Step by Step
In this interview, Mark Goldberg, Latham’s Director of Well-Being & Benefits, discusses the firm’s annual Spring Challenge and how Latham lawyers and business professionals have engaged in this friendly competition for more than 15 years.
WHAT IS LATHAM’S SPRING CHALLENGE?
The Spring Challenge is an annual global event in which our offices compete against one another to see which can log the most well-being activity — which in turn generates meal donations for children in need. The Challenge involves many layers, but at its core, colleagues track their steps through wearable fitness devices. They can also manually log physical and mental well-being activity, which is then converted into “steps” for purposes of the Challenge. Every 5,000 steps in a day earns a meal donation for children in need, and offices vie to have the greatest average number of meal donations.
What started in 2009 as a simple goal of inspiring colleagues to move more throughout their day has evolved into an annual challenge with thousands of Latham lawyers and business professionals participating each year. While a little friendly competition always ensues, the Challenge is really about creating an environment in which we can encourage one another to focus on our well-being, while helping to do some good in the world through our charity meal donations.
WHAT ARE SOME WAYS YOU FOSTER ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION?
Over the years, our offices have come up with creative ideas to get their teams involved and excited. We have seen scavenger hunts, plank and sit-up contests, "bubble football," ping pong, group meditations, sounds baths, bowling, dragon boat races, beach clean-ups, and all manners of hikes and exercise classes, to name a few.
What’s great about the Challenge is that, over the years, it has become such an inclusive event. While steps can be tracked through wearable fitness devices, the Challenge also encourages “non-step” activities like biking, yoga, weightlifting, horseback riding, gardening, swimming, or even meditation. Our Challenge platform converts it all into “steps,” and allows people to engage in their health in whatever way works best for them.
IN ADDITION TO BRAGGING RIGHTS, WHAT DOES THE SPRING CHALLENGE CHAMPION WIN?
Trust me when I say it’s hard to overstate how popular those bragging rights are! In addition, winning offices take possession of a “Bronze Sneaker” trophy.
TELL US MORE ABOUT THIS BRONZE SNEAKER.
The original Bronze Sneaker was literally a running shoe from one of our Latham colleagues that was bronzed and made into a trophy. That trophy got passed from one winning office to the next, and staying with the winner for a full year until the next Challenge.
The first trophy was created long ago from an old pair of sneakers donated by one of our associates. But in honor of the competition’s 10th anniversary, we hosted a “Bronze My Sneaker” contest inviting colleagues to share how the Challenge made an impact on their life, with the winner having their sneaker bronzed for a new trophy and receiving a new (unbronzed!) pair of running shoes. A secretary from our Chicago office had a really inspiring story. She had assumed she was moving a fair amount each day, but when she began tracking her steps, she realized she wasn’t moving nearly as much as she’d thought. This prompted her to begin walking more, then running, and eventually completing multiple marathons. That’s what the Spring Challenge is all about — encouraging people to take charge of their health and well-being.
As the structure of the Challenge has evolved over the years, we now have multiple winning offices across several divisions. As a result, we’ve needed to add a few more Bronze Sneakers to the mix. We turned to Singapore, our office with the highest number of historical wins (four times!) and obtained footwear from their top performers to create some additional trophies, adding to the rich history of the Challenge.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO PULL OFF A GLOBAL EVENT OF THIS SCALE?
We have an amazing team of over 100 Latham colleagues who serve on our global planning team or as local office team leaders. They help with everything including promotion, registration, activity tracking devices, and local events to engage their teams. It truly takes a village, and we appreciate the tremendous effort from these volunteers each year.
HOW DOES THE SPRING CHALLENGE FIT INTO LATHAM’S LARGER WELL-BEING STRATEGY?
Years ago, the Spring Challenge was actually our first large-scale venture into the well-being space. But right from the start, we realized it was about much more than just tracking steps. It supported our firm culture and the collegiality of Latham that we all love, and fostered engagement and connection among our lawyers and business professionals across the globe. The Spring Challenge became an important catalyst for the growth of LiveWell Latham, our global well-being platform. Today we have a wide array of robust programming and resources to support our colleagues’ overall well-being — including our annual Spring Challenge and much more!