Author: Jane James

One programme to deliver for all…..

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…Talking about a proactive mental health and wellbeing programme which delivers first responder steps, is accredited, delivers 3CPD points is available in 11 different languages – why would employers choose anything less?

No, I don’t know the answer!

Do they think other programmes deliver more? Have they done a comparison? What is their goal in rolling out mental health and well being training – just a tick in the box? or do they want to really make a difference to their employees and business?

Without answering these questions, the wrong choice will be made.

Early this morning, I had the pleasure to work with delegates based at diverse locations from the same global employer on their journey to become in-house #I-Act instructors. At the end of our session, all became accredited in the manager version of I-act and continue their Instructor training.

I-Act Managing and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing can be delivered to global employees at the same time. No need for country licences. All get a uniform experience enhanced by learning what is going on in different countries within their business from peers.

There is a non-managers version available for those who do not manage others – delivering the same critical steps. Understanding and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing delivers accreditation as an I-Act Practitioner.

Delivering the lifelong knowledge of how to instigate personal, non-negotiable pro active self-care into hectic schedules across different cultures along with the critical first responder steps of how to start, manage and end conversations with team members who may be experiencing challenging emotional thoughts whilst setting personal boundaries to stay safe was interactive and inspiring.

Employers looking to secure an effective training programme in this critical field of workplace psychological safety – checkout how I-act can benefit you, your employees and business.

Contact me to learn more…..

People are unique – their training should be too!….

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Excited to be devising a new 8 week programme for a team of people who will be looking after teams across multiple supply chains.

First programme draft in for discussion!

In the melting pot to be considered is:

  • How do you impact others? Do you really know?
  • Make your connections better
  • Identify your conflict styles – do they change in different situations?
  • Don’t focus on what you think is the obvious!
  • Putting you first!
  • I-Act Managing and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing – global accredited course
  • Conversation work book – consider what to say and how to say it
  • What words? Use effective words when building sentences to connect with someone

Who knows where we’ll end up. A regular forum of support, maybe additional training – the options are endless!

I am always inspired working with clients who recognise the power of collaborative training for their greatest asset who are always willing to disrupt the norm. #inspiring #energising

Watch this space!

A word from Wing……..

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Having completed Growing Talent and been part of the permanent team for a while now, has the ‘shine’ worn off for Wing….?

Clearly not! Wing embraced the opportunity of Growing Talent from the start. Even though it’s completely different to ‘traditional recruitment’ and the usual requirements of a cv, formal interview, previous experience etc etc….

Always smiling, positive and an encouraging support for his peers on the Growing Talent journey with him, it’s inspiring to hear how well things are going for Wing.

Looking for work is tough, but it doesn’t always have to be so. Why not follow Wing’s lead and checkout the Growing Talent experience?

See the Schedule tab at http://www.growing-talent.co.uk for details of remaining programmes…….

Lasse’s thoughts……….

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Awesome thoughts from Lasse – National Account Manager for Pilgrims at a global financial services organisation.

Lasse took part in GrowingTalent for the first time earlier this year. 

It can be a challenge for employers to step outside the usual recruitment process when seeking new talent for their teams. 

We don’t allow formal interviews nor cvs. Instead we have Employer Speed Dating – intriguing huh?

Lasse was intrigued and enthused at the thought of unlocking hidden talent a different way, Lasse’s team also embrace the ethos of GrowingTalent.

So, now it’s completed and Wing is an established member of the team – what does Lasse think?

If you are looking for new talent in your business, who not consider doing things differently?

It’s said a picture is worth a thousand words……

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I’ve been delivering both @Iact_training courses – Managing and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing for those managing others & Understanding and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing for non-managers across diverse industries within the UK and globally for a little over two years.

Diverse industries commissioning this training include higher education, engineering companies, corporates, facilities management companies and community groups.

Following collaboration with a client a little over a year ago, I introduced a couple of tools for the client to see any change in knowledge and outlook from where they were before the course compared to after. These took the form of a scale of the importance of proactive self-care and the scale of confidence in starting a conversation with someone who could be struggling with their emotions as key elements of their evaluation. In, addition a generic multi choice before and after poll is carried out.

Over the past couple of days, it struck me how powerful if could be to put the before and after scales scores into a graph to give a strong visual on change delivered. A lot of increased knowledge was revealed.

Below are the resulting scales from one higher education client based in the UK with international students over the past year. Students – all levels, academic staff, operational staff and FM team members and management have collaborated on the powerful tools and learning of @Iact_training.

The rare instances of no movement below illustrate people who hold senior posts in the mental health and wellbeing sector. Although, they did indicate new learning on their evaluations forms with the new way to look at, introduce and action proactive self-care (fun) windows into really tight personal schedules!

In these trying times, it’s even more critical organisations spend their money wisely and confidently see results.

Deloitte’s UK Mental Health Report 2022 states for every £1 invested in workplace mental health and wellbeing, £5.30 is returned.

Click to access deloitte-uk-mental-health-report-2022.pdf

A question I’d be asking is what’s the cost if that investment is not made?

Is it worth the risk?

Should employers worry about ‘ok’ performance? Should employees?

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I think so – here’s why…

The affects of the two sides shown in the illustration above will be highly visible to wider teams and management for very different reasons.

