@Growing_Talent’s 33rd programme is now officially open!
London centric.
Information film made and shared with @JobCentrePlus this morning to share with their customers. Also shared with Matthew of Southwark Care Leavers and Anthony of SLAM
Deadline for applications is midday 25.4.23!
Are you ready?
Hidden talent in our local communities
It’s always energising learning from people around the world about workplace issues including mind health of all staff.
Delivering the global, i-act (for positive mental health and wellbeing) training. Mental Health Training – manager’s level – to decision makers of a global facilities management organisation sparked discussion and insight into where our three countries sit in this important area of mind health – which of course impacts business health.
How mentally healthy we make our workplaces will determine whether that impact is positive or negative.
Having delivered multiple licensed mental health courses over the years, including those that have ‘First Aider’ in the title, i-act (for positive mental health and wellbeing) training. Mental Health Training is, for me, a clear winner that I always promote. Why?
Unlike other products on the market, it delivers:
🎯 Over 50 tools to use in multiple ways on self and others
🎯 Delegates courses are accredited – not just the Instructor’s course
🎯 Uniform content and delivery – doesn’t require country specific licence
🎯 Designed for the workplace whilst useable anywhere
🎯 Aligns with ISO45003 – workplace psychological safety
🎯 A focus on proactive action with reactive steps to support others
The only thing that changes is the signposting to external organisations for specific issues, which of course is country specific.
Resources are tight in these times. This is true for any organisation – large or small.
But what is the cost of not rolling out pro active mental health and wellbeing training to all staff, at all levels?
#mentalhealth#learning#training#people#health#mindhealth#betterbusiness#brandreputation#inclusion#belonging
Calling London employers seeking new talent a different way – why not add Growing Talent to your recruitment toolkit?
Over 9 years of revealing ‘hidden gems’ that would have been missed in a traditional recruitment method, Growing Talent partners with you, JobCentrePlus, charities, the unemployed on a journey of empowerment.
At the point you issue a permanent contract, both parties will be confident the fit is right.
#recruitment#london#talent#socialmobility#equalityanddiversity#inclusion#JobCentrePlus#bettertogether
A great, interactive I-act workshop last week saw more managers from the academic and operational teams of a leading UK University complete the I-act Managing and promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing course.
Designed specifically for the workplace, the 50+ tools can be used amongst teams, family and friends as well on ourselves. Raising awareness to recognise a change in someone is critical to enable a conversation to start asap. The quicker someone gets the help they need, the sooner they will recover to a place where they can thrive.
We are not brought up to prioritise our self care nor to talk about our emotions. This is almost seen as a weakness. but the opposite is true. If we prioritise our own wellbeing when we don’t need it, everyday, we are more likely to have the mind muscle to step back and challenge our negative thoughts when the pressure is on. Why are we so self stigmatised in talking about our emotions? The mind is the powerhouse of the brain and the brain is the powerhouse of the body. So shouldn’t we do all we can to keep our minds healthy and functioning as positively as possible?
When it comes to changes in those around us, we can naturally ‘overthink’ starting a conversation. ‘Will I say the wrong thing’, ‘will I make it worse’, what if something is said that I feel uncomfortable with?’ I-act training shares all the tools and steps to start, manage and end these critical conversations whilst ensuring personal safety.
Employers will often roll out generic training because it has ‘First Aider’ in the title. A tick box exercise. These courses are largely popular because they have First Aider’ in the title not for the knowledge they give. Often, only the Instructor course is accredited by a relevant body. Delegates only get a ‘certificate of attendance’. Teachings in these courses are often reactive, not proactive.
Employers who do roll out I-act proactive training and make talking about mind health as natural and as important as talking about physical health are more likely to increase connections across their employees, raising workplace wellbeing which in turn reflects positively on retention, brand reputation and profits.
This is a key life skill. Once learned, proactively looking after our mind health every day will not be forgotten.
Shouldn’t all workplaces across all industries ensure they are rolling out the right training?
A quick catch-up with Joseph who is now half way through his Growing Talent journey. It seems, so far, so good!
A telephone catch-up is planned shortly to explore what is going well and identify anything that could be better.
It’s always good to keep our goals, plans and journeys under review so that our ultimate goal is achieved.
Do you agree?
We aren’t brought up to put ourselves first. Doing so can feel selfish. But, as managers if we don’t make time to proactively build our mind muscle with regular pockets of self-care (fun) throughout our day, we can quickly become overwhelmed ourselves and not notice changes in those around us.
Practising self-care BEFORE we need it, builds the mind’s muscle to challenge negative thoughts enabling us to not only be mindful of our own emotional temperature but that of those around us.
Learning tools to support this is critical. What better course than one that was designed for the workplace, contains over 50 tools for self-care, builds confidence in starting and managing emotional conversations, is accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists and utilises HSE’s tools and management pillars amongst so much more?
Time to upskill your managers and empower them to be the best they can be?
There’s also a non-managers course that carries the same proactive, effective content!
Awesome to be asked to be a webinar panellist in October 2023 by Microlink PC (UK) Ltd
I’ll be sharing how we do things differently on Growing Talent enabling diversely talented unemployed people to join our collaborative journey to permanent employment.
