For Robert Boschetti, owner of the regional, family-run electrical business BOSCHETTI, supported by his wife Erica, the decision to engage in Workplace Mental Health Coaching was driven by a desire to build what he describes as a “choice workplace”. The aim is not simply to say the right things about wellbeing, but to listen, learn and create conditions where people felt genuinely supported.

As Robert reflected, if just 1% filters down the team, that is still a world of difference for somebody.

The challenge: growth, responsibility and complexity

“We’ve gone through a lot of growth, growth-rebuild and rebuild cycles,” says Robert. “This is definitely part of a rebuild cycle.”

Robert acknowledges that each cycle allows the business to learn something new. Over time the cycles have helped surface that strong technical capability alone is not enough to sustain the business long‑term. Each cycle revealed gaps in resourcing, capability and psychosocial safety, which were difficult to adequately address while continuing to run projects and grow the business.

“We’ve got some pretty full‑on brains working in the office and some pretty full‑on construction people,” Robert says – a mix that brings both opportunity and complexity.

Erica notes that as the business has expanded, demands have changed. With more staff comes new responsibilities around workplace wellbeing, performance management and difficult conversations.

While both Erica and Robert bring strong but different skills – Robert on the business and operations side, Erica on the people and psychological side – they saw a need for support that could bridge the two.

As Erica put it, “It’s hard to be an expert in everything in business… sometimes it’s better to have a third party in there to bridge that.”

The role of coaching

To support growth, BOSCHETTI engaged in Workplace Mental Health Coaching, delivered by Transitioning Well and proudly supported by the NSW Government. The program is available to NSW businesses with up to 200 employees and not‑for‑profits of any size, making it accessible to a wide range of organisations seeking to strengthen psychological health and safety at work.

From coach Anna Kijowska’s perspective, the focus has not been on introducing entirely new values, but on creating structure and consistency around practices already happening organically. Coaching has helped translate intent into practical systems that could meet psychosocial compliance requirements while remaining authentic to the business.

Anna describes this as building “the skeleton around anchoring these practices into day‑to‑day experiences.” This included developing a clear mental health policy and providing accessible frameworks for navigating conversations about wellbeing at work.

From values to systems

Coaching supported BOSCHETTI to move from good intentions to documented, repeatable practices.

Rather than relying on Robert’s personal skills or informal relationships alone, the business began formalising how psychosocial safety would be embedded across the organisation. This meant:

• Creating simple, easy‑to‑understand mental health policies
• Linking ways of working directly to documented expectations
• Ensuring consistency as delegation increased and new managers were appointed
• Supporting leaders to recognise and respond to psychosocial risk early.

This ensured that positive practices would not be lost as the business grew or as new personalities joined the organisation.

Managing psychosocial risk in practice

Psychosocial risk at BOSCHETTI is most likely to emerge during moments of pressure – particularly around difficult client interactions, performance conversations and the need to balance care for people with the realities of running projects and meeting commitments.

Anna highlighted that while Robert naturally navigates difficult conversations and negotiations with clients, not all staff felt equally confident in these situations. Coaching addressed this risk by helping leaders support team members through challenging interactions that could otherwise expose them – and the business – to psychosocial harm.

Through coaching, leaders strengthened their ability to balance care with boundaries, particularly when performance issues, personal challenges or difficult decisions arose.

As Erica observes, coaching has helped Robert move from handling issues intuitively to being more intentional: defining boundaries, preparing for hard conversations and distinguishing between his role as a supportive colleague and as a business owner.

Impact on culture and leadership

The impact of coaching was evident not only in policies, but in every-day behaviour.

BOSCHETTI’s leaders describe a workplace where conversations about family responsibilities, life events and stress are increasingly normalised. Decisions about parental leave, medical procedures or personal loss are treated as part of doing business responsibly – not as exceptions or inconveniences.

Over time, coaching also changed the way Robert and Erica worked together. Robert noted he was now more likely to bring back reflections and lessons from situations, rather than just problems – a shift that strengthened leadership alignment, role clarity and simplified decision‑making processes.

Growth with intention

Unlike many organisations that introduce wellbeing systems reactively, BOSCHETTI chose a proactive path. While acknowledging mistakes along the way, Robert described the organisation as intentionally using this phase of growth to “do it properly next time.”

Coaching allowed the business to focus on excellence rather than perfection. As Robert explained, “Perfection is an outcome. Excellence is a process.”

This mindset made it easier to engage with coaching meaningfully – focusing on progress, learning and small changes that could still significantly affect someone’s day, year or life.

Reflections and lessons

For BOSCHETTI, Workplace Mental Health Coaching has not been about outsourcing responsibility, but about being resourceful.

Coaching has helped create space, clarity and efficiency – particularly for a regional, family‑run business balancing operations, growth and family life. It also reinforces that psychosocial safety is not separate from productivity or performance, but integral to both.

Erica emphasises the broader ripple effect of this work, noting that healthier workplaces influence families, communities and future generations – especially in male‑dominated industries where mental health is still often difficult to talk about.

By building structure around care, strengthening leadership capability and embedding psychosocial safety early, coaching helped BOSCHETTI move from intention to action — creating a workplace where safety, wellbeing and performance evolve together.

As Robert sums it up, “Don’t try and change the world. Just try and change someone’s day.”

The post “Don’t try and change the world. Just try and change someone’s day.” appeared first on Transitioning Well.

