“Leaders are a critical dependency in the success of any strategic approach to improving workplace mental health outcomes,” explains Kate Connors, Chief Mental Health Advisor at Elemental Coaching & Psychology, a Board Director at the Emergency Services Foundation (ESF) and the Chair of ESF’s Mental Health Advisory Group (MHAG).

She is advocating for a focus on the redesign of leadership systems, to better enable organisational leaders who can support the good mental health of Australian workers. “Don’t forget that leaders can’t give to others what they don’t have themselves!  Looking after the mental health & wellbeing of leaders must be an area of focus,” she adds.

She shares how organisations can develop a systems approach to workplace wellbeing:

• The proper risk assessment is the first step: As is the case with physical risk management, the first step in psychosocial risk management is a thorough risk assessment. Kate reiterates that psychosocial hazards vary from one sector and working environment to the next. This process will typically involve gathering data from many different parts of the organisation, such as workers’ compensation claims, WHS incident reports, employee interviews, as well as tailored surveys and focus groups. Kate adds that there are core psychosocial risks that Australian regulators will expect an organisation to have assessed, including job demands and job control, support and workplace relationships, change management and reward systems - among others.
• The power of proactive response and monitoring: Once the relevant psychosocial risks have been identified and understood, they must be controlled and – if possible – eliminated. “This might include boosting protective factors (such as protective leadership or increased job control) and reviewing other work design/workplace system related factors,” adds Kate. It’s essential to evaluate the impact of the implemented risk controls, through monitoring and review. “When designing controls, it is important to consider how you’re going to know if they’ve had a positive impact,” says Kate. 
• There’s no silver bullet: Emphasising that workplace mental health is not something that’s solved via initiatives, Kate explains that it’s something best approached following consideration of the key psychosocial risks, as well as consultation and co-design with the workforce to create an integrated approach. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach. The best-practice, evidence-based approach highlights the importance of an integrated model with three pillars: prevent, support and promote”. She points to the Thrive at Work framework (www.thriveatwork.org.au), which offers detailed, clear and easy to understand ‘building blocks’ that organisations can consider as they design their own wellbeing programmes and identify areas of focus for their business.

Investing in leadership

Kate will expand on the approaches that have a positive impact on employee mental health, in her seminar session at the Safety Leadership & Culture Summit, taking place from 9:20-9:50 am on 24 October 2024 at The Dome, Sydney Showground.

Her presentation, entitled ‘Rethinking Leadership: A systems approach to workplace wellbeing’ will challenge the current practice of 'leadership shaming' and instead present ideas on the systemic elements that shape enterprise-level leadership impact ' and why organisations need to take investment in their leadership systems to a whole new level.

The complete Safety Leadership & Culture Summit agenda is available at https://whsshow.com.au/sydney-2024-agenda/sydney-safety-leadership-culture-summit.

Everything you need to create a safe, healthy and productive workforce

Registration for Workplace Health & Safety Show is free and provides attendees with access to three Summit stage events as well as the Spotlight Stage and Knowledge Hub. In addition, the Show brings together over 160 exhibiting brands, helping guests source the solutions needed to address their workplace health and safety challenges.

More information is available at https://whsshow.com.au/whats-on-sydney.