It is too easy to become a ‘slave’ to your TV, car, mobile phone, computer, Sat Nav or any other technology, if you choose to. My car continually nags me to give it a service, put my seat belt on, etc. Several people have followed their Sat Nav to the village of Maiden Newton, when our address is Stratton, despite my warning them of this common error. The response is ‘it told me to go there’.

It is reported that some children are now so addicted to their phones that they imagine it is ringing, even when it’s not. What problems are we creating for future generations?

Many years ago, people had no choice about becoming slaves and were captured by slave masters. Are we becoming our own technology slave masters?

As human’s, we have that freedom of choice between stimulus and response. I believe it would be a great shame if we gave that up, especially to a silicon chip.

“Anyone who by his nature is not his own man, but is another’s, is by nature a slave”  Aristotle (384-322 BC)

Imagine trying to run your business without a short term memory! If you want to protect your memory longer term, it is vitally important to manage the mental wellbeing of yourself (and your employees) now.

The whole aspect of mental vitality has been in the media recently. Current research demonstrates that stimulating your mind with mental activities can delay or prevent the onset of dementia.  http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/287043/Simple-way-to-fight-off-dementia. Leontxo Garcia will be talking at the Mind Your Head Conference on the power of chess in this aspect.

The Sunday Times had two articles this week on the impact of stress, especially at business leader level and the need to build resilience.  http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/Appointments/article834366.ece

Delegates of our recent Mind Your Head workshops said that mental wellbeing had not been considered a priority with the other pressures they faced. Yet the hidden costs of not managing it are estimated at £15.1 billion a year in lost productivity in the UK. They identified actions they can take as managers to build resilience in their teams as:

• Let everyone have a voice and be listened to
• Use one-to-one meetings to allow people to express their concerns
• Educate people throughout the business on mental wellbeing

It is important to recognise that everyone goes through rough patches and to build the right culture where it is OK to ask for support.

We challenge you to make mental wellbeing everybody’s business and ensure your memory stays world class. Book your places now on the next thought provoking Mind Your Head series starting in February 2012 or on the fabulous Mind Your Head Conference next August. Contact us for details.

The conference aim was to celebrate World Mental Health Day and to highlight issues surrounding mental health in Dorset. I was disappointed by the low number of  private sector employers attending, as the speakers were inspirational in their courage and openness to talk about the impact of mental ill health, recovery and what stigma in the workplace meant to them.

Many people spend more time at work than they do with their family and so our behaviours as employers will have a major impact on the factors that can bring the onset of mental ill health. What surprised me was the extent of bullying in the workplace, especially by managers. This is something employers can do something to stop.

The most thought provoking aspect for me was the stigma and the impact that has on our behaviour towards people with mental ill health issues. The examples of media coverage of Frank Bruno’s illness were an eye opener. We will give sympathy to someone who has a broken leg or cancer, but how difficult do we find it to talk to someone returning to work after mental illness? One presentation slide was a collage of people who have had mental ill health and they included Winston Churchill, Isaac Newton, James Watt, W. H. Auden, Charles Darwin, Sir Edward Elgar, and many more eminent people. Yet this is not what they are remembered for.

It is not about the title Schizophrenia or Manic Depressive and the person getting lost behind this, it is about seeing the person as a fellow human being with a given diagnosis. How people retuning to work afterwards are handled by a company and the team will have a major impact on their recovery and likelihood of relapse.

Key words for recovery were engagement, empowerment and independence according to Terry Bowyer, who gave a brilliant speech about his experiences. Resilience was another recurring word, which comes from positive parenting. As employers, we can demonstrate the positive parent ego state, if we choose. We can provide hope that we can do our part to reduce the figure of 1 in 4 sufferers, or at least we are not contributing to this shameful figure in the 21^st century.

If you would like to do more for you and your team in maintaining mental wellbeing, then contact us about our Mind Your Head series or the Mind Your Head Challenge Conference next year.  Ultimately, businesses are run on brain power, so your mind does matter.

I am learning a lot more about myself in this process of training Hampie. (I didn’t choose the name!) and can see similarities with situations I see in the workplace.

Horses are amazing at giving instant and objective feedback. There are a lot of courses available teaching leadership using horses. I recommend Lisa Brice’s course www.horsesforcourses.co.uk, as I was astounded by the learning we all got from it and was impressed by Lisa’s professionalism.

Hampie has had a bad experience in the past, which has made him very fearful of the process. I need to be patient and understand those fears rather than get cross with him for misbehaving! It is important to get a balance between being firm and setting boundaries without being too hard on him and reinforcing his behaviours further. It is about engaging with him so he trusts me; and not showing any concerns I might have. Most importantly, I have to put my trust in him at that point of getting into the saddle. In his case, I have to let go of the reins completely and just do it.

When you are delegating to an employee, they too can be fearful. There is that same moment of trust when you have to let go of control and just do it. Trust, like respect seems a two way process. What interests me and I am trying to discover is what happens psychologically at that point of no return? What creates that final moment of trust – is it courage, faith or a random act of rashness?

• Do you trust your team and do they trust you?
• How do you measure that trust?
• What enables you to ‘let go’ at that moment of trust
• How much do you let go and delegate?

Please let me know your answers to these questions or any comments you have on trust

Similarly, your employees commit themselves each day to a leap of faith that you, their employer, have a clear ‘flight plan’ or strategy, you know the direction you are taking the business in, and that you have the skills, expertise, equipment and processes to take them there.

During the flight, in turbulent times, the pilot’s calm, reassuring voice persuades us that all will be well; we can get through this. Regular updates during the flight confirm we are on track for our destination and we will be successful.

When we land effortlessly at Heathrow, sadly passengers no longer applaud the pilot on touch down, as they did a few years ago. There is no longer recognition of a job well done.

As the leader (pilot) of your company have you everything in place for a smooth flight or have your employees constantly got their seat belts tightened, gripping their seat rests for a bumpy ride? How many have their parachutes on ready to bail out?

Your employees have boarded your ‘plane’ with a leap of faith in you. The ticket is paid for by their labour, knowledge and career prospects. Do they not deserve the smoothest journey of their career? What more can you do to help them enjoy the flight?

• Have you got all the right passengers on board?
• Have you completed all the safety checks and contingency planning?
• How frequently do you communicate with them about direction and destination?
• How often do you update your skills to meet changing circumstances and technology?
• How frequently are you on automatic pilot?
• How do you celebrate success?

Happy landings!