Mental Health Awareness Week: Creating a Workplace “Community”

Mental Health Awareness Week - 12-18 May

Businesses thrive when their workforces thrive. This means having colleagues who are engaged, motivated and who feel connected to their teams and the business as a whole. This is not always easy to achieve – people’s lives are complicated, and outside pressures can often spill into the workplace; the pressures of management and business uncertainty can impact morale. We know that “good work” is “good” for mental health and wellbeing; however, what are some of the barriers and challenges to creating a strong workplace community and how can leaders and people teams have a positive impact?

The challenges

There’s no “I” in TEAM (but there is a “ME”)

There is a challenge in forging strong teams and relationships between consistency and prescription and allowing individuals space and autonomy. One of the keys to creating workplace communities is allowing room for different views to be shared whilst setting clear expectations and boundaries which encourage team cohesion. This can be done through clear policies and processes which are consistently applied across an organisation, but also by allowing safe avenues where voices can be heard and by giving agency to those voices. For example, do managers have an open mindset, keen to hear about different ways of managing a process? Are your managers confident to allow another’s view to be heard – or be considered? Does the business encourage innovation and development by allowing new ideas to be raised?

Isolation

When you read about the top HR trends, most will talk about employee isolation as being a key issue. Not wishing to wade into the remote/office working debate - I can see pros and cons in each argument - one must accept that for some, working remotely may not be conducive to creating a sense of belonging and community. That said, many workers who work on a site, a factory or in an office can also feel isolated by colleagues, their manager or the general culture of a business. One’s place of work is not the only factor in what creates a feeling of isolation. Isolation impacts motivation and productivity, encourages “silent quitting”, as well as negatively impacting one’s mental health and wellbeing.

To foster a better sense of togetherness, businesses could consider initiatives such as rearranging the office space to create a more “collaborative” feel, asking those who work remotely to feedback on their experiences, create digital forums, getting more talk time together, coffee mornings or team tea breaks. Also, ensure managers are aware of what is going on in their teams – are people disengaged, what is attendance like, is someone being left out? Managers play a key role in ensuring isolation does not go unchecked.

Poor communication

Another barrier to community is often poor communication: colleagues feeling left out or that decisions are being made for them and not with them. This is not to say that managers have to consult staff on every decision (except of course, where legally required to do so!), but can businesses adopt a more collegiate approach to information sharing? Monthly newsletters, shout-outs, and townhalls are all good examples of businesses sharing information about what is going on. Managers too should think about how they communicate with their teams. For example, is the approach on a “need to know” basis, are there special cliques which have formed or are managers as open as they can be with information? It is also important that your managers have the confidence to give feedback – positive as well as constructive.

Feeling valued

Feeling valued is not, necessarily, about shaking the magic money tree for a pay rise. Yes, money is a motivator, but feeling valued is more, in my opinion. We also need to feel valued at whichever level we sit within an organisation – even our CEOs need to feel valued! Awards, individual and team recognition, celebrating success, a public “well done” – all of these create a sense of connection with our teams but also with the wider business.

Creating a workplace community – the opportunities

What practical steps can businesses take to create a safe and positive community at work?

Purpose and goals

How good is your organisation about explaining and demonstrating its purpose, mission-statement or goals? Talking the talk, but also walking the walk? Purpose and goals should be top down as well as bottom up. Businesses should have goals, but so too should teams and individuals. Individuals should be able to see, and also know, that what they are doing is making a difference because their goals align with the goals of the team/business.

Motivating by purpose is a strong engagement tool. When people feel that they are working towards something, they are more invested in it, they feel more engaged as well as connected. Consider reviewing your review or appraisal process to ensure it factors in the alignment of goals.

A good onboarding process

Let’s start as we mean to go on. Goals, values, fostering good and cohesive individual and team relationships all start with first impressions. Do you lavish your new recruit with adoration and a well-ordered induction or when the new recruit joins, is it a bit of a surprise? Yes, discussing handbooks, policies and a day-1 coffee is great but where are the check-ins, the reviews or the objective setting? Asking managers to share their plans, projects or current work can help a new recruit understand priorities and where they can make a difference. Remember, that as the government moves forward in passing the Employment Rights Bill, the onboarding and probation process will be under the spotlight with the planned changes to unfair dismissal rights, so something to work on now.

Engaged leaders

We expect much from our leaders and, to an extent, we should, their role after all is to “manage”. However, when did you last take the temperature of your management population? Managers are your business’s role models and ambassadors but are they engaged and motivated? Their lack of connection and community will have a negative impact on their teams. Things like investing in your management population through training and leadership development courses, creating safe channels where managers can meet and share ideas, looking for ways in which managers can collaborate are all great ways to ensure the ones who are encouraging connectivity also feel connected themselves.

Having fun

Spoiler alert: it is ok to enjoy where you work! We spend a lot of time at work, and it is important that we enjoy where we work and who we work with. Having fun doesn’t have to be big or extravagant – it could be in person or digitally. Think about internal networking events, “speed mentoring”, encouraging different groups to work together. There is much to celebrate so make this as much a part of the team culture as it is the businesses.

Building community

Whilst creating a workplace community is the focus for this year’s mental health week, it should not stop there. Building internal connections and a workplace community can bring longer term benefits to employees, managers and the overall wellbeing of the business. In challenging times, it is that sense of belonging that can bring people together – and businesses are no different.