Your second six months of DEI activity for 2026

To support your ongoing DEI activity in 2026, we’ve mapped the last six months of the Ultimate HR Calendar against our range of workshops. These sessions are designed to help you respond meaningfully to key days of note, while building sustainable capability across your organisation. 

Contact us to book a series of workshops, or to talk about other ways we can help you drive successful outcomes in 2026 and beyond. 

August Workshops

Safe to Speak: Cultivating Psychological Safety  
This session introduces three practical approaches to building psychological safety and helps leaders develop a culture of high performance, growth and learning within their teams. 
Aligns with Bullying No Way: National Week of Action (17-21 August) and World Kindness Day (13 November). 

Communication Essentials  
Covering such topics as active listening, how to give and receive feedback and reducing incivility (a precursor to bullying), this 1.5-hour session provides participants practical insights they can use to communicate well. 
Aligns with Bullying No Way: National Week of Action (17–21 August) 

September Workshops

It’s the Best Time in History to Be a Dad 
Delivered by our partner, The Father Hood, this workshop explores how modern fatherhood is evolving, and how dads have the opportunity to define themselves more broadly than previous generations – for the benefit of all genders. 
Aligns with Father’s Day (6 September). 

Why Menopause is Everyone’s Business 
An all-employee session designed to raise awareness and open up conversations about menopause at work, supporting inclusion, understanding and psychological safety. 
Aligns with Women’s Health Week (7–11 September), World Menopause and Work Day (7 September) and World Menopause Day (18 October). 

Setting Life‑Work Boundaries 
This session deep dives the techniques of setting clear boundaries between work and home to create a clear delineation between entities within life to support health and wellbeing. 
Aligns with Women’s Health Week (7–11 September).

Menopause Training for Managers and HR 
Equips leaders and HR professionals with the tools and confidence to support employees through the menopausal transition. 
Aligns with Women’s Health Week (7–11 September), World Menopause and Work Day (7 September) and World Menopause Day (18 October). 

Check-In Culture: How to Ask Someone R U OK? 
Explores how to build a ‘check-in’ culture where peers feel equipped to create safe spaces, regularly check in with one another, and ask R U OK in a meaningful way. 
Aligns with R U OK? Day (10 September). 

Safe to Speak: Cultivating Psychological Safety 
In this interactive workshop, leaders build awareness of the small, often automatic behaviours that shape whether people feel safe to speak up, take risks and learn. 
Aligns with R U OK? Day (10 September). 

October Workshops

Wellbeing Foundations 
This workshop helps creates a shared language around mental health, reduce stigma, and equips participants with simple, evidence‑informed strategies to support themselves and others at work. 
Aligns with Mental Health Month (1–31 October) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). 

Leading with Heart 
Supports leaders to navigate the emotional demands of their role by building skills to have supportive conversations, set healthy boundaries, and care for others without compromising their own wellbeing.
Aligns with Mental Health Month (1–31 October) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). 

The Art and Science of Taking Breaks 
Acknowledging that people work effectively in different ways, this session provides practical strategies to build restorative breaks into everyday rhythms of work. 
Aligns with Mental Health Month (1–31 October) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). 

Leadership Tools for Preventing and Responding to Customer Aggression 
Provides leaders with practical tools and strategies to support their teams to prevent, manage and respond to occupational violence and aggression in the workplace. 
Aligns with Mental Health Month (1–31 October), World Mental Health Day (10 October) and World Kindness Day (13 November). 

Leading Through Ages and Stages 
Moves beyond generational stereotypes to offer inclusive, evidence-based strategies for leading age-diverse teams. 
Aligns with International Day of Older Persons (1 October), Mental Health Month (1–31 October) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). 

Retiring Well 
Supports people to prepare for the psychological transition to retirement, focusing on wellbeing, identity and life beyond work. 
Aligns with International Day of Older Persons (1 October)  

Health Reset 
Explores why wellbeing habits can slip over time and offers practical strategies to reset and sustain healthier ways of working. 
Aligns with Mental Health Month (1–31 October) and World Mental Health Day (10 October). 

Caring for the Carer: Supporting Self in the Carer Role 
Focuses on caring roles across the employee life cycle, and how individuals can navigate the often-competing demands of caring for others while working. 
Aligns with Carer’s Week (October). 

Compassion Fatigue: How to Curb the Cost of Caring 
Provides participants with insights informed by current research and tools focused on understanding compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma, what it is, who is at risk and – critically – ways to prevent and manage it. 
Aligns with Carer’s Week (October). 

November Workshops

Emotional Intelligence: Interpreting Your Feelings to Understand Others 
Provides practical tools to build awareness of emotions in ourselves and others, and develop a shared language for discussing them. 
Aligns with World Kindness Day (13 November). 

Family and Domestic and Sexual Violence Response Training  
An introductory session to help leaders recognise the signs of family and domestic violence, understand its workplace impacts, and respond appropriately. 
Aligns with International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November). 

December Workshops

Fatigue Antidote: Preventing Burnout 
Supports leaders to understand the cultural drivers of burnout in modern, blended workplaces and adopt practical approaches for sustained wellbeing. 
Aligns with end-of-year trends. 

Job Crafting: Working SMARTer, Not Harder 
Offers teams a structured forum to redesign work in ways that support mental health while still meeting role deliverables. 
Aligns with end-of-year trends. 

