Working with local businesses By Sharon McCormick

What is This Session About? To Tutor: Introduce yourself.   Purpose We communicate on a daily basis and a lot of what we achieve is done through talking and listening. We all know from experience that when we listen well, people are encouraged to talk more freely with us. On the other hand, sometimes for no reason that we can think of at the time, a conversation suddenly becomes difficult, people tend to ignore us or stay away from us. Most often this is the result of poor listening skills. By improving the quality of your interactions with others not only you stand to gain their trust, but also feel better about yourself and increase your own self-confidence. In this course, you will explore the fundamental qualities of good listening skills and get to practice various simple-to-follow techniques that will allow you to get immediate positive results when communicating with others. Objective By the end of this course you will be able to: Master the art of listening to get the most from your interactions with others and to establish a positive long term relationship Process This is a full day course with variety of exercises designed to make you more familiar with this skill. You will see how it works in theory and will get a chance to try it out yourself. To Tutor: Talk about the workbook. Explain that headings in the workbook match the slide headings so delegates can easily find their way around. Relay Experience To Tutor: Pause and ask students to introduce themselves. Say name, background (nature of job), what do they want to get out of this course. To Tutor: Discover how good delegates are in the art of listening? Are they good communicators? Do people come to them to share their inner thoughts and feelings? Are they known as people to go to because they are good listeners, or they are known to be talkers? [LOOK AT WORKBOOK: Objectives] To Tutor: Now get the delegates to write down their objectives. Learn their names and use it. “We are going to go through a number of techniques in this course and you will get to practice your skills until you feel confident about implementing them. It is better to learn a set of techniques well than to know a lot of techniques that you are not confident to use. The techniques I am going to talk about are well known to work” Relay Application How useful is it to improve your listening skills? In what areas does it help you to improve the most? My journey to success Gain insight into how to approach the corporate world Be inspired to contact local organisations directly to market yourself Understand what HR professionals expect from a welfare support service Recognise the difference between private practice and workplace counselling Prepare our profession to respond to the current mental health at work agenda

My journey… Worked in telesales for 8 months Served 8 years in RAF Various HR roles + 4 years in evening class Qualified in 2002 Had twins 2003 Left job in 2004 to go ‘part-time’ self employed Embarked on a 3 year plan to attract corporate customers 2006 – subcontracted work to my first Affiliate 2019 – 30 Affiliates covering the UK Central region

Multi-partial Perspective Components my success Personality Corporate Branding Multi-partial Perspective Networking Opportunist Clear & focused goals Business minded Socially aware people are aware of their own and other emotions – so are able to identify difficult situations and behave accordingly Perspective- able to look at the bigger picture Social network – how do you use it and how can you expand it? Optimists see adversity as external to themselves and temporary Clarity & Focus – good at knowing what their goals are and able to make plans to achieve it Internal Locus of control – have a perception that I have some control over what happens to me Sense of humour – lightens the mood & take a break from the adversity

Unique Selling Point (USP) Convenience Supports the local economy Speed of response Personalised customer service Encourages innovation and competition Quick to adapt to changing climates

What decision makers look for: Fulfil their legal obligations with the least amount of pain (time and money) Evidence that you’re a professional, reliable, confidential resource that will add value and be a sound return on investment Support & reassurance Added extras

Private Practice – v - Workplace Admin (invoicing/credit control) Time limited (up-skilling in CBT/BSFT is advantageous) It’s a multi-faceted agenda A reasonable expectation that therapy will facilitate a positive outcome from a work perspective Evidence of effectiveness & feedback Accountability

Thinks to consider Get clued up on local resources and know their pathways to access (IAPT/CMHT, specialist, local and national agencies) A Service Level Agreement and Confidentiality Agreement Does your public persona give off the right message to appeal to the corporate world? Acquaint yourself with the HR field Take off your ‘therapist’ hat when engaging in any dialogue!

Mental Health at Work Agenda NHS Long term plan has prevention at its heart Raising awareness is ongoing Promote positive mental health at work Over 50% of employers have access to occupational counselling Construction ‘Mates in Mind’

Resources The Management of Mental Health at Work – ACAS 2016 www.England.nhs.uk/mentalhealth/taskforce www.businessballs.com www.hse.gov.uk/stress/ Personnel Today BACP Workplace

Question Time

Sharon McCormick