Modern working life offers great freedom but also increased responsibility for the individual. Many have the self-leadership required for teleworking, for example. But many employers see the need to strengthen self-leadership skills with mental training to build up self-awareness and emotional control, which are the foundations of self-leadership, so more employers are choosing to invest more in preventive measures for mental health and a good psychosocial working environment. This also gives more employees the opportunity for mental training in the workplace. By enabling its employees to engage in mental training, the organisation can both prevent stress-related illnesses and improve the well-being of its 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. When evaluating the sessions, the leaders could see an increase in well-being and wanted to offer the same opportunity to other employees.

"All managers have the opportunity to unsubscribe from the mental training programme for their workgroups," says Anna Albrektsson, HR specialist at the City of Trollhättan.

The mental training programme 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 practice 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 option for continued access to the mental gym and the ability to book more live sessions.

 

The effect of mental training

By practicing in the mental gym, you open the door to increased productivity and creativity, both for yourself and the rest of your team. This will enable you 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'm calmer, more concentrated and I'm doing a better job and I feel better. I sometimes found it difficult to concentrate at home during the pandemic, it's so easy to think about other things. But mental training on the schedule gave me better concentration and presence." 

 

What has it given you as an organisation?

"It gives energy and increases well-being. Managers could see an increase in well-being when they evaluated. Imagine doing this at lunch and raising wellbeing for the afternoon so you feel good and strong."

Participant quotes from evaluation survey:
"I discovered how much I needed to calm myself down... So nice to finally give myself permission and time to reflect and practice." "Professional framing with a lot of focus on research and why - great!" "It was a fantastic training. Thank you so much!"

 

What should companies consider if they want to start mental training in the workplace?

"You need to see it as an organisational effort. There needs to be a structure that enables employees to use this activity."

 

Scientifically proven effects of mindfulness

  • Increases creativity, Ostafin, B. D. & Kassman, K. T. (2012)
  • Increases focus, Zeidan F., Johnson S. K., Diamond B. J. (2010)
  • Strengthens working memory, Prof. Amishi Jha, USA
  • Reduces stress in 2 weeks, Umeå University (2016)
  • Make us happier, Daniel Gilbert, Harvard University (2010)
  • Slows down the ageing process of cells, Elizabeth Blackburn (2009)
  • Reduces pain, F. Zeidan (2010)
  • Lower risk of influenza, Davidson R, Kabat-Zinn J. (2004)