Contact us to discuss your 2026 learning and development needs.

The post Your second six months of DEI activity for 2026 appeared first on Transitioning Well.

By Sarah Alwyn

The end-of-year rush hits differently now. While holiday season stress isn’t new, today’s always-on culture and hybrid work environments have amplified workplace mental health challenges.

The Black Dog Institute reports that one in six working-age Australians are currently experiencing a mental health illness, with workplace stress being a significant contributor. This pressure often intensifies during December, when shorter deadlines collide with increased social commitments and year-end responsibilities.

As a leader, recognising and responding to stress signals – both in yourself and your team – is crucial. Beyond Blue’s research indicates that while many people maintain a brave face during December’s busy period, mental health support services see a significant spike in demand during January, suggesting the cumulative impact of holiday season stress often surfaces after the break.

Key warning signs to watch

• Working extended hours over a prolonged period: starting early and finishing late
• Difficulties managing boundaries between work and home: answering emails and responding to texts at night
• Forgetting to eat and to take a break at the appropriate time
• Missing an important work meeting or family event due to being too distracted or overwhelmed
• Irritability and easily prone to anger
• Reduced energy, fatigue and lowered mood
• Anxious thoughts – self-doubt and reduced confidence in making decisions
• Lapses in concentration and making mistakes
• Disrupted sleep
• Change to appetite

What leaders can do to better look after ourselves and our people

The good thing is, we can manage stress and there are many things you can do to ensure you are looking after yourself and your team.

These don’t require too much physical or emotional exertion, just some consideration and intention based on the following:

• Call out and name the warning signs and symptoms (as noted above) – this provides clarity and a better understanding of the impact of the current situation
• Be clear about start and finish times before the day begins, to ensure you keep timeframes in-check
• Use ‘moments’ to manage the pace of your day by stopping for brief seconds/minutes to acknowledge how you feel and create space to momentarily pause, breathe and engage in movement
• Diarise in your online calendar specific timeframes for daily meal, bathroom and brief rest breaks – to create importance about these necessary activities
• Check-in on people who are displaying warning signs of stress or a decline in mental health and wellbeing – ask them how they are feeling, offer support, and explore what may help to reduce the impact of stress
• Encourage team members to look after themselves by communicating regularly about how to manage their wellbeing at work – by taking rest breaks and maintaining strong social/collegiate connections and speaking-up when they need support
• And importantly, lead by example. Be intentional about prioritising actions that reduce stress and promote wellbeing. Maintain consistent communication with your people about the significance of these efforts.

The holiday season is a busy time, so take note of the warning signs of stress and be intentional about how to look after yourself and your valued team members.

Planning for the January transition

In Australia, we often see an increase in mental health issues in January – people are often stressed in the lead-up to Christmas, but it’s afterwards that issues can surface. As a leader, it’s worth keeping this in mind and noticing changes in how your people behave.

Lifeline Australia reports a 15-20% increase in calls during January, highlighting the need for proactive support planning. Consider:

• Scheduling lighter workloads for early January
• Planning regular check-ins with team members
• Being alert to post-holiday stress signals
• Having support resources readily available
• Encouraging use of EAP services and wellbeing resources proactively.

Businesses across NSW have access to free coaching from a highly trained expert to help create or fine-tune your mentally healthy workplace. Through confidential one-on-one sessions, a coach will help address issues or identify risks to mental health within your business and give you practical tools and strategies to manage them. Find out more here. 

The post Managing Workplace Stress During the Holiday Season appeared first on Transitioning Well.

You work a full day, drive the kids to various after school activities, make a mad dash to the supermarket to pick up something for dinner, check emails … and then remember you need a gift for Aunty June’s birthday tomorrow.

Sound familiar?

Our new research shows the “mental load” of managing a household on daily basis falls disproportionately to mothers. This means all the remembering, planning, anticipating and organising that keeps family life running “sticks” to mothers in partnered, heterosexual couples even when they work full-time, earn high incomes, or are the family breadwinner.

While mothers who earn and work more do less of the physical domestic tasks, the mental load remains unmovable. This reveals a less recognised or seen – but nonetheless enduring – barrier to gender equality at home that persists across different work and income patterns.

What is the domestic mental load?

The domestic mental load is the essential emotional thinking work that keeps family life functioning. We measured it by 21 distinct tasks, ranging from keeping track of when children’s nails need clipping, to ensuring the fridge is stocked for the next meal. We asked more than 2,000 US-based parents living in a heterosexual couple which partner is mostly responsible for each task.

On average, mothers report being mainly responsible for 67% more household management than fathers. As the figure below shows, we observed the largest gaps for “core”, routine tasks that often crop up daily, including family scheduling, managing the cleaning, organising childcare, managing social relationships, and taking care of the food.

While fathers report greater responsibility for cognitive tasks related to household maintenance and finances, these gender gaps are comparatively small. These are also tasks that are typically less urgent and done less frequently.

So, while fathers are contributing to mental labour tasks, they are much less likely to say they are primarily responsible for them. This is an important distinction because primary responsibility means accountability – it’s who gets blamed when things go wrong or are forgotten.

But cognitive labour is only one piece. We also found that, on average, mothers are doing 85% more of the physical childcare and housework, too. These patterns are not just a US parent phenomenon – our interviews with Australian parents demonstrate a similar pattern. Mothers are carrying heavier domestic loads both in their physical labour and in their minds.

