Lessons for Leaders

"Wellbeing" is one of the hottest words in business today as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic

As we are in World Wellbeing Week – I've been talking to individuals and companies who are looking for further support because their plans are not necessarily having the impact they desire

Today I'm sharing the key themes I'm hearing from companies that I talk to.

• How they are looking at more strategic plans
• The top areas of focus for managers
• The one worry that organisations have coming up.

I don't need to remind you that the effects of the pandemic has changed people's lives over the last 15 months.

The massive shift to home working, exacerbated stress, mental health issues but there's also been some positives.

There's no doubt that things have been difficult.

I'm now seeing that organisations are wanted to get a better approach to what they're doing.

These are the key themes I'm hearing from companies that I talk to.

These are predominantly in Professional Services, Law, Financial areas, but also Tech, and education are common areas I talk to too.

Dealing with Change

The continuous change we've had over the last 15 months has been hard for people.

Listen to me explain more about that.

Make sure managers are equipped to help people deal with change.

How to Talk to People

This is no joke. People are saying to me – I don't know how to respond. I don't know what to say when someone does say they're struggling.

So organisations have done a great piece of work to get their people to come forward and say they're struggling because there's been focus on it.

Do your managers feel comfortable having conversations with people about their mental health? Consider training and guidance to increase their confidence.

Support the Supporters

Whether it'senior leaders, HR department, MHFA or whatever, ensure you have support in there to help those who need it.

Listen to me explain what I mean by this and how you can ensure this is in your organisation.

Be Strategic

We spent time doing sticking plaster workshops and plugging gaps reactively throughout covid – and that's totally understandable – and was needed.

Now though, organisations are moving away from reactive and being pro-active in looking strategically at their overall wellbeing plan.

Revisit my 7 steps to wellbeing episode for more detail about how to do this and listen in to this episode for a short recap.

Coaching and Training

Are your managers equipped to have conversations in an effective way, to go about the management in the right way? Ensure they are trained to have the right behaviours to nurture trust-based relationships with team members.

Healthy Boundaries in a Hybrid World

The companies I'm working with are investing in support for healthy boundaries because they are seeing that working hours are merging into the evenings and weekends, leaving their employees struggling to switch off or feeling under pressure.

As we bring in hybrid working it's important to ensure you're supporting your people with tools and techniques to maintain healthy work boundaries.

If you'd like to discuss how you can

1. enhance your company wellbeing plan
2. discuss virtual and in person training options
3. ensure your leaders are on board to support the Workplace Wellbeing

Message me directly on [email protected] or visit www.emmalangton.com

Who do you go to for support? This is so important now, since we've been moving through lockdown and our support networks have been restricted. So this week I'm talking about how to strengthen your support network.

When we have people we can talk to and reach out to for support it lessens the load of what we are going through.

It also boosts our mood and feel good chemicals

This week I'm sharing how I get people on all my workshops thinking about support networks differently. How support has benefitted me personally and How you can think about gaps in your network

Dictionary definition of support network "a group of people who provide emotional and practical help to someone in serious difficulty"

I believe they don't have to be in serious difficult – it's important to have a support network at all times.

When we were going through the adoption process they asked about our support network. We had to detail it out and it was something I'd never thought about before.

Listen in as I explain the differences I found with my support network during the adoption process and later life.

Find out who has been the most supportive person for me with great supportive qualities such as:

Listening

Not dismissing things

Sharing a story

Helping me feel it wasn't just me

Listen to the things I did when I realised I needed more support for adoption and later when I retrained too and why I felt compelled to do those things.

I really understand the value of support.

So today I want you to think about who is in your support network.

When I deliver my training on resilience, mental health, challenging conversations all of them have a section about your support network.

When we have people we can talk to and reach out for support it lessons the load of what we are going through – just like I did with the adoption support group. You don't have to explain, they just get it.

These are the common areas I look at with people and you can hear on the podcast more info around these too to help you consider if you need to strengthen the support there.

Family

Friends

Colleagues or Co-workers

Manager or other leader

Mentor or coach? (and listen in for the difference between a mentor and a coach)

Spiritual

Community

Many studies show that the primary factor in resilience is having caring and supportive relationships within and outside the family. Relationships that create love or trust and provide role models and offer encouragement and reassurance often help boost a person's resilience.

