Why firms need to help push mental toughness - Sue Jefferson

Companies are actively developing wellbeing policies and initiatives – but for most, the emphasis is on responding to issues instead of preventing them.

Six out of 10 people say their mental health issues are work related; we’ve all come across the anxiety caused by restructures and redundancies, task overload, the pressure to deliver, or felt compromised by ruthless colleagues or an ineffective line manager.

These are common aspects of working life and unlikely to disappear – but if left unchecked, low-level anxiety can escalate to stress, and in turn develop into deeper mental health concerns.

Employers who want to keep staff working well, as well as retain and attract talent, need to head off problems before symptoms escalate. With 70 million work days lost each year in the UK due to mental health problems, costing employers around £2.4 billion, it also makes financial sense.

I would recommend replacing traditional development training with personal development training for everyone. It need not cost extra but will offer targeted and sustainable skills to help employees develop the mental toughness to overcome workplace challenges before they become a real problem.

Topics such as building resilience, enabling critical conversations, and thriving with change have been labelled as “softer skills” but in reality they are “smarter skills”. Organisations who offer training on how to develop these not only have a culture of mental wellbeing but also see tangible benefits.

An example of how these smarter skills can be offered as part of a positive Mental Toughness development programme is what I call POSSE tools – Purpose; Openness; Self-Belief; Support and Energy. Develop these and we can control our response to the circumstances we find ourselves in, as opposed to feeling circumstances control us.

Purpose – our reason for working drives us. Keeping this front of mind motivates us when things are tough. It’s also bigger than any obstacle, so setbacks are merely that – something to find a way around.

Openness – letting go of ‘our way being the only way’ can be difficult – but moving out of our comfort zone by sitting in a different place during a meeting can be expanded into saying yes to an opportunity at work, or making an effort to be open to new ideas.

Self-Belief – we all have self-limiting beliefs but addressing them is quite possible and very powerful. Cut the negative self-talk and chat instead about the positive, about our great bits. Hearing from others about the strengths they see in us, builds collaboration among teams too.

Support – resolving what is missing enables us to thrive in what we do, as does leveraging our untapped network. Establish mentoring or sponsoring programmes, and encourage people to ask what is missing rather than what’s wrong… it’s easier to right something that’s missing – and the process is empowering.

Energy – like the phrase ‘secure your own oxygen mask first,’ we need to prioritise self-care. It’s not selfish. It’s far more logical to first energise ourselves if we are to meaningfully respond to family and colleagues’ needs. Setting aside me-time is invaluable.

In parallel with supportive mental health strategies, I would urge companies to offer all employees a continuous personal development programme in “smarter skills”. Make sure it’s facilitated as a safe environment and offers practical tools that employees can try out using real life challenges then immediately put to use in their work.

Demonstrably protecting and nurturing wellbeing creates a more understanding and open culture in which workers feel supported. Businesses benefit from engaged employees, higher talent retention and greater agility, which all lead to them outperforming their competition and being well positioned to anticipate and respond to future opportunities. A real win-win for all.