Mothers’ ‘sticky’ situation

We know from decades of research and the results from our own survey that mothers who work longer hours spend less time in housework and childcare on average. Earning more money is also a key bargaining tool for mothers to reduce their domestic contributions.

Crucially, though, we do not see these same patterns when it comes to the mental load. Instead, mothers who work and earn more still do significantly more than their fair share of the mental load, even as their physical workloads lighten.

We call this “gendered cognitive stickiness”: once the mental load is socially assigned to mothers – and, given gender expectations of mothers’ role as primary caregivers, it almost always is – it tends to “stick” to them regardless of their employment status or how much they earn.

This reflects how different the mental load is from physical childcare and housework. Cognitive domestic labour is not seen, acknowledged, or discussed in the same way as physical chores. This is precisely because it happens inside our heads — anywhere, anytime — and is usually only visible when something goes wrong, such as a forgotten appointment or a key ingredient missing from the cupboard.

The fact mothers do so much more of this cognitive labour than fathers even as employment and earnings increase reflects how much harder the mental load is to outsource, offload, or devolve to others than physical chores.

Because of this, no amount of money or career success frees mothers from the unseen and constant need to remind, anticipate, and coordinate everything that needs doing for the family.

We do find that when fathers earn more, they take on more of this thinking work. For example, fathers earning more than $100,000 reported 17% more involvement in “core” mental tasks, such as arranging extracurricular activities. We suspect this reflects new norms that expect fathers to be more involved in the primary care of children as well as the flexibility more common in high-paying jobs.

However, fathers’ increased contributions do not offset mothers’ overall burden. Mothers are still shouldering the bulk of the mental load.

These findings indicate a plateau in progress towards gender equality. While women have achieved high rates of education and workforce participation, men’s participation in household work – especially the mental load – has not kept pace.

The enduring domestic mental load helps explain why mothers, including those working and earning healthy incomes, feel stretched thin, stressed, and short on time. They are holding down paid jobs and keeping on top of all the household needs in their heads. This has negative implications for women’s wellbeing, careers, and families.

Equalising the mental load is not just about fairness. It is also about ensuring that families can thrive and that progress toward gender equality continues rather than stalls.

Leah Ruppanner, Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of The Future of Work Lab, Podcast at MissPerceived, The University of Melbourne; Ana Catalano Weeks, Associate professor in comparative politics, University of Bath, and Helen Kowalewska, Lecturer in Social Policy, University of Bath

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Your first six months of DEI activity for 2026

To help support your DEI activity in 2026, we’ve mapped out the first six months of the Ultimate HR Calendar against our range of workshops. Contact us to book a series of 2026 workshops, or talk about other ways we can help you drive successful outcomes in 2026 and beyond.

February Workshops

Crisis and Career Shocks
Practical strategies to support leaders in helping team members through personal or career crises.
Aligns with: World Cancer Day (4 Feb)

March Workshops

Leading Through Ages and Stages
Move beyond generational stereotypes with inclusive, evidence-based strategies for age-diverse teams.
Aligns with: Zero Discrimination Day (1 Mar)

Harnessing Neurodivergence in the Workplace
Introductory session for all employees on embracing neurodivergent thinking to boost team outcomes.
Aligns with: Zero Discrimination Day (1 Mar), Neurodiversity Celebration Week (17–23 Mar)

Leading Neurodiverse Teams
Advanced workshop for leaders to build capability and apply practical strategies to support neurodivergent employees.
Aligns with: Zero Discrimination Day (1 Mar), Neurodiversity Celebration Week (17–23 Mar)

Building a Neuro-inclusive Workplace
For HR and executives: explore how to create environments where neurodivergent talent can thrive.
Aligns with: Zero Discrimination Day (1 Mar), Neurodiversity Celebration Week (17–23 Mar)

Why Menopause is Everyone’s Business
All-employee session to raise awareness and open up conversations around menopause at work.
Aligns with: International Women’s Day (8 Mar)

Menopause Training for Managers and HR
Equips leaders with tools to support employees through the menopausal transition.
Aligns with: International Women’s Day (8 Mar)

April Workshops

Health Reset
Explore why wellbeing slips and learn strategies to reset health habits.
Aligns with: World Health Day (7 Apr)

Building Confidence: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
Understand and reframe limiting beliefs to build self-confidence.
Aligns with: International Imposter Syndrome Day (13 Apr)

Leading Psychosocial Safety
Support leaders to identify and manage psychological risks to create healthier workplaces.
Aligns with: World Day for Safety & Health at Work (28 Apr)

May Workshops

Family and Domestic Violence
Introductory session to help employees recognise and respond to FDV in the workplace.
Aligns with: Family Violence Prevention Month (May)

Supporting Working Parents
Best practice strategies for leaders to support employees through the parental leave journey.
Aligns with: International Bereaved Mother’s Day (3 May)

Supporting the Ongoing Seasons of Parenthood
Supports leaders to manage psychosocial risks and support working parents through evolving challenges.
Aligns with: Family Equality Day (3 May), Day of Families (15 May), Global Day of Parents (1 Jun)

Preparing for Parental Leave
Practical tips for employees transitioning into parenthood.
Aligns with: Maternal Mental Health Day (6 May)

Returning from Parental Leave
Support returning parents with tools for a confident re-entry to work.
Aligns with: Maternal Mental Health Day (6 May)

June Workshops

It’s the Best Time in History to Be a Dad
Explore the evolving role of fathers and how it benefits all genders.
Aligns with: International Father’s Mental Health Day (22 Jun)

Contact us to discuss your 2026 learning and development needs.