Loneliness can take a toll on both mental and physical wellbeing. Having meaningful relationships through a support network helps us feel connected and valued as well as being able to learn from each other and feel that we're not alone – even when surrounded by people we can feel alone if we feel like no-one understands or is not on our wave-length.

Who is in your support network and what types of support could they offer you. If you're not getting the types of support you need, consider where this could come from.

Please do make sure you hit 'subscribe' so that don't miss an episode.

If you haven't yet left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

If you want to increase your performance so that you're more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] . Or head over to my website contact page and either send me an email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people's diaries.

When morale is low it's really difficult to get people involved and motivated and can feel like pushing boulders up hill. So how do you boost morale in your team without is costing a fortune?

Listen into the episode where I share about

Spotting the signs and circumstances What you can do about low morale An example of a client I worked with Why you need to find out what's really going on, rather than guessing Several ways you can boost morale in your teams without it costing a fortune.

Differing schedules could hamper projects and delay work because colleagues may struggle to meet and communicate plans.

Listen to the varied list of things that you might be able to spot or identify in your team or workplace so that you can begin to look at the levels of morale.

"When we listen (and really listen) to what's going on in the workplace we can then get to the route of the problems rather than just guessing."

"You (or whoever is doing this) needs to listen and be like a detective. They're looking for clues and info that will lead them to the solution."

Let people know that you hear them is the next stage to boosting morale. All this takes is time and feedback. I share on the podcast words and phrases you can use that help with this.

Then encourage engagement so that you raise productivity levels.

Listen in for a little exercise you can do that demonstrates how mood can lift us or drag us down.

"mood is contagious and it can have a ripple effect if people are fed up and miserable"

Celebrate Achievements!

This doesn't have to be a big aware ceremony! Small regular things like people's birthday, successes, individual efforts go a long way to boost morale.

I talk too about how corridor coaching and building trust by small powerful conversations help boost morale as well as enhancing performance and deepening knowledge.

Many orgs I work with already have a great wellbeing plan but bringing in someone like me to delivery training that is needed, supported, informative and helpful is a great way to help them to help themselves. That way you show you care, they see that you care and as long as you're walking your talk then there's a universal message coming across.

No point saying organise this and that, and then sending emails at ridiculous times of night or expecting people to be in on their day off or

No point working all through your holiday and telling them to take time off when you've given them massive targets and things to achieve.

That's where the training for healthy boundaries or resilience is important right now. To help them cope with hybrid working and getting back to whatever the state of play is for now.

Please do make sure you hit 'subscribe' so that don't miss an episode.

If you haven't yet left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE https://emmalangton.activehosted.com/f/20

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you're more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] . Or head over to my website at http://www.emmalangton.com and you can find the contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people's diary.

After the last year of pandemic, lockdowns and firefighting, this is the perfect time for you to revisit your vision.

On this podcast episode I explain why you need to revisit your vision and the where it can be helpful for you, your team, your business and your future.

When I was delivering a resilience workshop last week there were lots of people saying they've lost their mojo. This is why revisiting our vision is key to giving ourselves meaning and direction; it's what pushes us forward. This gives us the reason to get up in a morning.

Research says when you're engaged and have purpose, life becomes easier, less complicated and less stressful.

By focusing our attention externally, and giving us a constant source of activity to channel our mental energies into, purpose means that we spend less immersed in the associational chatter of our minds — the chatter which often triggers negative thoughts and feelings.

Listen in for more detail on the reasons it's a good thing to revisit your vision and a brief summary of how you can do this.

I share the detail behind my vision, that drives my purpose and motivates me each day - so listen in if you're as nosey as me and want to know a snippet of the story behind my business.

Finally, recognise that many leaders often struggle with being able to visualise that vision, which is why in my workshops I walk them through a visualisation to be able to get really clear on their vision and the reasons why it's so powerful.

I'd love to know what your vision is so drop me an email to [email protected] and let me know.

If you want to ask any questions or get some help and advice, let me know that too.

Please do make sure you hit 'subscribe' so that don't miss an episode.

If you haven't yet left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you're more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] . Or head over to my website at http://www.emmalangton.com and you can find the contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people's diary.

This week I speak to Kelly Dunn. Kelly is a Scarborough based recruiter and is also one of the top 5 consultants in the UK for permanent recruitment. She is an expert recruiter who sources top talent for temporary, permanent and fixed-term contract roles across many sectors, including: Accountancy and Finance, HR, Office Support, Marketing, IT, Construction and Engineering.

