What are you personally responsible for when it comes to psychosocial hazards?

Over the centuries individuals and communities have fought for safety, equity and opportunity in the workplace. Whether in the form of laws restricting child labour in the early part of the 20th century, legislation supporting a 40-hour work week in the middle of the previous century or ongoing reforms to address sexual harassment, as a society we are continually evolving, with the aim of creating safer, more productive and more equitable workplaces, organisations and communities.

The impact of the global pandemic and working from home, as well as industry, relationship and workplace breakdowns, have made this even more evident. The speed of change and uncertainty has impacted us all in some way, physically, mentally or both. And now the impact and costs of psychosocial hazards and a decline in mental wellbeing are front of mind for leaders, employees and boards.

Why is psychological safety and mental wellbeing important – even critical – now?

• Organisations and teams are more successful and profitable when employees are healthy and feel safe and inspired.
• As corporate citizens and employers we want to provide safe and happy work environments from an ethical and moral perspective.
• With new legislation being introduced, directors, executive members and board managers, as well as leaders generally, can be held personally and financially liable for the psychological safety of their employees.

For decades, leaders have discussed the importance of great leadership, strong engagement, inclusive cultures and so on. But, too often, when crunch times comes and budgets are tight, money is diverted from people support, such as training, development or wellbeing initiatives, to profit support involving new infrastructure, new salespeople or automation.

But now, the cost of not investing in people can no longer be avoided for organisations, as well as for the individuals leading those organisations.

And the solution is clear – hire, train, develop, retain and promote strong leaders. But developing leaders needs to be more than just rhetoric and telling people what they should do. We need to teach and train people how to be great leaders.

Consider the way that weight loss programs such as Noom, Weight Watchers and the CSIRO program are essential to teach people how to lose weight. We all know to eat fruit rather than fries and to go for a walk rather than binge Netflix with popcorn, yet obesity and health issues associated with excess weight are costing society billions of dollars every year. We know what we have to do but we just don’t know how!

Like the effects of obesity, poor leadership, poor cultures and poor communication are costing organisations billions each year in lost productivity and profit. But now, poor leadership may also cost individual directors and executives their careers and assets.

This is why Peeplcoach was launched – to democratise access to leadership development and coaching to build more effective and profitable organisations by building strong leaders.

By targeting emerging and developing leaders Peeplcoach is allowing new and future leaders to build their leadership potential and skills before they become expensive toxic leaders.

Peeplcoach works by combining:

• on-demand, bite-sized training content to develop technical competency
• practical, on-the-job, real play exercises to build relevance and practical understanding
• 1:1 coaching to create self-awareness and insight, and to clear obstacles in a safe environment
• group coaching to share learnings and build collaboration across cohorts and teams
• an accessible and scalable model that allows organisations to implement change en masse.

With programs starting from $99 per person per month can you afford not to find out more about how Peeplcoach programs can train leaders who can build profitable, psychologically safe and productive businesses?

Sources:

1. https://www.vgso.vic.gov.au/new-psychological-health-regulations-victorian-employers-are-expected-commence-year
2. https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/managing-health-and-safety/mental-health