The post Your first six months of DEI activity for 2026 appeared first on Transitioning Well.

How Workplace Mental Health Coaching Transformed a Small Law Firm

Workplace Mental Health Coaching helps businesses create a psychologically healthy workplace and align to their obligations under NSW Work Health and Safety legislation.

When sharing her experience of Workplace Mental Health Coaching, Michelle Oates – founder and Principal Lawyer at Connect Family, a small family law firm – says, “If you’re thinking you don’t have the time [for coaching], you desperately need it.”

For Michelle, the catalyst for coaching was the recognition that she wanted to create a mentally healthy workplace for her employees, while also doing what she needed to do to look after herself as a founder, lawyer and business owner. “If you can’t put on your own oxygen mask, then you’re no good to anyone,” she says.

Before she attended her first session, Michelle acknowledges she was considering selling her business. Now, she says, “Why would I sell this? We are doing something phenomenal here. It was a big, powerful thing for me.”

‘It’s me, hi, I’m the problem’

Michelle laughs, quoting Taylor Swift when asked what surprised her about Workplace Mental Health Coaching.

“I didn’t realise how much of an obstacle I’d become in my own business,” she says. “Not through malintent, but just because the whole business was relying on me. Because that’s how I set it up.”

“I was trying to operate the business as if everything depended on me and I was doing that for them,” Michelle notes. “But as a result, I was not always the nicest person to be around.”

“[Coach] Anna said to me, ‘If your team don’t know where you’re going, how do they know whether they want to follow?”

“Michelle quickly became more aware that because something was clear to her, it didn’t mean it was clear for others,” Anna says.

Playing to strengths

One of the biggest psychosocial risks that Michelle worked through was poor job design – effective work design should be used to eliminate and minimise psychosocial hazards and risks in your workplace.

“Anna said to me, ‘I want you to go ask all the staff, what do they love doing? What’s their why? Why do they get up in the morning?’”

It was this process that led to a discussion with a staff member who was – at that point – looking for other opportunities outside the business. Michelle quickly realised that this team member had a skillset she wanted to retain to support the growth of her organisation.

“She’s now my business development manager, and it’s been amazing,” Michelle says. “It’s a huge shift, and it was just redesigning a role. We didn’t lose her, and she’s never been happier.”

Michelle acknowledges that the conversations around role design would not have happened without coaching.

Coaching can teach effective techniques to open up meaningful conversations with your workers through thoughtful consultation. This approach can help businesses uncover valuable insights and identify solutions that create mutual benefits –potentially enhancing business performance and employee satisfaction.

Consulting and cooperating are an essential part of managing work health and safety risks in your workplace. It’s also a legal requirement under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

Coach Anna Kijowska notes that in addition to staff consultation, Michelle was encouraged to reflect on her own role.

“I hate processes and procedures,” Michelle says, acknowledging that she continually stretched herself to work across areas that were, in her own words, “not for her”.

This process led to the employment of a chief operator officer, which has allowed Michelle to focus on her role as Principal Lawyer, and delegate more.

“So instead of everything coming to me, it’s going to the person whose day job it is, and they bloody love it!” she says.

Bringing it all together

Michelle notes that coaching gave her the opportunity to build scaffolding in her workplace and identify blind spots.

“They’re not weaknesses,” she says. “They’re blind spots. And having someone to talk through those who’s not your mum, dad, husband or wife, who always take your side … but someone to hold you to account and say, ‘actually, let’s unpack this some more’ … that’s so important.”

Michelle notes that Anna regularly challenged her to think differently about why she was looking at a particular policy, reviewing a particular practice, communicating a particular way. She adds that Anna helped her see that being vulnerable was OK.

“The flow-on effect is we’ve got really great, open communication within the firm,” she says.

Coach Anna speaks about Michelle’s journey with a great deal of pride, calling her a ‘dream client’.

“In between our last two sessions Michelle did the consultation with the staff, the risk register, put everything in place. She was really able to leverage everything they already had and introduce some new roles and processes, which is really positive too.”

“For me, I got a lot of value from the flow-on effects of coaching,” Michelle says. “I’ve got a lot of value out of understanding who I am as a leader.”

Learn more about Workplace Mental Health Coaching here.

Resources for NSW businesses

Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work – practical guidance on the process persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) could use to identify and to manage psychosocial hazards at work.

Designing Work to Manage Psychosocial Risks – information about how work designs can be used to eliminate and minimise psychosocial hazards and risks in your workplace.

The post How Workplace Mental Health Coaching transformed a law firm appeared first on Transitioning Well.

How Workplace Mental Health Coaching gave one organisation a competitive edge

When asked what led construction company Ryan Wilks to take up free Workplace Mental Health Coaching delivered by Transitioning Well, and funded by the NSW Government, Construction Manager Oliver Crome says four words: “The Code of Practice.”

Crome explains that while employee wellbeing had long been a priority and the company consistently valued the mental health of its team, the introduction of the Code of Practice provided an opportunity to strengthen and formalise their approach.

It enabled Ryan Wilks to align its existing initiatives with recognised best practice, supporting internal wellbeing efforts while also enhancing compliance for tender submissions and reinforcing client confidence in the company’s adherence to the Code.