Kelly recently conducted a survey about the effects of the pandemic on the businesses across north and east Yorkshire and we talk a little bit about what she found interesting. Kelly found that what she had expected from the survey was actually very different in the results - 'Inspirational' and 'optimistic' are key words found in her explanation of her results.

We also discuss the types of resilience support there is at the moment for employees. What kind of support networks do employees have available for themselves? Looking after ourselves during the pandemic is incredibly important so you should try and find what kind of support you are missing, and how you can fill that gap in.

Accessibility is going to be an important part of the business world moving forward. Why should businesses only hire people in their area when the talent pool can be much larger to grab from? With a 'working from home' policy, more people will be able to work to a much higher efficiency.

We discuss more of the statistics that Kelly learnt from her survey. Listen more on the podcast to hear how this may relate to you or your business.

You can find Kelly at:

Website: https://kdrecruitment.co.uk/

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyannedunn

Kelly's White Paper: https://bit.ly/2RNfZGw

Please do make sure you hit 'subscribe' so that don't miss an episode.

If you haven't yet left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

If you want to increase your performance so that you're more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] . Or head over to my website contact page and either send me an email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people's diaries.

After mental health awareness week last week, I'm talking today about how to keep the focus on mental health going throughout the entire year.

Now, if you're wondering (or even groaning) at the thought of having this on your to-do list all year round, it doesn't have to be like that.

• Get employees to know you're taking MH seriously
• Easy ways to make that happen
• Key ways to ensure you're walking the talk
• A terrible example of support – so that you don't make that mistake
• What your plan should include

We do have to recognise that mental health needs a continued focus because it is the leading cause of sickness absence in the workplace.

Therefore, with the pandemic highlighting the issue and workplaces opening up more it is not surprising that employers are starting to look more closely at the crucial role they play in supporting the wellbeing of their staff.

We know employers come in all shapes and sizes, with different working practices and environments. all organisations, whatever their size, will be:

• equipped with the awareness and tools to both address and prevent mental ill-health which is caused or worsened by work
• equipped to support people with a mental health condition to thrive, from recruitment and throughout the organisation
• aware of how to get access to timely help to reduce sickness absence caused by mental ill health.

I talk to companies who I can often split into two groups

1. Have wellbeing plans in place but then struggling to find dedicated targeted support for specific areas such as stress, burnout, sleep, financial.
2. Have bits and pieces of ideas and activities but no clear plan pulling things together.

Now, before we go on, I want to congratulate everyone who has things in place because there are still a ton of companies who haven't even started.

In addition, HR and leaders are often doing these plans in addition to their usual role, although it's great to see some companies having specific wellbeing leads and separate roles, not everyone has the ability.

If you want to talk to me about ideas, plugging the gaps, meeting the specific needs of your company, enhancing daily, weekly, monthly behaviours and embedding into organisational value so that you are getting a strategy, policies or plans sorted, then please do get in touch. Looking at overarching strategies has been something I've done for a long time, since back in my corporate days, so I'm happy to help.

How do we get employees to know that the focus on mental health is serious?

Start with focus groups (I can run these for you) or surveys. Find out how people are, what they need. Designing your plan with input from employees boosts buy-in and gives you a clearer idea of the support they might need. Building your plan with input from employees from across the organisation builds their commitment to supporting their own mental health and that of their colleagues. Trust and integrity are key drivers of engagement.

Train your managers with how to confidently have conversations with your people so that 1;1's actually do take place regularly and when they do, they are effective, not just paying lip service. If you're back in the office, these can be on the move, out of the office / workplace environment and often get to the crux of the matter more quickly too.

Walk the talk. Encouraging staff to work sensible hours, take full lunch breaks, rest and recuperate after busy periods, avoid working at weekends and take their full annual leave entitlement can all help avoid burnout. AND make sure you do that yourself. There's a ton of benefits of demonstrating this but also in delegating, and trust your teams when you're not there (which is in my plan for future podcast episodes).

What's available? When your people highlight a struggle what do you do? You might have had my training on confident conversation and spotting issues, but then what? Your mental health at work plan should detail what support is available to employees if they are experiencing poor mental health whether it is due to problems inside or outside of work.

Listen in for my story of a terrible experience with an EAP.

