HES CEO Dean Witherspoon and walking companion Lola step out for an after work walk in Midland’s Emerson Park.
7-minute read
Time is something you think about more when you cross 50 and come to grips with the notion that you’re playing the back 9. Now 66, I routinely ask “Is this how I want to spend my time?” When it comes to walking, the answer is always yes!
Time to walk
I walk 2-4 hours a week – more in good weather — always outside. It’s a habit developed over the last 15 years and one I resisted for a long time, mistakenly believing that higher intensity activity equals “exercise.” Walking didn’t seem like an efficient use of exercise time.
But a funny thing happened just weeks into accepting that walking was now my thing — time pressure receded to the background. I won’t say it felt like I had more time, but the sense of urgency I regularly assigned to things not urgent, faded. I attribute that shift in attitude to the serenity imparted by walking.
Perspective and serenity are just 2 of the many benefits regular outdoor walks hold for leaders of every type of organization, function, or project.
Walk This Way to Better Leadership
On a personal level, it’s a no-brainer — the physical and mental health benefits of regular outdoor walking is overwhelming. But beyond the physiology, there are compelling professional and leadership advantages a walking routine delivers.
Leading by example
Professional membership organizations like WELCOA, NWI, and HERO highlight management support as a best practice in successful wellness programs. But that support is often limited to adequate funding and a line about associates being a company’s most valuable asset in mission/vision statements.
More powerful by far is leadership that walks the talk — in this instance both literally and figuratively. When employees see leaders taking a walking break, strolling at lunch, participating in the wellness program’s walking challenge, and attending local walking events, it gives everyone permission to step out and go for more walks. The impact is greatest if it’s visible rather than vocal — show, don’t tell.
Staying connected
Walking meetings can spoil a good walk, particularly if they’re laden with more than 1 agenda item. More important for leadership is to go for walks with employees they don’t normally get to talk to, just to connect and learn:
- Do you like your work?
- Do you feel challenged?
- What can the company do better?
- What can leadership do better?
Any of these can be conversation starters – and then let it run its course. Walking creates an opportunity for dialog that can’t be duplicated in employee surveys or focus groups.
Solving problems
Most problems don’t get solved in meetings — whether walking or sitting. And you’re not suddenly more insightful because you’re breathing fresh air and are out in the sunshine. But the change in scenery and subject matter can give you a chance to defrag your hard drive, hit reset, and improve system performance when you do step back into the fray. “Let me walk on it” can be a substitute for sleep on it. The quality of your solutions often tick up following a walking intervention.
Boosting creativity
If you’re stuck on a problem, invite someone unfamiliar with the challenge to join you. Lay it out for them in detail. They may not have a solution, but they most certainly will have questions — some of which you’ve not explored. That fresh inquiry can lead to new ways to look at the problem. Walks offer the chance to relax your brain and let the ideas come when they’re ready.
Strengthening collaboration
Collaborating isn’t easy in the best of circumstances, particularly when people are physically separated during the workday. Encourage people from different groups to go for walks together. There doesn’t have to be an agenda other than getting to know one another. Being comfortable outside a formal meeting or project helps employees lower their guard when they’re back in problem-solving mode.
Nurturing commitment
We’re designed to walk, not sit or stand for hours at a workstation. The ability to get out and move automatically conveys an organization that cares about its employees. And though caring may be out of favor in some quarters, organizations that play the long game, investing in the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of associates reap the rewards in employee trust, engagement, and performance.
Practical Steps for Leaders
If you lead a company, department, or some other organization, there’s a good chance you’re busier than the average bear. Finding time can be hard. Whether walking — and all its benefits — is a high enough priority for you is a personal decision only you can make. If you think you’re ready, here are some techniques that have worked for others.
Clean and swap
Even the busiest executive has time devoted to stuff that offers little value — to themselves or others. Cleaning your calendar is just like cleaning your closets; if something in your day doesn’t bring you joy, fulfillment, or some substantial benefit, replace it with walking.
Plan ahead
Lay out everything the night before and set the alarm 30 minutes early for that first-thing-in-the-morning walk. Keep a duffle bag (or at least an extra pair of comfortable walking shoes) at work to walk whenever the mood strikes. Store another bag in the car for a stop at the park on the way home.
Schedule walks
It works for many, but I don’t schedule walks (except employee walking meetings). I just do. It’s routine, like brushing teeth. Putting it on a calendar automatically adds time pressure for me and makes it a “have-to” rather than a like-to. But if your days are packed it may be the best — and only — way to be sure you get it in.
My Walking Week
Michigan’s 4 seasons dictate when and how long you can walk, but overall, my walking routines include:
- 3-4 30-minute early morning walks for a dose of vitamin D and keep my circadian rhythm humming. Always with Lola (our sheepadoodle) and sometimes with Lani (my wife).
- 2-3 45-minute walks at City Forest. Lola turns into a coon hound, dutifully treeing squirrels while we brisk walk the 2-track, listening for bird sounds. Woodpeckers never get old.
- 1-2 20+ -minute walks with employees to stay connected and problem-solve. We’ve a tradition of 20-minute morning and afternoon walks at HES.
Writing it out looks like a lot, but it’s less than most people spend in unfulfilling screen time each week, by a wide margin.
Block your calendar
This is something you should be doing anyway – 2 hours a day at the least – with DNS (Do Not Schedule). Use a portion of that time to walk. Unlike scheduling a walk, this is flexible time that you take for what’s most valuable to you at that time each day.
Go somewhere
Whenever feasible, walk to off site meetings, lunch spots, or work/home. Keeping safety top of mind, use walking as a planet-friendly mode of transportation that can recharge your batteries while you unplug for 20 minutes.
Double up
See Staying connected above. If you have up to 200 people in your organization you can connect with everyone at least once in a year.
Walking will bring more balance and perspective to everything you do. It will make you a better leader.
Stop reading now. Store your phone. Go walk.
Dean Witherspoon
Chief collaborator, nudger, tinkerer; leads the most inventive team creating well-being and sustainable living programs. Reach out if you’d like to talk about employee well-being, emotional fitness, or eco-friendly living.
