe that stress must be avoided at all costs but the real enemy of high performance is not stress, as it can be a stimulus for growth if it is matched with disciplined, intermittent recovery. Chronic stress without recovery depletes energy reserves which can eventually lead to burnout. We help to build structures that promote a stress and recovery blend within our Executive Wellness Coaching, the goal of which is when repeated regularly there are learned routines and behaviours created which drive conscious focused performance.
Let us look at this from another angle, the demand on executives is to sustain high performance day in and day out, year in and year out. If you were to compare this to the average professional athlete, they spend about 90% of their time practicing leaving 10% for critical competitive endeavours. For the typical executive, by contrast, this is almost completely flipped in the opposite direction, devoting very little time to training and focusing almost entirely on attempting to perform on a high level 10, 12, 14 hours a day or more.
The facts are, it isn’t always in our power to change our external conditions, but we can train to better manage our inner state, our structure and even our spontaneity around how we keep our personal wellness a priority. At FitVision through our FitLeader Corporate Program and 1 to 1 Coaching we aim to help executives to thrive in the most difficult circumstances and to emerge from stressful periods stronger and healthier.
We understand that executives generally push themselves mentally and emotionally but not so much physically which undermines an ability to perform. We strive to find a balance within this continuum to promote a work life blend and one of the key ways we do this is by dealing directly with an individual’s relationship around exercise, nutrition and recovery. This inevitably leads to a more focused individual and when we speak about focus we specifically mean energy concentrated in the service of particular goals. Much of what we deem to be chronic stress factors are things which we do in fact have control over. During our sessions we focus on helping our FitLeaders consciously manage their time and energy, helping to further their knowledge base to allow them effectively construct a manageable plan for success.
Performing simple daily rituals like alternating from periods of stress to periods of recovery enables people to align their work with the body’s need for breaks every 90 minutes and this is one of a number of spontaneous actions we see many of our executives adopt during their time on the program.
Making this connection does however require regularly stepping off the endless treadmill of deadlines and obligations and giving time back to yourself. In a corporate environment that is constantly changing at a lightning fast pace, performing consistently at a high level is more difficult but also more necessary than ever. Narrow interventions simply aren’t sufficient. It is time to adopt a whole person approach. It is now the time to step away from being the busy executive who habitually is drawn to doing whatever seems most immediately pressing and focus instead on the bigger picture, family, health, happiness all of these are where high performance is discovered & reinvigorated.
The further 4 priorities of a FitLeader which Kevin Light will address in Part 2 aim to enhance your emotional and cognitive capacities—most notably your ability to influence, make decisions, manage expectations and promote a diverse and inclusive environment.
These aforementioned priorities, we have found, serve as sustenance in the face of adversity and are a key to building resilience for FitLeaders.
If you would like to avail of our online wellness services click the link below:
https://www.fitvision.ie/online-packages