I talked previously about the 7 steps to winning wellbeing plan, and in order to create a positive culture where people feel able to talk about their mental health. Make sure your plan is formally written down and will show your current and future employees that you care about their wellbeing.

For expert guidance and support for employers who want to support their staff's mental health. Please contact me.

often, employees are scared to talk to their manager and problems can spiral. Your action plan should aim to raise awareness of mental health by:

• embedding mental health in induction and training
• celebrating key dates in the mental health calendar
• running internal communication campaigns

Senior leaders should promote employee wellbeing by:

• speaking out about mental health
• supporting a campaign to encourage all staff to take lunch breaks and work healthy hours

When staff feel involved and well informed about what's happening in the organisation, it increases motivation and helps people understand how their role fits into the bigger picture. Your action plan should set out how you will involve staff by using methods such as: • staff surveys and focus groups • staff forums and diversity networks • engagement steering groups • monthly or quarterly performance review meetings

Your mental health plan should outline ways in which you provide staff with learning and development opportunities including: • coaching • training

hold 'lunch and learn' sessions' – these are a great way to support staff to take their full lunch break away from their desk

Organisations need to send a clear signal to staff that their mental health matters

Please do make sure you hit 'subscribe' so that don't miss an episode.

If you haven't yet left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you're more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] . Or head over to my website at http://www.emmalangton.com

This week, I share my interview Scott McLennan. Scott is a Regional Manager at Santander, and has been in that career for 12 years. Scott came on the podcast to share his thoughts on how leaders should be striving for balance, and how leaders should be more willing to show vulnerability in order to show others that they can be open.

This episode discusses how emotion in the workplace can have a 'domino effect' upon the other members of your team, and then onto your client.

Scott finds that with his position in the company, and the responsibilities that it holds, it is important that he is authentic as it is extremely important to his team of 165 people.

The world isn't perfect at the moment, and it can feel like the hierarchical status of businesses have plateaued; like everybody is now on the same level at the moment.

Scott shares a story about this in which he shared some of his stories of failure with his colleagues, and how they felt that he was more a person instead of a title, after the fact. Being truthful in the workplace as a leader can help with performance.

We also discuss motivation in the workplace. Motivation can be a difficult thing to find while in the workplace, but we share some of our own ways to keep motivated and happy, even in times of difficulty - 'It is so important to keep doing positive things, even if you don't have to, because it helps you feel much more energised'

Listen to the podcast to hear this and more as we delve deeper into boundaries! A topic that I love talking about.

You can find Scott McLennan on his LinkedIn profile:

http://linkedin.com/in/scott-mclennan-97a6a627

Please do make sure you hit 'subscribe' so that don't miss an episode.

If you haven't yet left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you're more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] . Or head over to my website contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people's diary.

Enhancing Mental Health Support is hugely important to our psychological and emotional health.

With the effects of lockdown we've been missing out on nature and dealing with additional stressful situations in our life.

In this podcast I talk about

What Mental Health Is.

Why do we want good mental health?

In a life and work environment it helps people cope with stresses of life and it means people have meaningful contributions to the workplace, to their life and their family.

I've been sharing ideas of how individuals or organisations can create a week of nature activities across Mental Health Awareness Week.

Listen in for these tips and ideas or get in touch to get a copy of the ideas that you can implement. These can be for the workplace, for individuals or for your family.

This week I'm sharing my top 6 ways to support someone who is stressed.

I'm often asked, how do I get someone to see they're stressed?

What can I do to help them?

I'm sharing the reason why other people often notice stress levels before you do.

The differences between men and women when they're stressed

6 key ways to support someone when they are saying they're 'fine', just busy or whatever else.

In my private coaching (and hypnotherapy) I get wives contacting me all the time saying my hubby needs help, my hubby needs to see you. The thing is that we can only help people who want help themselves - or who SEE that they are stressed.

Listen in for information about how stress builds up over time and my real life example with the reasons why we don't always see stress building in ourselves.

Maybe you've already tried to persuade them to do traditional things like take a holiday, let someone else do that work, switch off early – or even at a regular time.

So what can you do instead? Listen in for the 6 ways I explain you can support someone who is stressed

1. Recognise
2. Be Available
3. Listen
4. Normalise
5. Encourage Activities
6. Have Fun

Each of these ways to support someone when they're stressed will increase the soothing, feel good chemicals and ensure that these people know that you're there for them.

Give it a go and let me know how you get on or if you have any questions!

