Culture of Health

An 8 Stage Plan for Creating an Organizational Culture of Health

By Michael Puck, SPHR on September 1, 2010

Putting together a wellness initiative for your business is hard work. However, in comparison to creating a culture of health for your entire organization, it is a walk in the park.

Even companies cited as the role models of corporate wellness – companies that have won national awards for their health improvement efforts – are struggling when it comes to creating a lasting culture of health for their employees.

Creating lasting change in any situation is a challenge. Harvard Professor John P. Kotter published “Leading Change” in 1996. The book introduces the reader to an eight-stage process designed to create lasting change.

Kotter’s basic premise is that major change will not happen easily because, as human beings, we are subject to deeply rooted illogical behaviors. His eight stages take that into account and were designed to work around and realign those behaviors so we can achieve change.

I have shamelessly adopted that same eight-stage process in order to tackle the problem of creating a culture of health for your company.

This article is a digested form of that same process and is presented with special consideration given to specific problems you may face when trying to institute a lasting culture of health and well-being among your employees.

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