Top Left: Snickers keeping me away from eating Snickers on Halloween Top Right: Those Chewy Sprees Bottom Left: KW Run for the Water Bottom Right: KW Worldwide President Chris Heller, Nina Rowan Heller, and family at Red Rally

I LOVE candy! I am “that girl” who has blown through two jumbo boxes of Hot Tamales in one day. One of my colleagues keeps a candy jar on her desk. Ask her about the day she had Chewy Sprees. Yes, they lasted ONE day. My favorite candy bar is Snickers. I like them so much, I found a dog named Snickers. (My mentor Dianna Kokoszka would say there are no coincidences in life.) As you can imagine, my love for candy means I love Halloween! Yesterday was an unusual Halloween, I did not eat even one piece of candy. I consider this a major wellness and mindset victory!

Wellness. Many companies incorporate a “token” wellness aspect into their human capital scope.

Wellness! Keller Williams Realty has a strong commitment to wellness, starting at the top!

Imagine, the largest real estate company in the world, promoting a holistic approach to wellness across the globe. Yup, check, we have that!

Keller Williams Realty knows that a healthy body, mind, and spirit lead to peak performance and great success. Our company was built on providing the models, systems, and tools to drive results. Wellness is no different. From training Wellness Ambassadors in each market center (franchise office) to offering health and wellness coaching through MAPS Coaching, our international wellness initiative continues to explode.

At Keller Williams Realty International (KWRI), we are extremely spoiled! Wellness Manager Alex Garland offers free circuit, stretch, yoga, and other fitness classes daily. Oh, one more time, did I mention they are free? Keller Williams founder Gary Keller built a state-of-the art gym as a special perk to his corporate team. Ah-mazing! In addition to the daily class offerings, Alex identifies guest speakers on a variety of wellness topics and incorporates other fun wellness related activities into our office. For example, a few months ago, we took pledges to not text and drive, we were rewarded with a sassy sticker for taking our blood pressure, and we had an intriguing guest speaker teach us about essential oils. Alex also coordinates a weekly acupuncture, chiropractor, and massage schedule. During certain seasons, employees can participate in a farm-to-work food delivery option.

We also engage our community in wellness. In August, we hosted our first community 5K, Red Rally, supporting Austin Pets Alive! Last weekend, we were the title sponsors for a very popular Austin run, Run for the Water.

#66DayChallenge

A few times a year, Keller Williams sets a 66 Day Challenge focused on wellness. The concept taken from Gary Keller and Jay Papasan’s bestselling book The ONE Thing, a habit is formed after 66 days, provides a great platform for wellness related goal setting. The most popular and successful challenge remains 10,000 steps a day for 66 days. Keller Williams associates all over the world participate, utilizing tracking posters to brag on their success. KWRI even purchased Fitbit devices for corporate staff, an extra incentive to get out of your chair and start moving. What’s even better is that in between KW set challenges, our associates are creating their own. I am currently doing the challenge with a group and participating in FitBit’s “Workweek Hustle” with another.

MAPS Health & Wellness Coaching

Coaching is new to me and I am obsessed! I now have four coaches, including Nina Rowan Heller who leads the MAPS Coaching Health and Wellness group coaching program. Each week for 16 weeks, I participate in a group coaching call focused on wellness. How does a call equate to being healthy? It’s astonishing! The topics, discussion, and homework adjust your mind to think about the choices you make and challenge you to make wiser choices. Here is just one example of how this program has impacted me. I love food and I love bad food. Now, before I tackle the entire pizza, bowl of queso, or those Chewy Sprees, I take a moment to assess, “What will I feel like after I eat this entire thing?” Not so hot. Eat half. Half is better than whole. It’s all about taking small steps that create a big change. The private Facebook group and use of accountability partners maintains a constant “cheer squad” of people who want you to succeed.

KW Wellness Ambassadors

All Keller Williams initiatives are successful when we have advocates in the field. Our wellness ambassador program organizes one wellness ambassador at each market center. This ambassador participates on monthly calls to gain information about wellness that is easy to share or incorporate into their market center. Market centers are requesting vendors who supply lunches to bring healthy lunches, fruit is replacing birthday cake, and nuts are replacing candy. Some market centers are taking it to another extreme, offering yoga classes in learning centers or even building gyms. After one year, there are currently more than 100 wellness ambassadors across the globe and that number is increasing every single day. The Wellness Ambassadors also plan Wellness Day, a Keller Williams tradition where offices close for a few hours to celebrate wellness. At KWRI, we had an old school field day competition that was the most fun!

Benefits Platform

While I am personally excited about the physical and mindset training, I would be remiss not to mention the most practical and important component to Keller Williams’ health and wellness program: our health benefits platform. Corporate employees receive full health, dental, and vision benefits but our company offers resources for our associates, who are independent contractors. A benefits platform offered through ConnectedHealth provides a user friendly health insurance shopping experience. In addition to the health related offerings, there is access to legal and identify theft services. We recently were awarded the 2014 Superstar Award from the Institute for HealthCare Consumerism. Also, we all know that the biggest form of flattery is someone copying you. Recently, another major international brokerage implemented a similar system. #BOOM

Who knew that joining a real estate company would change my lifestyle? A few weeks from my high school weight, not indulging in Halloween candy, and anxiously awaiting to hit “publish” on this post so I can hit the trail… Imagine what else Keller Williams Realty can change!

Tags: coaching, Commitment, Community, Health, Keller Williams Realty, Mindset, Wellness