Multi Sector
Stressful Situations Profile
Managers and teams can build a profile of stressful situations affecting them. Stress prevention and if-then planning tools can then be used to minimise the risk of stress.
Field of Expertise
Work-related stress
Expertise
My core expertise is in the field of work-related stress and mental health - working with organisations, managers and teams to more effectively manage stress risks at work. My primary focus is on prevention and proactive approaches. As a business psychologist and director of mental health services, I've worked in this field for more than 20 years. My clients include organisations such as the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), BAE Systems and easyJet. Many organisations have good support structures such as Occupational Health and Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs), and some provide stress management and resilience training. Few however have a coherent approach to managing stress risks at work. This despite HSE having launched the Management Standards approach back in 2004 and the need, legally, for all organisations to take steps to minimise risks to health and wellbeing at work. It's all too reactive and nowhere near proactive enough. And it's is costing organisations a fortune, with issues only being addressed at an individual level, when it's already too late with employees off long-term with stress, anxiety or depression. My career has been dedicated to addressing this imbalance, to enable better stress prevention, and in particular to enable managers to prevent and reduce stress at work. I developed a set of tools and management training to make stress risk management much easier for managers and teams. These tools can be used in any size of organisation. Previously such tools were either not available or were inappropriate for managers and teams. An example of an inappropriate tool is a survey or questionnaire, which just provides a very general indication or snapshot and does not work well with smaller groups when people can easily be identified. A different approach is needed. My tools enable managers and teams solve two key problems, around: (1) profiling, and (2) planning. The first problem is around building a profile of stressful situations affecting a team or area. This profile needs to show quickly which stressful situations are most important, what sorts of stress problem they are, and the impact they are having on employee wellbeing. The second is around planning; what is going to be done to address those situations or enable better coping and support when they occur, to minimise risk to the wellbeing of team members. I developed planning tools to enable idea generation, the development and implementation of stress management plans, and the evaluation and review of plans. One specific and growing stress risk is linked to remote, lone and home working. I have developed specific tools and training to help managers manage risks to wellbeing linked to those increasingly frequent work patterns. I provide a range of consultancy services to organisations including around the development and implementation of stress and mental health policies, assessment and management of stress risks across the organisation, and the benchmarking of organisational and mental health performance. I developed a best practice framework, which many of my clients have used to develop an improved, 'whole organisation' approach to managing stress and mental health at work. It is becoming increasingly clear that boards will need to be more accountable for their organisation's mental health performance and the management of associated risks. They will also need to report on their performance to improve transparency. Increasingly, they will need to access expertise on stress and mental health and will look for non-execs with with appropriate skills, knowledge and experience. Currently, I provide this expertise as a director and trustee of a residential facility providing care for those with long-term mental health problems. I'm looking to provide this to other boards in the years to come. With some academic colleagues, I am looking more widely at issues of managing absence linked to common health problems such as musculoskeletal problems and stress, with a view to providing managers with a toolbox of approaches that enable recovery at work and/or a quicker return to work.