Implement the Wellness Plan

Once the plan is complete, the Wellness Team should oversee its implementation. This will require setting priorities with an eye to establishing some early and measurable “wins” to motivate the team and help gain support for continued progress. Another strategy might involve conducting a pilot project.

Setting Priorities

Remember that you don’t have to do everything at once. You can phase in your Wellness Program starting with one or more of the Five Ways to Improve Student Health and Fitness. Or you can prioritize the goals and strategies in your plan based on a number of possible criteria, for instance:

Pilot Projects

In a large school district, there is often value in conducting a pilot project before attempting to implement a comprehensive Wellness Plan. A pilot project can be useful when:

All of the ingredients required for a successful full-scale implementation are required in a pilot project as well: communication, measurement, and feedback, for example are critical to the pilot's success and by extension the eventual success of the full-scale implementation. Resist the natural tendency to relax just because this is a pilot and not the "real thing."

The timeline is also important

Pilot projects need to have a clear end-point in the form of an absolute date (usually the best approach) or on completion of a certain measure. In either event, the goals and milestones must be clearly defined and communicated. Typically, pilot projects run for a period of six months to a year depending on the project. Once the project has run its course and the key learning collected, the project should be closed. It is then time to incorporate the learning and move to the full-scale implementation plan.