“A few of our clients in the Telco industry started to use the terms that we’re now familiar with, such as psychosocial hazards and wellbeing, and asking to see policies around that,” Crome says.

Crome also acknowledges that the output from coaching has helped the business to retain existing clients by demonstrating better practice in psychosocial health and safety. “Clients see that we are not only accredited in our field, but that we are also doing a better job to create a more mentally healthy workplace.”

The benefits of professional support

Crome speaks positively about coach Anna Kijowska, and how she delivered the service.

“The depth of knowledge and support provided by our coach, Anna, along with the access to practical resources, was outstanding,” he says.

At the time when Crome began coaching, the Code of Practice for Managing psychosocial hazards at work was relatively new. “Anna’s ability to translate complex psychosocial concepts into clear, actionable steps tailored to our business was invaluable and exceeded our expectations.”

Crome acknowledges that while his organisation had few visible challenges relating to mental health and wellbeing, the coaching process revealed that managing psychosocial hazards required a new level of awareness and a tailored strategic approach beyond general WHS compliance.

“It’s a new way of thinking,” Crome says. “It’s different to managing physical safety on site, so we needed professional help. Anna gave us confidence in what we were doing.”

Anna’s guidance was tailored to suit the business operations and has been particularly valuable in helping the business with managing psychosocial hazards.

Embedding learnings

Two years into coaching and Crome lists all that the organisation has done while acknowledging, “The big picture has only just started for us”. While being guided by Anna the organisation has:

• Consulted with their people via the People at Work Survey, and gained feedback for implementation
• Embedded a structured, proactive psychosocial risk assessment process
• Introduced dedicated Toolbox Talks focused on psychological safety
• Updated key policies, such as Discrimination and Harassment Policy and Psychological Hazards in the Workplace Policy
• Effectively rolled out health and safety wellbeing processes.

Finally, Crome highlights how coaching helped create a dialogue about mental health and wellbeing internally.

“We’re actually talking about people’s wellbeing and how that affects them, their home life and everyone around them,” he says. “I think that’s very positive, especially in the construction industry, where you tend not to talk about your feelings too much.”

“The more we have these talks, the more we’ll bond, the more we’ll respect each other, the more we’ll respectfully treat each other.”

Crome shares that the organisation is still building morale and motivation after a period of uncertainty during COVID. “These kinds of talks help with that too,” he says. “They bring everyone together.”

Learn more about Workplace Mental Health Coaching here.

Oliver’s four key takeaways:

1. Take the time to genuinely engage your team, the process is more impactful when everyone is involved.
2. Don’t underestimate the value of external guidance, it helps uncover blind spots.
3. Mental health and wellbeing strategies are essential to strong safety culture and business performance.
4. The structured approach made implementation straightforward and sustainable.

The post How Workplace Mental Health Coaching gave one organisation a competitive edge appeared first on Transitioning Well.

Why this ‘confronting but nourishing’ coaching may be just what you need

“Confronting but nourishing” is how Paul Pincini, General Manager of Sapphire Coast Buslines characterises his Workplace Mental Health Coaching experience.

Employed in a family-owned business of more than 90 employees, Paul and HR Officer Tanja Hoogenboom registered for coaching to better understand how they could promote a mentally healthy workplace culture and reduce the risk of psychological injuries.

While there are policies and procedures in place to manage psychosocial hazards in the workplace, Paul acknowledges that drivers can (still be) be exposed to incidences of trauma, aggression, physical injury and other psychosocial risks on the job.

“We want to make sure they are alright, because they do tend to bottle things up or shrug things off.”

Coaching, Paul says, further emphasised the importance of staff check-ins as well as follow ups.

“People really appreciate it. When you text someone on a Sunday, saying something like, ‘Just checking up on how your weekend’s going. You had a tough day on Thursday’. On Monday, they come in and say, ‘Oh, thanks so much for that, it meant a lot to me’.

“Often,” Paul continues, “It’s just the little things that can make a big difference.”

“They were able to engage people and provide pathways for meaningful relationships at work,” coach Anna Kijowska notes.

“It’s one thing to listen,” Paul says. “But then it’s about actually acting on the issues.”

Paul and Tanja also wanted to understand how to better address the factors impacting workers’ mental health.

Coach Anna notes that when coaching commenced, the organisation was in the process of rolling out new systems. “Knowing that a lot of their drivers found systems to be difficult to engage with, they knew they had a challenge.”

“When you’re in the moment and you’re the one trying to roll things out, you think everyone’s on the same journey,” Paul acknowledges. “But they’re not … you can leave people behind.”

“It is important to provide reasonable opportunities for workers to be involved in the change management process,” Anna says.

According to regulations , businesses have a duty to consult workers in the change management process to – when embedded into day-to-day work – support mental wellbeing, strengthen collaboration, and drive meaningful, lasting change.

An additional benefit to this is thatworkers often have the solutions to solve stubborn challenges in new and innovative ways, ultimately maximising job control and individual contributions to the organisation.

Coaching helped the team at Sapphire Coast Buslines recognise consultation as a powerful lever in the workplace. “Slowing down meant that they had a lot more opportunity to manage that change better and grow a sense of peer support,” Anna says.

Since receiving coaching, Paul notes, he’s also prioritising ‘me time’ for himself, and to role model for the team.

