People Risk Solutions (PRS) launches Wellbeing Practice

Since our inception in October 2006, PRS has successfully built four business practices:

HR Outsourced Support
Management Effectiveness
Culture, Values & SMCR, and
Outplacement and Career Transition

All specially designed for the Financial Services and Professional Services sectors.

In response to unprecedented demand from our clients and the market in general, we have now launched our own dedicated Wellbeing Practice. Andrew Pullman, CEO of PRS, is acutely aware of the tsunami of mental health challenges likely to arise in response to the government’s announcement to lift lockdown and get the country back to the workplace. Not only has 100% of the workforce been affected in some way by the six months of lockdown, but the new paradigm of work throws up an unprecedented set of challenges to all organisations, large and small.

Our new Wellbeing Practice is set up to help organisations tackle this issue, and in particular we can:

1. Conduct initial organisational Wellbeing checks.

2. Help organisations set themselves up for success. implementing some immediate ‘quick wins’.

3. Lead on assisting companies to establish and embed their own Wellbeing & Mental Health strategy.

4. Put in place ‘review and refinement’ processes.

With the increasing return of employees into the workplace, our ‘quick wins’ rapidly put in place some best practice measures, including:

Training Mental Health First Aiders as the first line of support in your organisation and establishing a support network for these Mental Health First Aiders;
Manager Briefing sessions to recognise the warning signs of mental ill health and introduce the skills and confidence to safely approach and support someone;
Coaching PLUS … one to one coaching for senior leaders, incorporating a focus on their own and their team’s mental health;

And coming soon …

Providing a Virtual Mental Health First Aid support service; for those organisations which are either too small to form their own in-house Mental Health First Aiders, or those demanding an immediate, transitional support service.

Aligned with PRS’s existing brand, providing a quality service sits at the heart of our new Wellbeing Practice. Indeed, all of PRS’s MHFA trainers are national trainers for MHFA England, and our practice is led by a fully qualified Mental Health First Aider. Our programmes are also tailored for the Financial Services and Professional Services sectors.

If you would like to find out more please contact us at [email protected]

How PRS flipped their thinking

How PRS flipped their thinking… and changed their approach to training

A fresh approach to developing your people

The Covid-19 pandemic has flipped the world upside down. We are learning to live in a world where the established norms and routines have been cast aside – with no certainty as to when, whether or how they return. But we are living and working still, and they way we develop as professionals must flip too if we are to continue learning and growing.

New ways of learning are needed that not only address the situation as we find it but will remain relevant, engaging and effective in the professional world that will be built out of the current crisis. This is no small task, and putting together a pragmatic solution called for reflection and contemplation on the scale and nature of the turmoil.

The upheaval has been dramatic, on all levels. Almost 50% of people in the UK have been forced to work from home; unprecedented amounts of money have been invested to shore up the economy; and as thousands of people have died from the pandemic, millions more have been locked down at home for many weeks.

New Tech meets Old Tech

In the personal sphere, the technologies and luxuries of the twenty-first century have been joined by a new interest in traditional crafts and skills as old as civilisation itself. Lockdown in the home has resulted in a desire for increased self-sufficiency – baking, sewing, knitting and growing our own food. Collectively remembering that we are not entirely reliant on pre-packaged options is something which crossed over into training.

We have remembered that we enjoy doing things for ourselves. We also have been given the time to do them. While there may be frustration at patchy zoom call connections or a longing for more conclusive face to face meetings, precious few have missed the grinding commute. Lockdown has granted many the gift of time, or control over time. The ability to be in command of your own day, to set your own timetable and to work when you’re at your most productive.

The Genie is out of the bottle

The genie has been let out of the bottle and it remains to be seen how willingly everyone will be corralled back into their offices. Those paying the rents on office property are also reassessing the true value of the physical workplace itself. Yet the old world will cling on. Many thought the September 11th attacks would change how we travel forever. However, within days we were flying again and very quickly ceased to bat an eyelid at scanning our belts and shoes. A desire for familiarity may temper truly radical change.

Training and development in the post-Covid world then must incorporate these newly discovered freedoms whilst retaining the very best of the traditional approach. A pre-packaged option pushed from above will not do. Nor will a total departure from all that is comforting and familiar. Learning must be recognisable, but new – not entirely transformed, but flipped.

