Inspiring to learn today a hybrid version of @Growing_Talent ran during the height of #Covid in Sept 2020 was so successful.
Chloe, Courtney, Shelley, Sophia, Ryan and Vanessa are still onboard 2 years later!
They took a chance on Growing Talent with great results for them and their London employer – a global financial services firm.
Being unemployed is tough. Getting employers to see you for your skills, abilities and attributes rather than your label ‘single parent’, ‘unemployed’ etc seems impossible.
Exciting meeting with @DavidSteeds & @Maddiemum @JCPinSthLondon yesterday planning @Growing_Talent 2023. Four programmes will run throughout the year enabling forward planning for all involved. Targeting London based employers and unemployed people looking for a different journey into work.
In these challenging times, now more than ever this unique collaboration is needed to deliver positive results to all.
Thanks to all involved over 9yrs Growing Talent has run changing lives by delivering real social mobility
What will the next year hold for Growing Talent?????
Who knows! One thing is for sure, we’re ready to roll that bowling ball!
I have delivered multiple mental health and wellbeing licences courses for clients keen to empower their teams in this critical area.
The introduction of ISO45003 – psychological safety in the workplace – in September 2021, coupled with the legacy of Covid left on many has seen an increase of interest in this area.
But how many organisations continue to keep engaging non-accredited, reactive, non-global uniformed programmes because:
It’s the product they’ve always used – (without exploring if it worked maybe?)
The product has ‘First Aider’ in the title (without evaluating if the resulting knowledge makes someone capable of being a ‘First Aider’)
I-act training is, by comparison, head and shoulders above the competition in this field, in my opinion. It delivers so much more, including:
Global delivery virtually – delivering uniform knowledge with local support resources
Accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Carried CPD points
Training in over 50 tools for proactive self care that can be used reactively on someone experiencing emotional pain
Robust manual for onward learning
Access to resources, news, films as well as international news in this field for the entire 3 years accreditation
Bespoke course for managers – which includes legal responsibilities
Bespoke course for non-managers
The feature picture above shows a recent group of newly accredited Practitioners from a leading UK University. An additional consideration for their commissioning organisation was the fact this accredited course would give them the ‘edge’ in their career search as a key differentiator. A great session sharing & learning together critical, accredited life skills for the workplace and beyond!
Learning proactive mind muscle building techniques ensures we are better able to look after ourselves as well as those around us.
What’s not to like?
Why would employers choose anything less for their most valuable asset?
If you are interested to learn what difference this training could make to your employees, why not contact me direct to find out more….?
Growing Talent has predominantly run within nuclear parts of national/international employers providing on site services to Growing Talent’s funders.
This started to change yesterday with the ‘King of Connections’ – also known as Andy at ISS, a strong supporter of Growing Talent, who connected Growing Talent with Anna, relatively new to the position of Head of Social Value at ISS in a meeting yesterday.
Anna’s clear interest in the uniqueness of Growing Talent was amplified by ISS’s ‘Empathy Envoy’, also known as Melinda, who joined us to share with Anna some of the experiences her team had encountered and the life changing differences they had been part of – all in addition to their day jobs.
Andy explained to Anna that accounts outside the funders could take part and make a real difference to those that need a chance as well as gaining a positive impact on their team.
Anna agreed to attend our Recognition and Relaunch Event in January and said she would spread the word to decision makers along with Andy.
Within an hour, I’d received accepted invitations from some of these decision makers to attend! How awesome is that?
The power of people who make things happen rather than just talk the talk is awesome and makes such a critical difference to those vulnerable people on the Growing Talent journey – especially during these tough economic times!
For many global companies, taking part in Growing Talent is a challenge because it disrupts the global recruitment policies in place.
Growing Talent is a mentoring journey for both employers and their potential unemployed new talent which delivers a mutual ‘test drive’ to see if the permanent role on offer is right for both parties.
Due to the unique partnership over nine years with JobCentre Plus in the UK, participants retain their benefits, have their travel paid, get paid by the employer, undergo a week of orientation and holistic workshops including qualification in the accredited i-act Managing and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing aligning with ISO45003 psychological safety in the workplace and a dedicated mentor for the journey. This raises their empowerment and confidence before they start the four week mutual test drive with their employer.