No cvs. No job descriptions. No formal interviews. No pre-judgements.
Why not join the webinar and discover how your business can ‘mix it up’ too!
https://lnkd.in/dKQPfh4R
#betterbusiness #hiddentalent #inclusion #diversity #socialmobility
Enjoy a relaxing weekend Fru, Joseph & Shanika before the employment stage of Growing Talent commences on Monday!
The dreams and goals you’ve sent yourself are now in reach.
@Growing_Talent we couldn’t be prouder of your tenacity and patience.
Now is the time to let your talent shine!
Thanks to SPS & Stace for making the process quicker so the magic can start to happen sooner than thought!
Also thanks to Team Lois Collins – Tom, Soraya, James & Co – embracing Growing Talent yet again #awesomesupport
Fru, Joseph & Shanika’s peer Ola will enjoy the relaxation of the weekend too. Ola started with the empowering Melinda, Andrew Ingham and their team ISS A/S on Wednesday – after sitting mock exams the day before! What a week it’s been for Ola!
The final member of this fantastic group of talent people, Wing, will join Lasse and his team Pilgrims Risk Management Group soon.
Of course none of this would happen with out the support of our funders and of course the drive and navigation of Allen Salmon – thank you.
Shout out to #JobCentrePlusRob Matthews (Anna) David Steeds and everyone behind the scenes supporting Fru, Shanika & Joseph on their Growing Talentjourney.
In an ideal world, all humans would be brought up to recognise how important their mind health is and the critical need for making self-care a non-negotiable priority in our daily lives. This would enable us to recognise when our mood is starting to be triggered and do something about it instead of becoming overwhelmed.
Talking about our moods should be natural and normal. Instead we self stigmatise and assume how others will react – friends, family and employers.
But we don’t live in an ideal world – so what can employers do to meet their obligations for the psychological health of their greatest asset – their people?
Consider rolling out bespoke proactive training designed for all workplaces enabling managers to ensure a psychologically safe environment and all front line staff to have the tools to take control and responsibility of their own mind health and resilience.
This is a ‘no brainer’. The costs of implementing this training against the potential costs of employment tribunals, absenteeism, presentism, loss of talent, disruption of teams, negative impact on brand etc is minuscule. Delivered over a few hours virtually or one day in person. The flexibility of I-Act fits all organisations.
As an Approved I-Act Instructor, I deliver both versions Managing for people managing teams and Understanding for non-managers.
Both courses deliver over 50 tools which can be used in different ways on self and those around them. With over 90 referral organisations covering each niche area, the 168pg manual – available in hard and electronic versions – enables onward learning and referral.
Accredited by the Royal College of Psychiatrists for three years, with HSE input, the learning delivered empowers people and organisations to thrive.
In each programme I deliver, I take a before and after poll to capture mindset change on the importance of prioritising self-care – there is always a significant shift from ‘self care is important” to ‘self care is critical’.
The image above captures members of a leading University – the first in the UK to gain ISO45003 accreditation for psychological safety – who took the virtual Understanding and Promoting Positive Mental Health and Wellbeing course yesterday.
Here’s what some said:
“It’s an informative course – I never realised how important mental health and wellbeing was. I will definitely be taking more care of myself going forwards”
“The course has helped me understand the best approaches to help someone who might new struggling and how to improve my own wellbeing”
“I will definitely practice more mindfulness exercises as I tend to become overwhelmed. We practiced a breathing exercise during this course and it really helped me calm down”
“It was interesting to think about scenarios where someone may come to you for help and what you’d say to them”
“The course was great and interactive as well as informative and resourceful. We have been shown where and how to use the manual for our own advantage after completion of the course”.
“Going forward, I will take time to breathe and reset during the day, for example at the end of a task eg. University. This will help me unwind and feel better eased into the next part of my day, regardless of how much pressure I was under in the previous task.”
We firmly believe everyone has talent. With that in mind, we devised Growing Talent to enable the person to be seen for who they really are. This is virtually impossible in the traditional recruitment toolkit of cv and interview.
How does someone with little paid employment experience showcase the awesome, adaptable talent they have gained from other areas of their life outside of employment in a cv and formal job interview?
Coupled with their likely imposter syndrome, it’s virtually impossible for them to ‘shine’ in a cv let alone an interview.
How do you answer “what’s your strength/weakness”? or “where do you see yourself in five years” when your focus is on surviving day to day in the life you have, not realising your ingenuity, adaptability, sheer determination to get through are all key skills any employer wants in their business.
How much talent do employers miss because their recruitment toolkit stops people being able to shine?
Growing Talent does things differently as you can see from the feature below. That’s why we have successfully nurtured over 180 people from all social economic backgrounds into permanent jobs which they have grown into fabulous careers.
Our collaboration with career seekers, employers, JobCentre Plus and charities ensure a smooth journey for all. A journey that no one travels alone.
With our April programme around the corner – if you are looking to add talent to your business in London – why not do things differently and add Growing Talent to your recruitment menu?
Jane James's Consultancy Limited 