Flipped Training

Our targeted modules have been flipped to put content directly into people’s hands. Those who now dictate the time, place and pace of their own workday can learn via phone, laptop or tablet in environments of their own choosing. This continuous development is enhanced through online access to the highly experienced PRS team of associates.

Online learning, tools and surveys allow the learner to drive their own development. Chat boxes, live group sessions and individual remote coaching consolidates the learning and sets out future steps. Teacher and technology work together to provide tailored modules from graduate development programmes to senior management training.

Find out more…

If the world flips, you can stand still and fall or flip with it and keep moving. To find out more about how PRS Flipped Learning can keep your organisation moving forward, please contact us directly to discuss how we can address the specific needs of your business in the new world that is emerging.

In the news

Leadership Lessons from Lions

It’s not coming home. Not yet, anyway. There is a sense of disappointment, but with it, an overwhelming feeling of pride. Despite losing at the semi final, the England Team’s journey to and through the competition has lifted the nation and also shown us some useful lessons about forming and leading a team.

As a relatively young team (and the least experienced in the competition) they have learnt a lot. They have been much more successful than expected. Cynics will point to the opposition they faced and their route to the semi final but anyone who remembers the game against Iceland in 2016 will know that in the past England have been capable of losing to any opposition placed before them.

This time was different. Why were they successful? There are many reasons, but I have identified five key approaches which I believe can be adopted by professions beyond football.

Being well organised and led

The coach, Gareth Southgate, created an environment where the team worked well together. He arranged teambuilding activities with the Royal Marines that helped bond the team. Interestingly, these were conducted without access to mobile phones and social media!

Making good use of specialist coaches

Employing a sport psychologist is nothing new but, in this case, the team identified a key challenge and used the appropriate specialist resources to address it. England are a team who have been accused of not caring sufficiently about international football, especially in comparison with their well-paid club competitions. This was not evident in 2018 and the different ways of working as a team that were introduced delivered a pride and passion not seen for some time.

Creating a safe environment, without traditional rules

Unlike in previous tournaments, family time was encouraged and had the result of keeping the team relaxed and calm. There are many, many people for whom family is the ultimate motivation for work (whether making them proud, providing for them or both). Erecting barriers to work/life balance may seem like a way to encourage focus but can have adverse effects on a team’s performance.

Practicing basic skills

The team focused on set pieces such as free kicks in order to optimise their opportunities. This is invaluable advice for any profession – a successful start-up restaurant will have a small menu of winning dishes rather than pages and pages of choice. For an inexperienced team, focussing on the basics and a few areas where you can really deliver is far more important than variety.

The demise of the prima donnas

The focus of the team was the team rather than individual performance. It could be argued that Neymar’s theatrics cost the Brazilian team their place in the finals, causing annoyed referees to give the benefit of the doubt to the opposition. Off the pitch (and in the workplace) diva behaviour can be equally destructive and was weeded out of the England camp. As Peter Sullivan, the former captain of the Australian Rugby Team said “A champion team will always beat a team of champions”.

Could your team benefit from developing key skills rather than always learning something new? Are you (inadvertently or deliberately) creating a strained environment by limiting people’s family time? How do you deal with the company prima donna? There’s plenty of food for thought. If something here strikes a chord, please feel free to contact PRS and speak with one of our associate leadership coaches.

The England Team were much more successful than expected, but there is no doubt that they will keep working to improve, as all good teams do.

In the news

High Performing Cultures – Five lessons from the All Blacks

This week we have a guest blog on leadership culture by PRS associate Richard Watts. As the pundits consider what we have learned on the pitch from the Lions tour, Richard explores five business lessons we can learn from the Lions’ hosts – a team with a winning mentality and high expectations.

In rugby, we have just witnessed the British and Irish Lions draw a series with the All Blacks. What struck me was that the All Blacks captain after the final drawn match said, ‘we lost’. From a population of under 5 million they ‘lost’ to the Lions nations with a combined population of 69 million. However, over the last decade, the All Blacks rugby team have epitomised high performance, their win rate is around 95%, they are without a doubt the iconic market leader.

