Walking As Part of Work Meetings:Don’t Call It A Break

Beth Kanter, Master Trainer, Blogger, Author, and SpeakerGuidestar Webinar

Feb. 12, 2015

People are sitting 9.3 hours a day, which is

more than we’re sleeping, at 7.7 hours

It’s harmful to your health ….

Sitting increases risk of death up to 40%

Beth

399

I Know from Direct Experience

Healthy Range

>150

Triglycerides: Test Results

Too Much of This

And That Too …

Made A Commitment To Walk and Eat Better

Dashboard To Collect Data Connected To Goals

99

Triglycerides: Test Results

Where do you find the time in your work day?

Walking: The Killer App for Creativity and Problem Solving

A Long History of Walking At WorkLeaders Put On Their Walking Shoes

Aristotle instructed his students while strolling about …

”For me, walking has proved to be a great way to promote

a healthy lifestyle, while facilitating my

communications skills and leadership efforts.“

Louis Sullivan, HHS Secretary 89-93

Mindset Change: Integrate Walking Into Your Work

• Stop thinking of solo walking as “exercise” it is a great time to think about challenging work task

• Recognize when you are not productive sitting and take a five minute walk around your office, stretch

• Hack a standing desk• Incorporate 20-30 minute solo walks during the

day or talk call w/ your mobile phone• Walking commute to work, if possible or park

far away or get off bus a stop early

Standing Desk

Beverly Trayner-Wenger

Meeting Type Description

Informal Chats To decide to act on a problem you are facing

1:1 Regularly scheduled check-ins with your boss or people who report to you

Networking Meeting with a professional colleague for relationship building

Huddles To offer help or take action on tactical issues such as scheduling or daily work

Staff Meetings Reporting, decision, planning, scheduling, updates, brainstorming, etc

Work Session To develop a strategy, process improvement, or implementation plan

Conference Calls Meetings by phone or online

Changing A Culture of Sitting: Pick One Meeting

Easy place to start: Suggest replacing weekly status updates with supervisors with a walking meeting. Suggest meeting for a walk instead of coffee for networking meetings. Switch conference call meetings to your mobile phone and walk or pace

Nonprofits and Walking Meetings

Walking As Part of Conferences and Workshops

Tips for Walking Meetings: Planning

• Purpose• Agenda• Note Taking• Facilitation

Tips for Walking Meetings: Actual Meeting

• Use a park or outdoor setting whenever possible.

• Try holding walking meetings in the afternoon, when energy levels are lowest.

• Avoid noisy roads or crowded areas. • Plan a route with some good stopping points.

Plan indoor meetings in the office space in the event of bad weather.

• Set a goal for walking meetings each week. Suggest replacing weekly status updates with supervisors with a walking meeting and build up to more frequent strolls.

• Track your steps with a wearable device. • Plot out a few walking routes that work out to

the typical length of company meetings.

More about walking at work:http://www.bethkanter.org/category/walking/http://www.scoop.it/t/walking-for-work

Friend Me on Fitbit for Walking As Work Challengeshttps://www.fitbit.com/user/288NYK

Reflection

• How can you integrate walking into your work?• What’s one small step you can take?