What about my personal stress regulation and my physical, emotional and mental health - and how can I strengthen these, including in my everyday working life? The management team of the companies belonging to the Hauenstein Group addressed these questions together with SWICA Prevention Management at the Health Days in Grindelwald.

Every two years, the Hauenstein Group - an owner-managed family business from the Lake Thun region - holds Health Days. At the end of February 2025, the ten managing directors of the Hauenstein companies met in Grindelwald. SWICA Prevention Management was able to design the two-day "pit stop" and put together a varied program with two three-and-a-half-hour workshop sequences and a snowshoe tour with team-building exercises.

"In addition to the exchange of experiences among managers, the team-building aspect was also important to us in order to strengthen the sense of togetherness and make the effect of team-building activities tangible," says Nathalie Hauenstein, member of the Hauenstein Group's Executive Board. Another focus was on learning about the most important facts and developments on the topic of resilience in order to derive targeted measures.

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Resilience in day-to-day management - challenging and encouraging

"It was important for us to reflect together on where we stand in terms of our own resilience, the resilience of our managers and the resilience in the company, and what opportunities there are for optimization," says Nathalie Hauenstein. In the morning workshop held by Dominic Trösch, prevention management specialist at SWICA, the participants discussed which resources they would like to promote in themselves, their employees and the company, and what they can do specifically to achieve this.

Creativity and communication in the snow: team building on the Wetterhorn

In the afternoon, the managers strapped on their snowshoes, explored the untouched landscape and solved challenging tasks together against the imposing backdrop of the Wetterhorn. At the instigation of SWICA Prevention Management, mental and sports coach Roli Looser put together a varied outdoor program for the Hauenstein Group. "My job was to bring physical and mental exercise into the day and to organize the afternoon," says Looser. "The fun part wasn't to be neglected either. The aim was to strengthen the team spirit of the managers who work independently, to promote creative solutions and to work together towards a goal under time pressure," explains the mental trainer.

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Aiming high together - the tricky tower construction

One of the tasks was to build eight individual wooden blocks, four of which were slanted, into a tower in the snow using strings and a plate with a hook. All participants held two strings in their hands and, standing in a circle, tried to coordinate the plate with the hook with their fellow players and build the tower. This can only be achieved through good communication, skill and a common strategy.

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The floating bamboo pole - a balancing act of teamwork

Another challenge involved working together to bring a bamboo pole lying at chest height on the index fingers to the ground in such a way that all participants were always in contact with the pole. To do this, two groups of eight people were formed, facing each other on either side of the pole. In addition to skill and stamina, communication and coordination with each other were also crucial in this exercise in order to complete the task in the allotted time.

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Role model and health in day-to-day management

On the second day, Daria Lehmann, prevention management specialist at SWICA, introduced participants to the concept of self-care and explained what the "health-oriented leadership" approach is all about. The managers were made aware of the importance of focusing on their own health, actively doing something about it and consciously making sure that they do not take on too much. Because only if managers are aware of their own needs and take them seriously are they in a position to be aware of their employees' state of health and act as a role model.

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First projects for 2026 already underway

The tried-and-tested collaboration between the Hauenstein Group and SWICA Prevention Management will continue next year. Two-day leadership workshops for external managers are planned for 2026 at the Deltapark Vitalresort. The Hauenstein Group will provide the framework for this with the hotel on Lake Thun and SWICA Prevention Management will conduct workshops on health-related topics.

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