Much has been written about the All Blacks culture and how it might be applied to business. Sport teams only have to perform for short match periods, they have time to train and rehearse before they execute. In the commercial world, you are always on the pitch and there is not a bench of substitutes. So, what can we in business learn from the high performing culture that the All Blacks have built? Below are some key tenets of the All Blacks culture.

1.High Performance is the combination of Capability and Behaviours. You need to focus on creating and maintaining, under pressure, the right culture to allow winning behaviours. People can have the right skills but need to apply them in the right way.

2. People will rise to the challenge if they own the challenge. Everyone needs to take ownership. Pass the ball, as a leader pass responsibility on. Ask the right inclusive questions of your team and they will feel empowered to respond more positively.

3. No egos. No one is bigger than the organisation. Select, promote and retain people for their values not just experience. Disruptive influencers need to change or be changed.

4. Better people make better All Blacks. Yet again select carefully, you can develop specialist skills to meet your business needs, you can develop and train your people but you can’t fundamentally change a person’s character. Your values need to be more than words, you must bring them to life with genuine behaviours.

5. Leave the All Blacks jersey in a better place. Talking about leaving a legacy in your business is much easier if you are a shareholder, so it is crucial to effectively engage your employees with your brand through: a clear purpose, authentic values, a shared vision and a transparent strategy.

There are many more great examples of high performance, team and leadership behaviours to be learnt from the All Blacks. If you want to find out more about how we can help you create a high performing culture please contact us at People Risk Solutions.

Richard Watts is a leadership and strategy consultant. He has spent over a decade helping global businesses build high performing cultures with a focus on operational effectiveness. He honed his leadership skills as a senior operational leader in the Royal Marines, a high performing organisation which was based on liveable enduring values.

In the news

When People Risk Costs £150m

If you want to understand People Risk, take a look at the recent case of British Airways’ £150,000,000 system failure. People Risk is the potential cost and harm that can befall a business when its people make poor decisions. It’s not always obvious how the actions of individuals within a company affect the business as a whole. However, every so often, an example like BA comes along which makes People Risk starkly clear.

The £150m outage is believed to be the result of a single operator’s error. The event is classed as a system failure and, indeed, the IT system did fail. We underestimate systems. It is easy to blame unfortunate events on faulty systems, malfunctioning technology or flawed processes. However, what causes systems to fail? Quite often the root cause is people – in BA’s case, a person.

Security experts maintain that the human element is always the weakest link in the systems they design. High level data security and encryption is most easily undermined by the executive who leaves their laptop on the train or who sets their password to ‘123456789’ or ‘password01’. The BA IT system had its own backup to switch to in case of failure. A likely cause posited for the total shutdown is that someone manually interrupted this automatic switchover sequence, flooding the servers with double the normal voltage.

The BA story is an extreme example. Flights grounded worldwide and thousands of stranded passengers are big news stories. Such large scale errors may not be common, but they do bring questions about People Risk to the fore. How many smaller, unreported People Risk events are taking place on a daily basis? What preventable costs are businesses unknowingly incurring from individual errors and decisions? What is the level of People Risk within your own business?

People may often be the weakest link but that does not mean that they’re inherently flawed. People need to be invested in to the same extent as systems they operate or are a part of. BA had invested in Uninterruptible Power Supplies which have the capability to maintain the current after a mains failure with battery power whilst backup generators automatically spool up and take over. What was potentially missing was an engineer with the competence and confidence to know this, to remain calm and not to manually intervene during the spooling up period.

Reducing your People Risk involves making the most out of your people. People don’t have a backup setting that can spool up in the event of a failure; they need to get things right in the moment. Training, development or coaching your people enables them to make the right decisions at the right time and ensures that your business is as cost effective as possible. As the systems around people grow ever more complex and the stakes of failure rise, reducing your People Risk is more important than ever.

If you would like to have a conversation about People Risk, you can contact PRS here

Or, take a look at our HR Healthcheck:
You probably already make a substantial investment in your people. The People Risk Solutions HR Healthcheck has been designed to help you protect that investment and give you a fixed cost, highly professional, rigorous and independent overview of your people risks. Read more here…