STAYING STRONG FAQs

• Why have we implemented the Staying Strong programme? The Staying Strong programme is a wellbeing initiative to help build our staff’s emotional fitness (resilience, optimism, ownership and flexibility), and to help us persevere during tough times. Tools are used to help staff ‘break through instead of break down’ during difficult situations. 
• Who facilitates the Staying Strong programme? Supervisors and management at all levels of the business will use the video-based toolkit to facilitate regular wellbeing conversations with staff, expanding the reach of the programme.
• Who will be able to participate in the programme? Staying Strong is for every employee in Wilderness, from offices to camps. A personal workbook has been printed for each employee. There will be workshops held throughout the regions during the course of the year. These workshops will be for managers and wellbeing ambassadors; they will in turn take the programme back to their teams and camps, and facilitate their own sessions using the toolkit.
• How is the programme structured? Staying Strong consists of 15 sessions, held as wellbeing conversations; these are to be held ideally once per week per team, led by the team’s manager. These wellbeing conversations will take between 20 and 30 minutes. There is a guide for the manager to follow, with short videos played during every session to share insight on the topic that week.
• Are these individual or group sessions? The sessions are facilitated in team groups, which encourages deeper conversations and connections amongst colleagues.
• What happens if the team is too busy to meet? The programme allows for a shortened version of the session which only takes 10 minutes. The same core content is covered, just in less time. This way, the team doesn’t miss out on having the wellbeing conversation or lose momentum by skipping a week.
• What happens after the 15 sessions? The intention is that every team will continue to hold wellbeing conversations, be it once per week, or every second week, for example. Sessions can be revisited if there have been matters raised during the wellbeing conversations that relate to the specific topics. Wellbeing is a journey and the hope is that everyone at Wilderness will continue to prioritise wellbeing conversations, thus enabling us all to Stay Strong!
• When will Staying Strong come to my office or camp? Staying Strong has rolled out in Botswana and Zambezi so far, with extra sessions scheduled for Botswana in October. Namibia’s roll-out will be end-October and SA and East Africa will be in November.