What is covered in this workshop?
Supporting and protecting workplace psychological health and safety is crucial for the success of organizations, leaders and employees. However, not everyone is convinced of its importance.
Motivating the powers that be is a free workshop designed to help participants offer evidence-based approaches which support psychological health and safety while reducing or eliminating resistance from decision-makers. During this workshop, participants will learn how to create a practical approach that addresses business goals and is embedded in business as usual. This approach emphasizes making it practical, affordable and easy to say “yes” to.
This workshop is not about proposal writing or developing a standalone psychological health and safety strategy. It's about equipping participants with tools and knowledge to motivate decision-makers to make changes that support psychological health and safety while aligning with organizational goals and strategies .
Here’s a sample of what participants will learn in the workshop to gain buy-in from the powers that be:
- Tie the proposed solution to the organization’s goals and perceived issues – the challenges and opportunities they’re most focused on now
- Make it practical – offering solutions that can be part of day-to-day routines without requiring more time or processes
- Make it affordable – there are many free, proven resources to help design and support the proposed approach
For a literature review of studies demonstrating how factors that impact psychological health and safety can also have a positive impact on common business goals and objectives, see Evidence for psychological health and safety.
Workshop materials
Who can facilitate this workshop?
The facilitator guide, available in both English and French, is designed to support anyone who wants to facilitate this workshop. Whether you’re new to workshop facilitation or a seasoned veteran, you may follow this guide step-by-step or use it as a foundation and adapt it to your preferences and audience.
If you’d like some tips for dealing with difficult conversations during your workshop, see Facilitation tips for leaders.
Time required
There is approximately 4.5 hours worth of content to deliver. With a suggested one-hour lunch and two 15-minute breaks, the session would be 6 hours in total. You decide when you want to take your breaks.
The facilitator guide offers tips to deliver this workshop in-person or virtually.
Intended audience
This workshop is for anyone who wants to learn how to make it easier for decision-makers to say “yes” to solutions which support psychological health and safety in the workplace. This may include leaders, consultants, occupational health, health and safety, wellness, or human resource professionals who want to convince decision-makers to address or improve psychological health and safety in their workplace.
There’s no limit to the number of participants, but we suggest breaking into small groups of 3 – 5. This number allows discussion at tables if you’re in-person or using online breakout rooms if you’re delivering the workshop by webinar.
For more resources like this one, see Assessments, tools and workshops.