Ultimate exercise in team-building

By VICKI JAYNE

A small get-fit initiative at Carter Holt Harvey has mushroomed into the biggest off-road event in New Zealand.

On October 12, 900 CHH staff will either run and/or bike a 21km course through the pine trees and spectacular sand dunes of the company's Woodhill Forest, on the north Auckland west coast. Invited companies are expected to deliver another 600 people.

It's remarkable progress since the day three years ago when Linda Sewell, now 36, sat sipping a capuccino, contemplating a work colleague's Ironman training programme and the fact that she couldn't run to the end of the street. Change, she decided, was in order.

Indeed. The chief executive of Carter Holt Harvey subsidiary Futurebuild is not only off next month on a 26km polar circle run in Greenland, she has inspired a continuing fitness programme that involves more than 1000 CHH employees.

"What happened is that I decided to do something about my own fitness," Sewell recalls.

"I felt like a sloth drinking coffee while other people were out exercising. So I called a consultancy specialising in fitness training to get some advice.

"They said they'd give me a programme that would have me running a half-marathon in 12 weeks.

"Well, I laughed. I didn't think I could ever do that - but I did and it was such a life-changing experience. I wondered what impact it would have on a bigger group in an organisation."

So she encouraged Auckland CHH staff to run in the Auckland half-marathon in October 1999. It was a sort of "suck-it-and-see" trial, says Sewell: "We expected maybe 50 to do it - but we got 200."

Those who took part were, like Sewell, overwhelmed by their success and it caused a bit of a buzz around the site. So the following year the invitation to get involved was extended to all.

It was the first year of the BMW-sponsored run which crossed the Auckland Harbour Bridge, which meant numbers had to be limited to 5000. CHH fielded 500 entrants.

"One in 10 people who crossed that bridge was a CHH employee. That was a bit of a statement," says Sewell.

By then it was evident the company was on to a winner. Because so many employees had become involved, more formal measurement of the benefits were initiated.

"In the second year, instead of just encouraging employees to participate, we offered a whole package of pre-training fitness tests, weekly training tips, monthly seminars - the works. Then we re-tested runners after the event."

Results showed that on all key indicators of health - weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels - there was a 10 per cent improvement, including an average weight loss of 5kg per person.

The programme was also starting to affect workplace culture, says Sewell.

The fact that staff from all levels of the company were out training at lunchtimes, or running alongside each other in the event, improved communications. It's a real leveller to have senior managers - including CHH chief executive Chris Liddell - struggling toward the same goals as junior staff or folk from the factory floor, Sewell says.

"In surveys that were carried out alongside the fitness testing, something that came back strongly was that people felt more positive about the company. So there was a real impetus to keep going."

Last year the run invitation was extended to CHH employees throughout the North Island. With indications that 1000 people were going to become involved, it was decided company entrants would rather swamp the Auckland half-marathon.

"We thought, why not allow employees to experience the run in one of our own forests? So we got professional organisers in to help stage the run at Woodhill," says Sewell.

It became the largest off-road event in New Zealand. It also proved a great way to bring employees from scattered sites together for a fun occasion.

"Around half the team comes in from the Central North Island and make a weekend of it. We had 30 come from the Whakatane mill last year. They took over a local motel and had a fantastic time."

While some benefits to the company are hard to measure, Sewell believes they are significant. Indicators include increased productivity, reduced absenteeism and improved retention. And preventing just three staff departures would cover the cost of the whole event, she says.

There are other flow-on effects in terms of the company's health and safety programme. Apart from improved individual fitness, other wellness initiatives have been generated, such as weekly yoga classes and programmes focusing on nutrition.

There's also a "big boys' club" - a group that got together with a specific goal of using the marathon-training programme to lose weight. They log "before" pictures and progress reports on the company intranet, and a couple have already lost 10kg each.

Meanwhile, Sewell herself is hooked. She's already run a marathon on the Great Wall of China, has taken part in the New York event, and is doing the polar circle.

She believes one reason the programme has proved so successful is that while the company provides the opportunity, the goal itself is a very personal one for employees.

"The benefit is all theirs, but the company gains too. It's a real win-win."

* vjayne@iconz.co.nz