The red zone – not performing well. A plethora of potential reasons will manifest as low performance. Lack of training. Disconnection within the team/management. Lack of a feeling of belonging and so on. Employers will notice the performance and have choices on what to do about that. Hopefully, any planned intervention includes communication, exploration and agreement with the employee.

The green zone – performing well. When this become expected, it can often be taken for granted. This in turn can lead to churn as the employee feels undervalued. If employers are aware of the potential of taking great performers for granted – they can ensure they don’t! Valuing great performance every time, is empowering and creates a connection of belonging.

What can often go unnoticed is the middle section.

This may be the largest group of employees in some organisations. ‘OK’ performance – acceptable, could be great. Why aren’t employees in this section striving to be the best they can? Multiple reasons which can include feeling undervalued, isolated, not respected and so on. As the performance is acceptable, employers could miss the opportunity to increase performance through communication, training, empowerment, responsibility, respect, inclusion and so on.

An employer can deliver training for their core business operations but can sometimes be blinkered on the power of wellbeing and emotional intelligence training which can empower the whole employee.

Let’s consider the humble kettle. At 211 degrees we have hot water but just one degree increase gives us steam! Used across diverse industries from food, beverage, wood production, sterilisation, pharmaceutical, chemical reactions and so much more.

How awesome will organisations and ALL of their staff be if empowerment training is rolled out?

What could employers consider in this area?

  • Emotional Intelligence Culture Index – see where departments are in 10 key areas
  • Emotional Intelligence Assessments – see where the gaps are for individuals then close the gaps with coaching
  • Accredited Managing and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing – self proactive and ‘first responder’ tools
  • Accredited Understanding and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing – for non-managers
  • Basic emotional intelligence – how we show up matters
  • Make better connections
  • Know your conflict style – and manage it
  • Components of good conversations
  • Overcoming procrastination to act
  • Building self empowerment

How much more productive is a flourishing team to the business compared to one that is not?

Where’s your head at?

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Our minds are powerful tools. How we train them will determine whether that power is positive or negative.

More medical students above learning the difference.

“We only get two weeks of mental health training in our 2nd year and this was a brilliant course”

“Fantastic course, well delivered particularly important when working in a stressful environment such as healthcare”

“I highly recommend this course for anyone entering the workforce as it can pre-emptively help tackle issues, especially with the course’s preventive strategies”

What training do you deliver to ensure your people have the tools to thrive?

#iact_training

Building mind muscle….

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I love delivering I-Act’s innovative, accredited, global courses which empower delegates to understand the critical need to ‘put themselves first’ – an alien concept for many. Humans are rarely brought up to put ourselves first. Instead, we make sure everyone else is thriving – even at the risk of our own well-being.

Change starts with us. We have to train our mind by scheduling in regular windows of fun throughout our day to build the mind’s muscle to challenge negative thoughts when they hit.

We take care of our physical health and sometimes ignore our mind health. As our mind is the powerhouse of our brain and our brain is the power house of our body – we need to get more proactive on building that mind muscle!

In addition to the proactive nature of I-act, it also teaches how to start, manage and end emotional conversations whilst validating and reassuring those we are listening to and maintaining our own safety with boundary statements.

As a global course, the tools and steps are universal. Ideal for companies with staff based globally.

In these times of intense pressure on resources and finances, it’s easy for businesses to ‘park’ training. This could end up costing them more money and higher losses than the cost of implementing I-Act training!

The photo above depicts the medical student delegates whose UK university was the first to gain iso45003 accreditation for workplace psychological safety, completing the course as Practitioners. How insightful for the university to see the benefits of equipping their students to learn these critical skills to reduce the risk of burnout in the professional medical careers.

Shouldn’t every workplace ensure they rollout this training as part of their induction process?

Time for us all to take control, build our mind muscle to ensure we thrive as well as everyone around us.

Coffee anyone?……….

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Meeting up with Fur later this morning – our first catch-up since her completion of Growing Talent and start of her career with SPS with Tom, Soraya and the team.

A coffee and chat with an awesome human being – could there be a better highlight to the day?

Why don’t you arrange a coffee and catch-up with someone you don’t see regularly?

 #connectionsarefoodforthesoul don’t you agree?

“Where’s my head at?”….

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How often do we ask ourselves that?

We aren’t brought up to talk about our emotions. This often leads to self stigma. Self stigma leads to the perception others will stigmatise us. This is a melting pot of ingredients that can lead to us becoming overwhelmed. Instead of getting the support we need to ignite our journey of recovery, we spiral further down.

The benefits of training all staff members to recognise a change in others, start and manage a conversation whilst keeping themselves safe is a no brainer for all.

The sooner we break the wall of self-stigma and the perception of stigma in others, the sooner recovery can start.

I-act Managing and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing for those managing others and Understanding and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing for non-managers, both deliver the tools necessary for look after ourselves as well as those around us at home and work.

Accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and using tools from Health and Safety Executive, it has over 50 tools for proactive self-care as well as reactive support for others.

Delivered virtually and globally.

Learn how to build your own mind muscle, build your own proactive toolkit, learn why two minute wellbeing windows are critical to challenging thoughts and so much more!

Welcome to new managers from the first UK university to gain accreditation in iso45003 recently trading in I-act Managing and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing.

Is your business and people flourishing?

Should I-Act be part of your organisation’s induction?

What do you think?