Training is always tailored to the needs of the client. Usually a combination of a lecture and a workshop works, and the training may contain one or several meetings. An easy way to get started is to decide on the relevant group of employees, select a topic, and reserve e.g. an afternoon to focus on learning about it and processing thoughts and challenges around it. The initial session helps decide what else might be needed. The participants are the best experts of their own work and everyday concerns, and it may make sense to get thoughts into motion first, and let the participants determine the direction to be taken.
A lecture (even with activating elements) can be arranged for a large audience, but true workshops tend to be more successful if the number of participants is limited (max 25). Sessions with similar content can naturally be arranged any number of times. There is obviously no limit to how small the group may be.
To give some concrete ideas on what a training (lecture, or lecture-workshop, or series thereof) may contain, some suggestions on possible themes are given in the following. They are divided into three natural larger topics but the themes from different topics may be combined.
The goal with all training is to give all participants relevant knowledge and practical ideas that can be used to improve their working conditions and well-being, by individual and joint measures.
Many work organizations are concerned about their employees work well-being – and this for a good reason. The operating environment for many organizations and industries is changing rapidly and employees end up juggling a multitude of demands at work, sometimes pushing themselves to their limits. The workload is often substantial, the continual changes are taxing, the pressure to learn new things is ever-present, and various uncertainties can be wearing. Many navigate between different roles, some of which are not easily compatible. Furthermore, in our digitalized reality the boundary between private life and work is getting ever more blurred.
Notwithstanding the pressures of a modern worklife, there are lots of ways to support employees and care for their well-being. While it may be difficult to reduce demands, these can oftentimes be managed more meaningfully. Also, the resources that we need most at work are psychological and social in nature, and when we understand what these are, we can aim to increase them to better buffer against high demands. Ideally employees thrive, in spite of high demands.
The training can for instance contain some of the following topics:
The role of a manager has changed and this has become perhaps most visible in expert work, where employees operate largely independently. It is increasingly important for a manager to take a role of someone who shows the direction but manages more from a distance, while staying close enough to provide support and resources when needed. To be precise, a manager's role is to make it possible for employees to perform well at work, to inspire and support, but to stay out of the actual work. More easily said than done? It helps if the manager understands more about the nature of motivation, and what is needed for a person to be optimally motivated.
What is actually meant by self-directedness, and why is it important? It refers essentially to the idea that employees perform best when they care for their work the way they deem best. This follows from a premise that individuals take ownership of work more easily when they have autonomy over it. While this is partly true, it is not quite so straightforward. People managers should understand this correctly. Full authority over one’s work (”to have free hands”) and the experience that I determine over things in my life (”I operate out of my own free will”) are different things. The latter is psychologically very important for an individual, and it is this experience that people managers should know how to support. There are a number of ways to do this. Authority over one’s work – which may also be important – should be aligned with the skills and abilities of an individual. Otherwise the well-intended autonomy may back-fire and not work well for any party.
The training can for instance contain some of the following topics:
Meaningfulness of work is an important source of well-being, and it helps us through difficult situations. While the organization and managers can do quite a bit to improve our work experience, there are a number of ways that individuals can do this themselves. A job can be crafted, in other words modified so that it is more meaningful and fulfills one’s needs better. An employee can for instance change the way by which he or she works, increase social relations at work, ask for more feedback, and proactively seek opportunities for growth. One’s own perceptions about work can also be modified. According to research those who engage in job crafting report better well-being than those who do not.
No matter how much one crafts, the meaningfulness may be lost if one’s everyday appears chaotic and the multitude of tasks are hard to manage. More and more of us work independently and even if this is potentially an important source of well-being, managing oneself can be just as challenging as managing others. There is often too much to do, the tasks are demanding, time pressure is considerable, and the days may seem fragmented. To manage an independent job calls for an ability to organize and manage time, prioritize and implement plans. The ”subordinate” in us is often skillful at renegotiating the plans and put off tasks that we find uninviting. Work may begin to accumulate and some projects get postponed time and again. Frequent interruptions, often occurring changes, and continual distractions posed especially by the ever present electronic devices and media pose additional challenges to our attempts to self-manage. If we were able to take a more proactive approach to the way we work, this could both contribute to our well-being but also benefit our work performance.
The training can for instance contain some of the following topics: