September 2016

Drayton Partners Networking Breakfast unravels the meaning behind Wellbeing within business

"It’s important to take into account that every individual member of the team or group, thinks, sees and does things differently, and embracing those differences and focusing on the strengths of each person really is key"

Drayton welcome HR professionals to discuss the meaning of Wellbeing and discover effective practices for teams and individuals within business.

On Monday 19th September, Drayton welcomed a network of professionals specialising in HR, to join us at The Victory Services Club, London. We partnered with Dr Tim O’Brien, a member of the British Psychological Society and professional in the field of emotional and behavioural change to provide an insight into the meaning behind wellbeing, and explain his methods of how teams, groups, and individuals can benefit hugely from putting into place positive practices and strategies in a business environment.

Tim has vast and varied expertise around this topic, spending his time working with individuals and groups from a variety of industries and professions, including ten years with Arsenal FC. Our main question for discussion was “Let's stop talking about ‘wellbeing’ and start thinking differently” and we all entered the session with our own ideas of what wellbeing means and was aware that this topic is gradually becoming a priority and a buzzword within business, but what we really wanted to gain was a better understanding of what does this actually mean. It became clear from the start of a fascinating talk from Tim, he champions the importance of creating strategy and a methodology to face issues or problems effectively, as well as working on ways of creating an overall feeling of positivity and productivity.

We learnt it’s a deep rooted subject, and there are so many ways of working it into your life or business. It could perhaps seem a little overwhelming at first, but what we learnt is that it’s a matter of pinpointing certain techniques, almost creating an ingredients list, that works for you and your business’s needs. Tim explained it’s important to take into account that every individual member of the team or group, thinks, sees and does things differently, and embracing those differences and focusing on the strengths of each person and not focusing on any weaknesses really is key.

Tim also shared the scenario of when someone is faced with problems or debates on a deeper or more personal level, which is perhaps a daunting prospect for some, but you can learn how to put yourself into a different mindset and pinpoint what kind of issue it is in order to feel confident and prepared about how to tackle it. Try breaking it down into groups – is it a common problem (not feeling valued, not feeling listened too, not feeling appreciated), is it distinct (is it about gender, religion or race) or is it totally individual (no one else has this need), to allow for consideration and research prior to the conversation.

It really is a fascinating subject and something that is becoming ever more apparent it needs to be worked into our daily life and routine, particularly within the business environment. There is so much to learn and dig deep into, but our conclusion is that a small change can make a huge difference, even if it’s about choosing a few statements or techniques that stand out to you and putting them into a “Wellbeing Ingredients List” or your “Daily Practices Rule Sheet”, it can only benefit a business, a group or team of people, as well as individuals.

Here are some standout points that really got us thinking:

  • 14 million pieces of data enter our brain every second – our minds are always busy, taking in new information, and in today’s day and age, it’s hard not to be affected in some way by the data that’s all around us, often without us even realising.
  • People see things differently and people hear things differently, people – the phrase, “what you see is what you get” doesn’t mean anything and again, is always going to be interrupted differently from one person to the next.
  • Everything you think, feel, think and do, all begins in your head.
  • Perception is a filter to what you personally see and feel around you.
  • Resilience, is it a trait? Resilience is actually a state of mind that can be trained, taught and matured. Every person can be resilient to certain situations, it's a matter tapping into the part of you that can handle it and use it effectively when needed.
  • Focus, a person never loses the ability to keep focused, a person just often spends too much time focusing on the wrong thing.
  • Everybody has empathy in their personality, it is built into everybody. It just needs to be tweaked from person to person, situation to situation:
  • Self Esteem does not exist. If a person feels low on self-esteem about areas they are less confident at, again they are not focusing on the right thing, the stronger areas of a person’s ability or way about things should be boosted, praised and discussed to ultimately ensure a feeling of positive self-esteem.

Drayton Partners hold networking events on a regular basis and they are an important part of us living the Drayton ‘THINK SMARTER’ philosophy. These events allow us to use our industry network to contribute in our own small way to the development of the market.

For more information on our approach to building long term relationships with both clients and candidates please contact us at info@draytonpartners.com