Modern working life offers great freedom but also increased responsibility for the individual. Many people have the self-leadership required for e.g. teleworking. But many employers see the need to strengthen self-leadership skills with mental training to train self-awareness and emotional control, which is the basis of self-leadership, so more employers are choosing to invest more in preventive measures for mental health and a good psychosocial work environment. This also gives more employees the opportunity for mental training in the workplace. By enabling their employees to train mentally, organizations can both prevent stress-related illnesses and improve the well-being of their employees and build a sustainable workplace.
How mental training works in the workplace
To answer this question, we interviewed one of Mindworkout's clients, the City of Trollhättan. Their journey began with a series of mental training sessions for the organization's leaders during their leadership days. While evaluating the sessions, the leaders could see an increase in wellbeing and wanted to offer other employees the same opportunity.
"All managers have the opportunity to call off the mental training program for their work groups" says Anna Albrektsson, HR expert at the City of Trollhättan.
The mental training program they have chosen starts with training workshops where we go through the most important basics of mental training. Then, for three months, we train a live session via zoom every week with mental training. We train techniques in areas such as focus, sleep and stress management to memory and mindfulness. But employees also get access to several pre-recorded sessions that they can use whenever they want. After these three months, there is the possibility of continued access to the mental gym and being able to book more live sessions.
The impact of mental training
By practicing in the mental gym, you open up for increased productivity and creativity, both in yourself and the rest of the team. As a result, you will be able to perform even better together and feel better both at work and at home.
Anna Albrektsson on her own experience of mental training in the workplace:
"It has been very valuable for me as an individual. I am calmer, more concentrated and I do a better job while feeling better. I sometimes found it difficult to concentrate at home during the pandemic, it's so easy to think about other things. But adding mental training to my schedule helped me concentrate and be present."
What has it given you as an organization?
"It energizes and increases well-being. Managers could see an increase in wellbeing when they evaluated. Imagine doing this at lunch and raising wellbeing for the afternoon so you feel good and strong."
Participant quote from evaluation survey:
"I discovered how much I needed to calm myself... So nice to finally give myself permission and time to reflect and practice." "Professional setting with a lot of focus on research and why - great!" "It was a fantastic training. Thank you so much!"
What should you consider as a company if you want to start mental training in the workplace?
"You need to see it as an organizational effort. A structure needs to be created that enables employees to use this activity."
Scientifically proven effects of mindfulness
- Increases creativity, Ostafin, B. D. & Kassman, K. T. (2012)
- Increasing focus, Zeidan F., Johnson S. K., Diamond B. J. (2010)
- Strengthening working memory, Prof. Amishi Jha, USA
- Reducing stress in 2 weeks, Umeå University (2016)
- Make us happier, Daniel Gilbert, Harvard University (2010)
- Slowing down the cell ageing process, Elizabeth Blackburn (2009)
- Reducing pain, F. Zeidan (2010)
- Lower risk of influenza, Davidson R, Kabat-Zinn J. (2004)