“Maintaining the mental wellbeing of employees who are currently thriving is going to be a crucial element of managing teams during Covid 19”.

 

Managers Are the Key to Employee Wellbeing

 

Managing mental wellbeing, however, is not just about supporting the unwell, it is also about positive wellbeing, i.e. managing risks to employee mental wellbeing and creating an environment where employees will thrive. This is going to be crucial to help employees maintain their mental wellbeing, with the many uncertainties that Covid 19 is creating. Most training for managers only focuses on managing the mentally unwell and not on maintaining those who are thriving, which is a lost opportunity to maintain the mental wellbeing and productivity of those who are currently well or on the borderline of tipping over into mental ill health.

 

Managers Need the Right Training

Research by CIPD (2020) showed that the two leading causes of workplace stress in the UK are workload and management style. This further emphasises the key role that managers play in managing team mental wellbeing. Equally, they interact regularly with team members and are best placed to identify any mental wellbeing issues and to implement appropriate support.

Some managers may be naturally good at supporting employee mental wellbeing, but many managers lack the knowledge and confidence to deliver what is needed (Stevenson/Farmer review of mental health and employers,2017). Ensuring that line managers have the right training is crucial in giving them the knowledge and confidence to understand, manage and promote mental wellbeing.

RBBS (2019) carried out research into the impact of line manager training using a control group. They found that training line managers in key elements of managing employee wellbeing “led to sustained changes in the line managers’ knowledge about mental health and in their preparedness to take action on mental health issues”. The training was found to work equally well delivered face to face or electronically.

This confirms earlier research carried out by the ´Centre for Mental Health (2015) which found that and Evaluation of 132 managers showed that training in managing mental wellbeing was still having an impact 8  months after the training, with managers more willing to engage with a staff member with a mental health problem and more confident in supporting them in the workplace.

Enabling line managers to manage mental wellbeing effectively, produces organisation wide benefits, in terms of lower levels of presenteeism and sickness absence combined with higher levels of productivity. Consequently, if you were going to do one thing to improve overall mental wellbeing, training your managers would be the thing to do.

 

Are you Confident That Your Managers Can Maintain Team Mental Wellbeing?

 

Having managers who are knowledgeable about mental wellbeing, who can support employees in need is essential. Having managers who can also create a team environment that manages the negative impact of organisational factors and promote positive wellbeing gives you the best chance of maintaining employee mental wellbeing and productivity during these uncertain times.

 

Cognoscenti offer ‘Positive About Mental Wellbeing’ training (virtually or face-to-face) based on positive psychology and the research evidence about what works, to help managers understand the key components of mental wellbeing that they need to influence. We also train them to not only focus on supporting those employees with mental wellbeing issues but also to focus on keeping employees who are well, thriving, through managing psychosocial stressors and creating a team atmosphere that facilitates positive mental wellbeing. Maintaining the mental wellbeing of employees who are currently thriving is going to be a crucial element of managing teams during the covid 19.

 

This training is suitable for anyone who manages staff and can be delivered as a half day course or a full day. The full day builds some of the softer skills around listening and empathy. It also includes training managers to support employees who are off sick, because of mental wellbeing issues and to facilitate effective returns to work.

 

The training sessions can accommodate up to 20 participants for a set fee, making them very affordable. The research suggests that investing in training managers to manage mental wellbeing is one of the best ways to start improving mental wellbeing and is likely to give a good financial return on your investment.

 

If you would like to find out more or would just like an informal chat, ring me on = 07771 870 547 or email me on = sharon@cognoscenti.uk.com.

Recent Testimonials Include:

 

“It was quite enlightening and gave you tools on what to look out for. Thank you, Sharon for an enjoyable course”.

 “I really like Sharon’s style of training – she is very knowledgeable and makes you feel at ease”. National Education Union staff “The ad hoc feedback is that they found it incredibly useful at all levels and after 20 years in HR I don’t often say I learned a lot, but today I got some new perspectives which I will be using. Many thanks for taking the time to go through this with us it was super useful.” Joe McTiern