"Failure is part of growing"
Performance and health in everyday management, but also individual performance limits, were the focus of the first "Fit for Management" symposium in Arosa. With 300 participants, the first edition of the event was a success.
Executives and entrepreneurs from Switzerland and abroad learned about current findings in psychology, health research and sports in presentations and a specialist panel. In the evening, they ran the first "Swiss Management Run" together.
"If you want to be and remain number one, you have to train as if you were only number two," summarized former top triathlete Olivier Bernhard, who is now celebrating great successes with his Swiss sports brand "ON" after ending his top sports career. Bernhard used experiences from competitions to show how he rescued himself from difficult situations through consistent self-motivation. HSG Professor Christian Lässer emphasized that self-motivation and the willingness of managers to perform can sometimes go too far.
"Those who no longer say no are driven and no longer drive themselves," he said, referring to the ever-lurking danger of burnout. Managers often find it difficult to admit to themselves or those around them that they are overtaxed or even that they have failed, Christian Müller, Head of HR at AXA Winterthur, also confirmed. "Managers would rather overextend themselves than ask for help." "Failure is part of growing," mental trainer Martina Melcher emphasized in this regard. And Gian Gilli, long-time success coach and sports director of Swiss Olympic, confirmed: "You also have to accept that sometimes something doesn't work."
The symposium showed that companies such as AXA Winterthur now run comprehensive programs to monitor the performance and stress levels of their managers. Sport can be a good counterbalance to the stress of day-to-day management - but many other factors have to be right in order for a manager not to run the risk of burning out and getting into a burnout.
For the final "1st Swiss Management Run", the participants of the symposium divided themselves into three running groups over 1.2 km, 5 km and 10 km. The run was less about best times than about the shared experience in the mountains of Graubünden. The first "Fit for Management" symposium already attracted 300 participants and was thus able to meet the expectations of the organizers.
Winner Swiss Management Run 2014:
10 km women: Badilatti Ursina, Repower
10 km men: Olivier Bernhard, On
5 km women: Jessica Do Amparo, Joiz
5 km men: Herrmann Husslein, I believe in you
1.2 km women: Anja Herzog, MS Mail
1.2 km men: Sascha Fischer
Winner team ranking: Swisscom
