Take on Board breakfast recap – September 2020

At the same time as we’ve all had radically unique experiences of the highs and lows of COVID life, the data suggests that we are also deeply connected and more similar than we may think in the ways in which we have been and continue to be impacted by the very changed world we find ourselves in (at work and at home), as well as the positive ‘levers’ we have to navigate our continually changing environment.

At its core, wellbeing describes our ability to feel good and function effectively as we navigate the natural lows and highs we all experience, at work and at home. Not surprisingly, our wellbeing, how we feel day to day, has a significant impact on our performance, engagement, satisfaction and relationships at work and at home.

It’s reassuring to know that wellbeing is highly changeable and there is plenty you, you board, your leaders, teams and workers can do to make a positive impact, despite the significant challenges of a COVID environment.

This Zoom session was an interactive, evidence-based and thought-provoking discussion custom created to help boards understand, proactively and efficiently manage workplace wellbeing in a rapidly changing COVID environment. Our discussion included:

• Wellbeing myths and truths… getting the wellbeing story straight!
• The struggle we have with struggling and EAP use trends in COVID.
• What current workplace wellbeing research, and on the ground experience, is telling us – staying ahead of the curve.
• What gets measured gets managed. The importance of measuring workplace being wellbeing and making your investments count.
• Introduction to the PERMAH model of wellbeing (as just one example of a useful workplace wellbeing framework) and impactful PERMAH wellbeing interventions.
• What we see working and where we see organisations struggling in supporting worker wellbeing.
• Open Q&A.

There was a lot shared, and so many fabulous questions asked of Danielle – thank you for being active participants in this event. In fact, if you tune in to the pod next week you will (very likely!) get to hear a recap of the event, and your own special guest appearances as we may turn the event into a podcast (albeit with some parts edited – as directed by Danielle – for those parts that were Chatham House).

Some of the feedback:

• The feedback centred on how great it was to be able to participate from anywhere, the format and, of course, the one speaker. Some of the comments are included below – clearly the quality of speaker and breakout rooms are a winner!
• Great to have some break out groups in between to hear others more personal experiences.
• Danielle’s presentation, the breakout rooms and questions.
• Helga’s energy and welcomingness (is that a word?!).
• Helga’s zoom skills – shifting between meeting and breakout rooms was seamless.
• The breakout room experience in general was a great networking experience.
• The questions in the external platform works really well. Also that people could like other people’s questions, so you can escalate that one as it’s on the minds of many… that’s a great idea!
• For the most part the breakfast worked well.
• Breakout rooms.
• The informative presentation and engaging style of Danielle Jacobs and Helga Svendsen. The energy was fantastic nicely percolating along to energise us all over our breakfast get together.
• The session was well attended and everyone contributed in the breakout rooms..
• I enjoyed the small group conversations. The first discussion was like checking in with your mates. Participants were open about what was happening in their COVID worlds..
• I liked the introductory break out rooms.
• Group discussion and all the information shared by Danielle.
• Breakout rooms to meet a few people, have more intimate conversation.
• Guest speaker.
• Group work, attendee bios, presentation content.
• Breakout rooms – it was good to have an opportunity to chat more intimately with others.

Great facilitation and topic

The format – networking, speaker, networking, questions. All sections short and sharp and I think this worked really well for an online environment which can get draining if you’ve only got a speaker for a long time

Everything. Although I think the presenter tried to fit too much in. I would have liked to dwell more on the interventions

All components – good balance of break out vs presentation vs question time

Things for me to change next time:

Comments on what to do differently focussed on more time for everything! You can see the challenge I have! Note that this event had a tweaked format – one speaker, rather than two, to allow more time for breakout rooms, presentations and Q&A. At this stage, from the feedback above, I think the balance is about right so the next event will have the same format and I’ll tweak again in the future if needs be.

• More time for Q&A.
• More breakout time / less break out time to discuss questions.
• To hear more from our speaker.