Every year I take myself off for a full day’s health check with BUPA.
Lung capacity, diabetes risk, waist measurement and the inevitable weight: I‘ve become obsessed with my scores. These have become personal KPIs, and I monitor progress throughout the year with various apps on my iPhone like My Fitness pal.
I know it is important, I want to be fit and healthy. But work often takes me away from home, and sometimes it is easier not to hit the gym or jump on the bike. But my doctor emphasises every year that I must continue.
I reflected on this today and tweeted “If people like me take their annual health checks so seriously, surely corporate plcs should do the same?”
Responses in the main said “Of course they should”, and “health checks help identify issues before they become problems, enabling corrective action to be taken”.
Can’t see the wood for the trees
I recently worked with a retailer who was disillusioned with the performance of their financial services business.
Via a short, intensive healthcheck I was able to highlight various issues. But the biggest win was when they stood back, and realised the huge potential that existed for the first time.
It’s the classic “can’t see the wood for the trees scenario”. They were stuck in a silo mentality. The huge opportunity presented by a booming online business and resurgent store performance was not tangible. We took it further and told their new story to their partners. They also had the Eureka moment. Confidence and ambition have returned.
And the learn?
We can all benefit from taking some time out and reassessing where we are with an expert. Then plan and make the necessary changes to get some payback, whether that be financial gain or removing inches from the waistline.