“For the first time in my life, I’ll go down the beach with my dogs every morning, take them for a walk. Then I have a swim,” Paul says, while admitting that previously he would have used that time to go to the office early.

“My outputs have increased from it,” he notes with a smile. “I can see the difference myself.”

Anna says she encouraged Paul and Tanja to make small adjustments to work schedules to help minimise the effects of work-related stressors on worker mental health.

Paul and Tanja share how they plan on driving initiatives to help employees both keep each other accountable for carving out ‘me time’, and to continue to build positive workplace relationships.

As a result of Paul and Tanja increasing their understanding of ways to improve their approach to mental health, changes they’ve made have seen an improvement in workplace culture, productivity and retention.

Learn more about Workplace Mental Health Coaching here.

Advice for others considering coaching:

• Prepare for some truth bombs – “Be prepared to listen and acknowledge your personal and your organisation’s downfalls … take it on board,” Paul says.
  
• Buy-in is important – “It’s one thing for us to implement something, but you’ve got to have buy-in from the top down, and vice versa,” says Tanja.
  
• Be prepared to be proactive – “Anna didn’t give us the solutions, but she made us look for the solutions and I think that was a really positive thing to do.”

And some reassurance from your coaches: “Generally, our clients already have good practices in place,” says Anna. “Our job is to suggest ways you can make your investment make a big difference to you and the mental health of your team.”

The post This ‘confronting but nourishing’ coaching may be just what you need appeared first on Transitioning Well.

Feeling stressed? Why workplace mental health coaching could be just what you need 

When Colin Boswarva, a director at JCA Lift Consultants, first received the call about workplace mental health coaching his NSW-based lift consultancy was operating amid a period of large workloads and high stress levels.  

“We’re running a fairly successful business,” says Colin. “And the workload is very heavy.” 

Workplace mental health coaching, which, among other things, helps business leaders effectively manage psychosocial risks such as high workloads and stress levels resonated with Colin straight away.  

“We work in a very high-stress environment. Everything is a deadline,” he says.  

In addition, Colin says, he manages a team with many different dynamics. “They’re all very different,” he says. “I’ve got some people who come from sales backgrounds, others who have come from very technical backgrounds. And now we’re all trying to work together.” 

Through coaching, Colin says he was able to identify small things to help him effectively manage the psychosocial risks in his organisation.  

“While the workload is still heavy, and the business is expanding, I feel more in control,” Colin says. “I don’t feel the stress or overload like I did before.” 

“A good example of this,” Colin says, “was when one of my guys needed help with something. [My coach] Anna said to me, ‘Well, what are you going to do?’ and I said, ‘Well, I’m going to show him how to do it’. She said, ‘No, no, no.’ She cut me off straight away,” Colin laughs. “She said, ‘Sit with him, take that extra time. Guide him to do it. Stop being Superman.’” 

“It’s such a small thing,” Colin says, “But ultimately, I’d taught all my team to come to me every time they had a problem.”  

Now, Colin says, he takes more time to help his team take ownership, and be more self-sufficient, which is saving him time in the longer term, and addressing the risk of low job control.  

Colin’s coach Anna adds, “So often, individuals in leadership positions feel alone in shouldering the full burden of everything that needs to be done in small business, even though they surround themselves with highly motivated and skilled people.” 

“The skill of ‘creating room for others’ can be difficult, and unfamiliar,” she says. However, it’s an acquired skill that has really set Colin up to thrive.  

“It’s probably why I can handle more now,” he acknowledges. “I’m not nearly as stressed as I was a year ago.” 

“It’s funny, it’s only a slight tweak in approach on how to handle things and it’s made a huge difference.” 

Moreover, Colin acknowledges, his team have noticed the difference that coaching has made, with their own stress levels coming down.  

“Employees really benefit from understanding what matters to their boss,” says Anna. “It allows them to celebrate their efforts, and maximise their sense of achievement, and that can bring in a sense of achievement for everyone involved.” 

Again, Colin acknowledges that it’s just been about making small tweaks. He acknowledges that in the past where he would have said, “You’ve just got to get the job done” he’s now taking time to consider his approach, provide ongoing support and communicate more with his team as needed.  

“A happy team goes a long way to making your business successful without focusing on the financials,” Colin says.  

Coach Anna recognises that Colin’s willingness to share his experiences and perspectives really helped him get the most out of coaching.  

“He was willing to try ‘something different’,” Anna says. “And that allowed us to better understand his team and calibrate our approach to craft solutions that worked with their unique needs, hazards, risks and constraints.” 

“For many small businesses, it’s hard to find time to think and reflect,” Anna says. “Having a document like the psychosocial code of practice, to refer to as a starting point, allows them to identify their own unconscious strengths as well as some potential blind spots.” 

Recognising the benefits of having open conversations about mental health and wellbeing, Colin shared his experience with his team at their annual conference in June. “We actually had a brief open forum about mental health,” Colin says. “We hadn’t done it before.” 

Colin says that the open forum allowed people the space to talk about mental health and wellbeing in the workplace. And, while Colin acknowledges that the forum won’t have resonated with every staff member, he was pleased to receive positive feedback from others. “One of the younger guys said, ‘It’s amazing. Ten years ago, we would never have been in a room like this talking about this.’” 

