MCHAP Employee Care Programme

According to figures released by the Scottish government, ill-health costs the British economy 100 billion pounds a year in lost productivity, lost tax and increased health and welfare costs.

Allbeit a grand figure, this does at least demonstrate why many companies are investing in health and wellbeing programmes. Post recession Britain certainly challenges businesses and employers to be proactive with health, wellbeing and employee benefits packages.

In order to encourage employers in this direction, the Scottish government has invested £1.5 million into their revised approach to encouraging healthy working lives, Health Works. This is based on evidence that health and wellbeing packages do deliver significant bottom line results, when committed to seriously by employers and business leaders.

CBI Scotland, one of the UK's top business lobby organisations state that "...there is a sound evidence base for workplace policies that support the wellbeing of employees. Most of our [CBI Scotland's] top performing organisations have already embraced this...".


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Labels: employee benefits packages, health, health and wellbeing, wellbeing, workplace benefits

The final category type of people we will look at are the types of people who put relationships over results first. These people are almost the polar opposite of the first type of 'responsibles'. They would class a job as successful even if the task wasn't finished as long as people remained friends and relationships were kept intact.

Often these people come across as sociable, understanding, supportive and loving although others can see them as vulnerable, weak, too emotional and not effective. They appear to be tuned in to people's emotions, are sensitive and interested in details.

As with the 'analyticals' from Part 3, the 'emotionalists' prefer to be talked to in a quieter gentle tone of voice, and you should be prepared to go into details. It's important to show an interest in what they have to say if you are looking to engage their attention and you should try to engage and interact with eye contact.

One key trait is that should these type of people feel angry, they will probably express this as an apology. They dislike being shouted or dressed down in public and unlike the 'creatives' from Part 2 they don't like being paraded in public.

In general these type of people do not say what is going for them and don't like not having information as this makes them feel undervalued. Togetherness is important and if you want an 'emotionalist' to co-operate it is probably best to ask for their help and demonstrate how it will help others in the team.

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Labels: business relationships, engaging, eye contact, interaction, successful job

Perhaps the polar opposite to the creative and dynamic people are those who love details and analysis. Without these people, the ideas that are thought up just on the spur of the moment would never be realised.

Inevitably there is often a massive clash between those people who just want their ideas to happen, and the people who want to know every detail and inch of a project. These people could be regarded as a nuisance, formal, creating problems that needn't be there or just indecisive. Despite this, the more analytical minds come across as reliable, honest, very capable and precise.

Whereas with more creative people it is best to play into their dynamism, often it is better to address the more analytical of us quietly, gently and with very definite details.

These type of people are also quite closed personalities. Turning up late for a meeting for example may not have an apparent effect, but quite often they will feel stressed inside. Conversations should really be precise and full of background information, but at the same time not too long.

Explaining a mistake can often be a delicate process, however usually it is good practice to explain how the error came about and present one or two solutions to the problem. It is important that this kind of criticism is not done in public.

One of the key problems is getting more creative people from Part 2 to work alongside these more analytical people. The 'creatives' are often driven mad by the apparent slowness of the 'analyticals', especially as when they feel hurt these people tend to quietly refuse to co-operate.

A meticulous and logical approach should where possible be used.

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Labels: analysis, communication, delibaration, management, meticulous

In Part 1 of this short Management and Communication guide we looked at the type of people who prefer to lead and take on responsibility. The next obvious category of people is the creatives of this world. These are the people who come up with the ideas and are often seen as being more imaginative.

Of course there are cross overs between each of these categories of people we are describing, however most people will fall into no more than two of these brackets predominantly.

Creative people can be seen to have more fun in life than their more responsible counterparts. Often seen as being able to have a joke and reacting more to pictures, metaphors and examples. On the downside, these type of people can be seen as exhibitionists, unreliable while in a more positive light they seem friendly and dynamic.

Key to these people is their ability often to adapt to situations. They may turn up late, but ultimately it doesn't matter as they can learn to fit in with the situation.

Often you won't be able to change the way these people think and nothing you do will persaude them, but on the other hand if they come to the conclusion that they themselves had the idea to change then so much the better. Best is to inspire them and tap into their creativity by using their talents. Give them space to operate in and try not to confine or limit their ideas.

Worst is when these type of people hear authority and are given strict rules. Lots of details, reports and analytics also frustrate them. However they do need to be needed and ultimately the best to way to keep them on board is to ask for help.

MCHAP

Labels: business ideas, communication, creative, ideas, inspiration, management

Communication between employers and employees has been an issue raised by HR publications. However it would also be fair to say that communication between management staff on an equal payroll, or even CEO's of companies working together, plays a huge role in business.

Most communicators in business come to realise that certain people respond better to certain approaches than others. For example, some people like to know exactly every detail of a process whereas others will just want to know the overall goal of a project. Other people put relationships above results and vice versa.

It would be true to say that some people prefer to be in charge than others. This can mean that these people appear as arrogant, forceful, pushy and even aggressive. However it can also mean that these people come across as direct, efficient, reliable and just a genuine high performer.

Some of the tendencies of leaders can be that they will only be convinced of an alternative way of doing things if that way is proven a success. As a result, approaching such a person would involve being able to prove that your idea is better, rather than just coming up with the idea in the first place. This can of course mean a lot more 'homework' before presenting an off the cuff idea.

Discussing emotions would usually be out of the question with this kind of person and presenting an idea would mean concise, to the point conversation. Bullet points might even be a sensible suggestion.

Above all, possibly the best way to get such a person to co-operate would be by showing a process, and a journey through to a tangible result. Flow charts with clear goals that can be accounted for are often best in this situation. Competence and proving that you are competent yourself play a very important role with working with these type of people.

MCHAP

Labels: business leaders, competence, concise conversation, flow chart, management

Marketplace Chaplains Europe CEO Jonathan Martin preached yesterday evening at St Peter's Church, Parkstone in Poole.

During the traditional choral evensong service, the Reverend Canon asked the question whether or not we treasure Christ's love for us enough? He warned of the danger of becoming complacent in our church buildings and spoke of an example of a Romanian priest who worried about his congregations becoming too comfortable.

One particularly poignant moment came at the beginning of the sermon, when Jonathan Martin asked one of the youngest members of the church choir directly to let him know if, in a hundred and forty years from now, the building in which he sung would still be standing.

Often it would seem that we only react when it is too late.

MCHAP

Labels: business in poole, christ's love, church choir, complacency in faith, st peter's church parkstone

Over Christmas, Radio 2 broadcast a Christmas message from one of their chaplains. During the course of the broadcast, the chaplain quoted he would like to see people "being church Monday to Saturday and taking Sunday off" rather than as many people do living the other way round.

Although it was made clear that the chaplain wasn't advocating the idea of taking a day 'off' from God, that message does capture a feeling within both Christians and non-Christians in the UK that togetherness, community and searching for a greater meaning is not limited to the weekends.

Especially in the last couple of years, churches across Britain are starting to realise that it is not possible to continue simply waiting for people to come to them, but instead that churches will have to go and meet people where they are. In a post-modern society this is often not on a Sunday morning.

As a result new ideas have sprung up, for example the concept of 'Messy Church' where families worship on a weekday through creating art together. There are alternatives such as forming church groups in the workplace not just as support groups, but so that working in an office or on the shopfloor can also become worship and therefore church.

The realisation is that church is no longer just about where we can go, but where we are at.

Labels: church, messy church, sunday morning worship, support groups, worship in the workplace