Following a survey about what topics employees would like covered in the 2023 training calendar, themes like: resilience, developing boundaries, being my best with change, how to prevent burnout and dealing with stress, began to emerge. The client wanted participants to identify and reflect on their own experiences, any challenges they face, and materials presented. They hoped participants would gain an increased knowledge and understanding of resilience and the importance of boundaries to work/life balance. Also, they wanted participants to be equipped with a toolkit to apply to their mental wellbeing both at work and at home. They were hoping for interactive, engaging sessions with the opportunity for small group work/tabletop exercises.

The solution ‘Thriving at Work’ was delivered in 2 stages, the first stage being a resilience overview session for all and the second stage being deep dive sessions, where smaller groups focused on building resilience and learning a toolkit for managers.  

The face to face overview session for 40-50 participants lasted between 2-2.5 hours and was designed completely bespoke, tailored specifically to meet the needs of the UK team. It was interactively facilitated, addressing the prioritised needs:  

• Regaining/encouraging healthy work-life balance 
• Creating and maintaining boundaries 
• Managing stress and anxiety 

The workshop was designed to be informative, engaging, energetic and practical, providing a framework of robust models and easily applied tools so that each employee could take something away to use immediately, by themselves or with their teams.   

We then designed and delivered face to face ‘Deep Dive’ sessions which lasted between 1.5-2 hours for 8-10 participants. These were aimed at participants who would like to focus further on a specific aspect and provided intimate workshops which will go into the topic in much more depth and provide increased understanding and more tools to apply straight away. These workshops gave opportunities for discussion and sharing as well as hands-on activity in the topic. The participants were limited in number to create a safe and highly interactive space. Our key topics were: Building Resilience (growth mindset, emotional control, self-care, optimism and self-belief) and a Manager’s Toolkit. 

The content of the resilience overview workshop scored a rating of 4/5 (with 5 being the most positive). On average, participants felt they were likely to be able to apply the content shared in the workshop with colleagues or team(s) they support. 

The participants rated the deep dive workshops as 4/5 in terms of how relevant they were (5 being most relevant). 

Some additional comments include:  

“The approach to resilience was quite helpful and help me to understand the methodology” 

“The size of the groups in both sessions were perfect and the length of the course”  

The workshops to all level of employees were well received. Reinforcement and follow up actions will be taken internally to encourage healthy work-life balance, create and maintain boundaries at work, and manage stress and anxiety. After being equipped with the appropriate tools and learning a common language to discuss these sorts of important topics, this client’s culture is enabling their employees to thrive at work.  

Management Dynamics developed a really engaging solution for our requirements which stemmed from a need of returning to office in the post pandemic world. Our employees needed something more than being told to ‘go for a walk/exercise more/make time for themselves!’. Our needs were thoroughly explored whilst the program was being designed and the Management Dynamics team were responsive in finding content and a proposition that fitted our ambitions.

The topic was handled in a balanced way with the approach of supporting positive change, making it clear that both the employer and employee had a responsibility for creating a working environment where everyone can thrive. Through the managers toolkit, we approached the topic of how managers open a discussion with their team members and colleagues on mental health & wellbeing. We look forward to seeing the progress and longer-term impact that the Thriving at Work programme will have had on our team. It has certainly put the Wellbeing topic at the top of our agenda for the future.