And for Colin, that forum extends to the way he interacts with his team. “I was always there for them,” he said. “But now I’m more open to say, ‘if you need me, if we need to go and have a cup of coffee, we can do that’. I feel much more supportive of them now,” he says.  

Learn more about Workplace Mental Health Coaching here.

3 key takeaways on workplace mental health coaching

1. “Just do it” – “Workplace coaching isn’t something I would ever have thought about doing,” says Colin. “But now after I’ve done it, I want to keep doing it … because it’s made such a big difference to our business.”  

2. It makes you a better leader – “Coaching has made me a better leader as well as a supportive leader,” Colin says. “I’ve found my mind slows down a bit more now, and I’m able to assess things in a calmer manner.”  

3. It’s about more than mental health and wellbeing – “It wasn’t just about mental health,” Colin says. “Anna’s knowledge of senior level management was exceptional … I felt a connection straight away. She would talk about the tasks and things like that with an understanding of what you have to deal with. I came out of it with fantastic ideas and different ways to handle situations within the business as well.” 

The post Feeling stressed? Why workplace mental health coaching could be just what you need  appeared first on Transitioning Well.

How coaching helped a small business deliver big results

When HR Coordinator Bethaney Nero began working at Online Education, a small e-learning business, she was in a customer service role. However, a period of strong organisational growth and an acknowledgement that formal policies, procedures and resources to support employees were needed, led to Bethaney’s appointment as a one-person HR department.

It’s not an unusual practice for growing small businesses to either outsource the role of HR or for it to be absorbed by existing staff.

With limited organisational knowledge of requirements and best practice, and a steep personal learning curve, Bethaney signed up for Workplace Mental Health Coaching after completing the NSW Government’s free Workplace Pulse Check.

“We thought we were doing pretty well,” Bethaney says. “But then I did the pulse check.”

Bethaney acknowledges that initially she was sceptical of the benefits of coaching.

“There were a few things I didn’t understand. For example, why we would have to do a psychosocial survey [within the organisation]. Why did our staff need to know about psychosocial hazards in the workplace? How was this going to benefit us?”

Bethaney acknowledges that coaching helped her to not only understand why it is important, but how to explain that importance to others.

“It’s really important to have these procedures and documents in place because it’s risk mitigation for the future. So, it’s in your interest and the employee’s best interest to have these in place.” Bethaney explains.

“I think there are things you can do to tick the box and go, ‘yep, we’ve got that policy, we’ve got that’,” Bethaney says. “But [coaching] was bringing it to the next level of, ‘OK, you’ve got that. But what’s the plan? What if this happens? What’s the next step and how are you providing support to your employees?’”

 One of the common themes that came up for her small tight-knit team was role overload and role ambiguity.

“So from that we’re going through job descriptions. We’re asking, ‘How can we help you with your workflow?’, ‘What can you delegate?’, ‘Do we need a meeting to fine-tune things?’”

“And that’s just the first step,” Bethaney says, acknowledging that even with coaching complete, managing psychosocial risks in the workplace is a continuous process.

Coach and psychologist Tess Collins speaks to the many actions Bethaney has implemented since beginning her coaching.

“Bethaney’s implemented a psychosocial survey and educated the team on hazards, which has led to a workplace wellbeing plan and psychosocial risk register,” Tess says.

The survey, Tess says, was used as a tool to consult with their workers.

“Consulting with workers is important to not only make workers feel heard, but to learn directly what specific workplace factors are affecting them and to gain input into what supports they need,” says Tess.

The coaching also guided Bethaney in creating a mental health policy and introducing one-on-one discussions about psychosocial hazards with the CEO.

“In six months, we’ll go back and see how the changes have affected us,” Bethaney acknowledges.

In the meantime, Bethaney has a list of initiatives that Online Education is prioritising to continue their management of psychosocial risks in the workplace. These include completing the NSW Government’s Mental Health at Work training for leaders and employees, facilitated by Black Dog Institute, reviewing position descriptions and running mental health initiatives, such as RUOK? Day and staff morning teas throughout October for mental health month. Tess says, “These efforts will help build mental health awareness within the team, enable the team to speak more openly about mental health and help reduce any stigma that may exist”.

Bethaney also plans to develop internal pulse checks (i.e. a shortened survey that assesses progress on reducing the psychological hazards that were raised in the original survey) while using the NSW Government’s Workplace Pulse Check to measure improvement.  

Bethaney credits coaching for putting her on the right path and delivering certainty.

“If I hadn’t done coaching and just tried to educate myself, I’d definitely still be thinking ‘Oh, I don’t know if I’m doing this correctly. Is this the right thing? What am I meant to be doing here?’ Coaching validates everything in a really easy, practical way.”

Learn more about Workplace Mental Health Coaching here.

3 key takeaways

Coaching can validate your learning – “You can only do so much reading. You can try and put it all together in your own mind, but when you’ve got another human saying, ‘OK, this is what you need to do’, it clicks. The light bulb turns on. I feel like if you’re having a one-to-one with a person that’s got the knowledge, it just makes it easier to process what we should do.”

All feedback from your coaching sessions can lead to positive outcomes – “It’s not as scary as we thought it would be. You know, it’s all positive feedback. Even if [you receive] negative feedback, you can …  create a positive outcome from it.”

It’s more than a tick-the-box exercise – “At the end of my third session I was like, ‘we’re going to be able to implement these things and create positive change’. It’s not just ticking the box and doing a little graph. It’s actually going to create proper change.”

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