In our recent eBook Motivate Your Sales Team by Banning Burnout, we offer some suggestions for things managers can do to help nurture health and wellness within their sales teams. But does encouraging healthy lifestyle choices actually lead to success? Or is a “healthy culture” just something that sounds good but lacks tangible benefits?
The reality is, culture and environment are major factors in how teams perform, because how they respond to these factors will either have a positive or negative impact on the bottom line. Promoting a healthy culture is no magic wand – you obviously still need a strong product and strategy at the core of your operations. The benefits, however, are tangible both in the physical and mental benefits that result and the application of those benefits in daily practice. In considering the culture you’re motivating, consider these points:
1) Overworked employees are less productive
Regardless of what your parents or grandparents might have you believe, there are real limits to the amount of energy a person can give to a task, and when they aren’t able to adequately recharge, they eventually just burn out. In a recent study, researchers found that sleep deprivation is the best predictor of job burn-out and costs American companies an estimated $63 billion a year in lost productivity.
2) Regular exercise improves stamina and strength
According to the CDC, as well as common sense, regular physical activity improves strength and endurance and is one of the most effective behaviors in preventing disease. That’s all great from the humanist point of view, but have you considered how it can impact your sales team, too? People that are physically active can handle the physical stress of a job more adequately than those who aren’t, are more focused and alert throughout the day and are more likely to stay valuable to a team by staying healthy and energized in the long run.
3) Physical activity also improves mental alertness and mood
Keeping morale and satisfaction high is a big challenge for all managers, but doing so can cultivate loyal, hardworking teams that give their best effort day in and day out. Emphasizing the importance of physical activity can assist here, because it helps decrease stress levels, improve mood and increase mental alertness
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all things that benefit the effectiveness and value of employees, while improving their own satisfaction and quality of life.
4) Healthy food fuels a productive lifestyle
Powering all that physical activity and mental stamina requires good food and strong eating habits. Diet impacts crucial aspects of behavior, including physical, social and mental processes that influence productivity. People that eat well benefit from improved strength, stamina, alertness, mood and mental stability, in addition to generally staying healthier and getting sick less frequently.
For a sales team, healthy food should be the go-juice that propels them. When the going gets tough and things get hectic, it’s easy to just eat whatever’s around. Planning ahead and making sure good food is available can help keep team members feeling good and energized when they need it most.
So when you’re considering your management initiatives going forward, consider what value health and wellness can have for your team. You obviously can’t make people be healthy if they’re unwilling, but encouraging healthy decisions can help drive those critical behaviors and attributes you’re already seeking from your team and without burning them out in the process.
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