Before you and your management group decide whether you want to proceed with a fitness challenge, you should become
familiarized with designing and running competitions. While it is certainly possible to just “wing-it”, this will
generally not give you the participation levels and outcomes you would have with a well thought-out program. Furthermore,
participation in subsequent challenges may be hampered by issues from the initial challenge. In other words, it is
important to try getting it right the first time.
Setting Realistic Challenge Goals
A common method for effective goal setting is to use the acronym SMART as a guideline. In short, the acronym SMART stands
for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. When used in the context of an employee fitness challenge,
the SMART principle can be broken out as follows:
Specific
Your wellness competition must have a well-defined goal in order to be effective. It is not enough to say that the goal
of the challenge is to improve the health of your employees. Here you need to define the mode or method you will employ
to help users get healthier. Your challenge mode can be as innovative as your imagination takes you but some of the more
common challenge modes are: weight-loss, walking / pedometer, timed physical activity, and daily activities.