In October 2017 I conducted a survey of 187 managers. The majority of respondents had over 10 years of experience managing people. Overwhelmingly the respondents prioritized managing up as the highest ranked topic they would find most useful to receive training on.

Conversely, these managers experienced training programs primarily targeted at managing down. It begs the question then... where does one learn how to manage up? Let's start here...

Whenever I'm asked to do a talk on Mental Health, the requestor is asking for education on how to help people cope with their own stress, burnout, anxiety or depression. Sadly, this type of education is normally too late, and undeniably insufficient.

As organizations begin to see higher and higher instances of short-term and long-term disability requests for mental health issues, the larger concern is helping managers understand what to do with their employees who are experiencing mental health challenges, and how to help them manage their stress.

In a talk I attended about 2 years ago, I learned that approximately 60-80% of managers want to know how to handle employees with mental health challenges, and fewer than 27% of managers feel appropriately equipped to handle the situation.

I believe that Canada is amongst the world leaders in providing resources for mental health management in the workplace. Here are just a couple of the incredible resources you can access to support your own team members who may be struggling:

Government of Canada - Centre of Expertise on Mental Health in the Workplace

Workplace Strategies for Mental Health

As a facilitator I have the distinct privilege of bearing witness, at times, to strokes of brilliance unfolding into transformational innovation in business and for society at large. For many, the conception of such transformational innovations is an utter mystery. What Steve Jobs, Amadeus Mozart, Claude Monet or Isaac Newton have done for the world are beyond what most of us know how to comprehend. We ask...

How does such inspired thought find its way into the mind of one humble individual?

Why does it seem like this phenomenon is so rare?
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And most importantly, how can I be the vehicle or channel for that rare occurrence? How fine would it be to be recognized as such a genius?

Work-Life Balance is a thing of the past. Research now shows that living a purposeful life that integrates your 8 avenues of fulfillment is the best way to find balance in your otherwise chaotic existence.

There are 8 avenues to a fulfilling life. They resemble the spokes of the Wellness Wheel: Family, Social, Career, Financial, Physical, Intellectual, Spiritual and Environment. For most people, work and money take up a disproportionate amount of time and energy - more than has been afforded to us in our lifetime. That imbalance leads to a great deal of wasted energy, not to mention depression, illness and heartache.
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It's time to drop the work-life balance myth. What you want is Life Balance: fulfillment by organizing the time and energy you place towards each of the 8 avenues of living.

The Agreed Upon Work Approach​ is one of the most underestimated, and yet easiest modes of building trust. Teams that talk about operating principles and ground rules for their behavior get results 80% faster than the teams who don’t. Sadly, 80% of teams never bother to have the conversation. This explains why 80% of exceptional results only come from 20% of the organization… everyone else is just filling space to maintain the status quo. It is pretty sick when you think about the amount of value and opportunity being left on the table!