Please do make sure you hit 'subscribe' so that don't miss an episode.

If you haven't yet left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you're more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] . Or head over to my website at http://www.emmalangton.com and you can find the contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people's diary.

With stress awareness month running through April, I'm talking today about why Stress Awareness in the workplace is still needed.

Even though we might think we are all aware of stress, according to the Mental health Foundation 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point over the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.

I've been busy with my stress awareness workshops and stress awareness support packs so this week I'm sharing information about the pack so that you can learn

• What I include
• Why I decided to develop a stress awareness pack
• Key things to be included

And listen right to the end for a very special offer.

With stress awareness month running through April, organisations are using this as a focus for their wellbeing workshops to support their people, reduce stress and improve performance.

The pack includes different elements of support, information, tips and activities so that you can embed the learning about stress, symptoms and causes so that your employees learn to identify stress early, in themselves and others, and enable them to be proactive in managing their issues.

If you listen right to the end, I'll be popping in a discount code at the end for every listener.

The people I speak to e.g. Jo at a law firm told me was that they are time poor and wanted done for you wellbeing resources from a trustworthy source. They didn't just want to go to google they wanted curated content that they can rely on.

Bob at Tech company - they want to deliver programmes to their people that are tried and tested and have a proven impact. They also wanted information and resources that people can come back to time and again and have on hand, on their intranet and wellbeing area exactly when their people needed them.

It's for busy HR consultants and business leaders who haven't got time to research, learn and deliver information about stress awareness.

It's for people who want to augment their stress awareness activities.

Tackling the early signs and symptoms of stress via a complete employer wellbeing programme is simply good business practice. Not only should it help to prevent long term absences due to stress but by putting in place real solutions to tackle the problem, employees will undoubtedly feel more valued too.

If you're looking to implement initiatives around stress awareness in the workplace and want to be able to keep the momentum going throughout 2021 and beyond then the stress awareness pack has everything you need to do this yourself.

Create engagement, improve understanding and share your commitment to raising awareness across your entire workplace in a fun and informative way.

Support to Promote Stress Awareness:

• Ways to promote the awareness and ideas to encourage participation so that there is a positive impact on employees which reduces stress absence, presenteeism and staff turnover.
• Instructions that you can simply print, copy and paste so that you're able to implement the stress awareness activities with your employees without getting stressed about it yourself!

Stress Awareness Fact Sheets and Checklists :

• Easy to identify aspects to look for so that you can identify areas of stress within the workplace and key identifiers to look for so that you can eliminate workplace or people issues and improve performance, reduce attrition and ensure you maintain top performers.
• A stress management checklist so that managers and HR can survey the workforce and gauge levels of stress in your workplace so that you know where to target improvements for better performance and work relationships which improve employee happiness and wellbeing.
• Signposting for national resources, helpline and websites so that managers can direct people to support or display posters in the office, on your intranet and newsletters.

Stress Reducing Tools, Tips and Techniques:

• A guided relaxation plan that can be used in a group or individually to aid rest and recovery from stressful situations.
• A breathing technique that will enhance a pause in the individual and calm down the internal nervous system.
• Other tools and techniques to choose from that are proven to reduce stress and enhance focus and improve performance.

Stress Awareness Activities:

• A quiz to share knowledge, learn and provide interactive learning in a fun way that also embeds information firmly in employees minds.
• 30 activities so that you can provide tips and tools across your chosen timeframe (usually a month) so that effective strategies can be learned so that stress can be more easily managed and controlled
• Five discussion topics so that you can implement opportunities for conversations in the workplace. This will ensure that you raise awareness and understanding and reduce the stigma of talking about stress.

Listen to the podcast for more information about exactly what's included and how it's helpful for your organisation.

Listen right to the end for a special offer for all my listeners to get a fabulous discount code to apply to your own pack.

Please do make sure you hit 'subscribe' so that don't miss an episode.

If you haven't yet left a review, please do go and find the little button to leave a review and let me know your thoughts, key take-aways and what you value from the podcast.

Join my corporate leadership and wellbeing newsletter HERE

If you want to be increasing your performance so that you're more resilient in these current times, so that you can focus easily, use tools and techniques to deal with all the current and unknown challenges then make sure that you either drop me an email to [email protected] . Or head over to my contact page and either send me a email from there or book an appointment straight into my diary – saving all that to-ing and fro-ing that you get when we try to get space in people's diary.