It makes managers aware of the Management Standards, what they mean, and how they can help the organisation to fulfil it's duty of care to its employees.
It improves awareness of the key stress-related hazard categories and explains how, if these hazards are not managed properly, stress can result.
It encourages managers to work proactively with those they manage to prevent stress and provides frameworks they can use to achieve prevention. Managers learn to apply such frameworks to make improvements in their own working area. Improvements made will positively impact on the local working environment and those working in it. Actions related to prevention also have a beneficial effect on the culture of the organisation, as the training prompts managers to think about ‘what normally happens around here’ and act to make changes if necessary.
The training provides a simple system that managers can use monitor stress and identify stress-related problems early. Managers learn to reflect regularly on the sources of data available to them to establish whether they have a cause for concern. This helps to ensure that indicators of increasing stress risk within individuals or within the team are not missed.
Managers learn to follow a simple risk management process once stress-related problems have been identified, and to record steps taken at work (control measures) to reduce or minimise risks.
The training meets one of the key recommendations within the management standards process, namely that ‘systems are in place locally to respond to individual concerns’. Managers are in the best position to identify and deal with stress-related issues locally.
Specific stress-related issues related to the Management Standards are covered and explored in terms of local solutions. For example:
How to enable control (actual control and feelings of control) at work
How to provide support and create a more supportive working environment
How to improve communication, reducing uncertainty related to change and role stressors