What’s not to like?
With all these positive elements to Growing Talent, Lauren had a role she knew would be appropriate. After securing UK managements’ approval, she then had to tackle the European heads! No easy task – but she did it!
Lauren made it happen and you can see just how confident and awesome Lee is from the photo above with Lauren. Feed back from Lauren and her team is Lee is learning so quickly and picking up things fast. He’s a positive addition to the team – and this is just a few days into the journey! From Lee’s view, he’s enjoying it and has no complaints.
It not easy to start a new job during train strikes – but Lee made it happen too!
Vision, determination and passion = positive real results. So, let’s all ‘make it happen’!
Great day on our Orientation today. Alex from the 18th programme of Growing Talent back in 2018 was onsite in his newly promoted role – what a photo opportunity!
Lee joins @Honeywell from next week and will bump into Alex a lot – a great friendly face when you are new.
With over 15 years experience of delivering a range of mental health and wellbeing products in the UK, i-act (for positive mental health and wellbeing) training. Mental Health Training is the only workplace designed course on the market I’ve come across that delivers lasting knowledge, real tools and steps for colleagues to gain confidence in supporting each other whilst giving knowledge on how to demolish workplace stigma – perceived or real- removing the fear in disclosing to ensure early intervention, help and support. It aligns perfectly in supporting #iso45003 employer guidelines.
In addition, a strong focus on prevention enables staff to learn tools to build their own resilience to deal with life/work events more effectively whilst enabling them to ‘bounce back’ quicker when low mood strikes.
Accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists it gives confidence a meaningful programme of effective knowledge will be received rather than a ‘tick in the box’ exercise.
With hybrid working homes are now completely or partly also workplaces making the division between home and work spaces more blurred.
In addition the global fiscal crisis means money in all areas is tight. So it makes sense to select the most effective training programme that will deliver the right results for employees and employers – doesn’t it?
Working with a leading UK University recently, the first to gain #iso45003, the interaction, sharing and clear growth of knowledge amongst the delegates was awesome to be part of.
But, what did they think?…………
“Thank you so much for delivering the i-act course today, it went above and beyond my expectations and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone already in or moving into a management”
“That was a fantastic course- thanks so much!”
“Thanks for the excellent course today, I gained a lot of knowledge from it”
9-15 May 2022 is the Mental Health Foundation’s 21st awareness week on a particular mental health theme. This year’s theme is loneliness.
Not to be confused with being alone, a choice many make and flourish working remotely, living alone, shopping and banking online. It suits them completely. They are not lonely.
Loneliness is not a choice. People can be in a crowded room and still feel lonely. Over time, this feeling can grow and the noise of feeling lonely overwhelms and can impact all areas of someone’s life. The consequences can be devastating for the individual and those closest to them.
Recognising our body’s reaction when loneliness starts to intrude, enables us to do something about it – make arrangements to see friends, do something different with others – an art class maybe. Whatever our self-care toolkit is, we need to move quickly. The mind is a powerful tool designed to keep us safe. To do this, it overthinks negativity to such an extent we can become completely numb and unable to move if we ignore it.
Having our own, bespoke self-care toolkit ready for use when we need a bit of maintenance, in the same way we keep a toolkit for DIY repairs on our homes, is vital. It enables us to be proactive about our mind’s wellbeing which in turn enables us to be aware of any changes in those around us and be effective in guiding them.
Next week I will make a daily post on a specific area of mind wellbeing I’ve practised and taught over the past 15 years on my Twitter and LinkedIn pages in celebration of this vital awareness week.
Last week was the 28th Orientation and Holistic element of Growing Talent! We covered a lot including:
Communication
Emotional intelligence and behavioural impact
Conflict styles and management
The power of body language
Nutrition on a budget – the perils to avoid
Wellbeing windows and non-negotiables
Basic finance tips and tricks
Workplace ettiquette
Case studies – what would you do in these real situations?
Facing fear and overcoming procrastination to move forward
Fake it until you become it
Automatic habits
Challenging thoughts
Schedule in self-care
Working from etc venues in Fenchurch Place, London Monday – Thursday last week, we enjoyed an energising breakfast, mid-morning break, full on lunch with hot and cold options, desserts and cheeses. Smoothies, vegetable shots and tea, coffee (in many different compilations) as well as water!
On Thursday Paul, Ella and Suaad’s prospective employer was able to join us for a networking lunch along with Anna and Mick from DWP. Ella, Florence and Suaad shared some of their experiences over the week and questioned Paul, Anna and Mick on how they had dealt with a range of things from Covid to conflict both at work and in their personal lives. I sat and listened with pride at how their confidence had grown over that few days. Our guests were very generous in sharing past and present experiences. Mick’s previous life in the Met Police gave a lot of insight that maybe we don’t always think about. It was a powerful reminder that everyone has a back story we usually know nothing about.
After the ‘grilling’, We had a sumptuous lunch together before departing for the week.
The feature photo above shows Ella, Suaad and Florence completing their @I-act Managing and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing ready to use some of the tools and learning to empower their resilience in the workplace as well as support those around them where they feel safe to do so.
So what did Ella, Florence and Suaad think of they journey so far?
“I enjoyed all of the workshops and found them very informative- I didn’t necessarily have the most open mind (I generally don’t about lots of ‘work training’ things) in advance of attending but Jane’s attitude and openness made me want to attend. What I enjoyed the most (besides the food which was phenomenal) was being able to openly share my background, hopes and fears, experiences with others in such a safe and encouraging environment. So much about looking for work requires us to be constantly positive in attempts to oversell ourselves. What Jane does so well, and what I enjoyed the most, was being able to be a whole person- with room for improvement but a clear pathway to that improvement. It was such a boost to my self-esteem and made me feel that there were practical steps to moving forward that didn’t involve berating myself for not having achieved them yet.”
“I found the ‘five second rule’ very practical- I could definitely recognise that in myself and the way my brain talks me out of doing things I am worried about. I also found the discussions around confrontation and interpersonal workplace relationships (and outside) really helpful. Also the continual emphasis on maintaining good channels of communication is definitely something I am trying to keep permanently in mind until it becomes second nature.”
“Personal well-being and learning how to structure your work day to make sure your mood is optimal and you’re making the most of your day. If you take a proactive stance and not react to what life throws at you, you can be in control and change the quality of your day to day experiences.”
“Jane has been wonderful over the week. The way the programme was delivered over the week shows this is something Jane deeply cares about and enabling participants with the right information and boost of confidence/morale is just as important as securing a job. After facing unemployment you have to mentally prepare yourself before starting a job, you may feel out of the loop or in a low mood. By completing a holistic short course beforehand, it allows you to evaluate how you are doing on a scale and gives you insight to what to work on going forward.”
“The I-Act course is a great source to keep around and use as a reference, it provides a great summary of different types of mental health issues and illnesses. Once again, it is a tool you can use to see how you’re doing on scale and can be used to advocate for yourself and others. Courses such as this are needed to destigmatize the issue of mental health, a simple heartfelt conversation may change the trajectory of someone’s health and even their life.”
“I am very grateful and happy to be given this opportunity, it is a unique and lovely programme that would not be possible if curated by someone who didn’t understand how to genuinely help people (to help themselves!). It’s clear this is a labour of love and it really shows in the quality of the programme and the impact it has on me over just one week. Bravo, thank you!”
“Jane made us feel very comfortable and secure enough to share our personal stories as to what led us to Growing Talent. I also enjoyed the company of the other people on the journey with me. There was nothing that I didn’t enjoy. I looked forward to each day!”
“The whole concept of having a “Holistic Employment Programme” is such a great idea and perfect in my situation. It provides a level playing field for everyone. Thank you!”
If you are unemployed, live in London and interested in a different route to employment – check us out and or speak with your work coach at JobCentre Plus.
If you are an employer with permanent jobs in London which you are willing to train in, why not consider Growing Talent? Like Ella, Florence and Suaad you will have empowered, resilient, enthused, empathetic new talent before you formerly hire them with qualities you wouldn’t usually see in traditional recruitment – and it’s free. Get in touch to discuss.
Jane James's Consultancy Limited 