Organizations Successfully transforming their culture to prioritize mental health

Reflect with me: How would you describe productivity? What indicators can you identify in an organization that suggest it has highly productive staff? Moreover, what signs can you observe in yourself that would tell you are productive in your job? Share with us in the comments below. Certainly, responses can be subjective and objective, and both matter! One objective way is by utilizing metrics like those found in performance management, the HR department can ascertain and define the productivity levels of both individual employees and the organization as a whole.

Among the things that determine productivity is the culture of a workplace that is embedded in the whole organizational system. Allow me not to look at the system as many of us know it: the processes, standard operating procedures, or the industrial legal framework. Being a mental health practice, we focus on the interpersonal relationships and human behavior as a system that mediates all other systems in the organization. But hold that thought! Let us go back to the culture.

The definition of what culture in the context of the organization has been clarified by Pandey (2023) to mean "the frame of reference for the approach one looks at, tries to know, understands work", which he further points out that it is an "intangible resource" that determines employee engagement. To the extent that an organization culture elevates values, attitudes and beliefs that uphold the best practice of mental health in a workplace, to the extent that productivity and optimal performance will reflect in employee output.

An organization that appreciates change management and implements the systems for the same can utilize those same resources to influence a change of attitudes, behavior and thinking that translates to a culture and way of doing things. Implementing this gets the greatest impact when leadership is involved and offers support and resources that are in tandem with the desired culture. For Mental health initiatives that the organization chooses to adopt will follow the same pattern, including having them in the strategic planning process. A great starting point on this process would be to heighten the awareness of mental health and bridge the knowledge gaps that exist for both resource allocation and

To the extent an organization culture elevates values, attitudes and beliefs that uphold the best practice of mental health in a workplace, to the extent that productivity and optimal performance will reflect in employee output.

Organizations therefore successfully transform their culture to prioritize mental health by a) looking at both objective and subjective aspects that would define productivity, (b) adopting mental health initiatives in line with the change management process and (c) adopting mental health initiatives that solidify the strategic objectives of the workplace as a reflection of top management leadership support. The World Health Organization (WHO) released the guidelines on workplace mental-health 2022, and it is clear that the future of work at workplaces is one that integrates evidence-based solutions on mental health and waves it through the strategic plan, until it becomes part and parcel of "the way we do things".

For more information on how to integrate mental health initiatives in your workplace, feel free to schedule a consultation call HERE or write to us through service@tripleseetherapyconsult.com

References

Pandey, S. K. (2023). Organizational Culture and Employee Productivity. In B. Christiansen & A. Even (Eds.), Examining Applied Multicultural Industrial and Organizational Psychology (pp. 58-77). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-7212-5.ch004