We are avid lovers and owners of animals at Ultimate U – dogs, cats and fish feature in our team’s menagerie!

So, we were all mightily shocked by Mary Bale’s actions this week as she first appeared to befriend Lola but then put her into a wheelie bin.  We understand that she may lose her job with the Royal Bank of Scotland as a result.  Her reason for doing this act was that her father has been very ill.  One of the questions we are deliberating here is, how does your father being ill motivate you to hurt another creature? 

There is evidence that if you’re experiencing a stressful set of circumstances that your behaviours can become different to the norm and sometimes you are not aware of how you are coming across to others. 

Our concern is that there are people like Mary Bale who use stressful circumstances as an excuse for inexcusable behaviour.  We have seen a trend emerging for this tactic and we think that sometimes it is absolutely that – a tactic to get people out of a tight spot.   This in turn can diminish the experiences of people who are in genuine need of help with their situations – it ridicules stress as a serious issue.

 What do you think to this?  Do you think Mary was in control of her behaviour on that day?  Is she using her father’s ill health as an excuse?

I think my experiences are fairly typical when I say that excellent customer service that leaves you feeling delighted are often hard to come by.  Doubly challenging for me, as I train organisations on this stuff, and in some ways I am even harder to please!  So, when something really good happens I want to celebrate it.  I would like to share with you my latest hairdressing experience. 

My hairdresser of 7 years had decided to move on from my local salon, so I felt that it was time for a change.  Now, maybe you are with me when I say that your barnet is quite important: it frames your face, can enhance your image and maybe even increase your self-esteem; so getting it wrong is not an option.  I was therefore naturally anxious about trying somewhere new.  I decided on Baroque in Harrogate (some distance away from Richmond but worth it, I thought, if they were really good). 

I was warmly welcomed by the reception staff and promptly taken upstairs to meet the team who would be creating the magic! The rapport built by Hayley and Rebecca was excellent. They asked some really good questions like: “What impression would you like your hair to give?” and the usual, “How much time do you want to spend on your style everyday”.  They listened well and advised on a complete re-style (very worrying as I started to think “does my current style look a bit rubbish?” and then the, “can I trust them thoughts” crept in). 

My fears were unfounded as I left feeling absolutely re-invigorated, re-styled and dare I say it – fabulous and I actually believe I left the salon walking a little taller than usual.

So, what were they magic ingredients?  For me, it was the treating me as an individual, really caring about what they were doing and completely listening and responding with empathy to my queries.  There were the other bits that were also fantastic such as the complimentary hand massage and the endless cappuccinos I consumed.

I’d love to hear from any of you out there who have had a fantastic customer experience – what do you think makes exceptional service? 

Who are the customer service heroes in your area and why?

Andrew Lansley (Health Secretary) announced that there will be £70 million available for people who experience anxiety and depression to have access to psychological therapies.

This is, of course, good news but I am inclined to agree with Paul Farmer – Chief Executive of Charity Mind when he says that mental ill health has suffered a long period of neglect in the government’s eyes and therefore this amount of money will not be enough to address the cumulative problems we now have.

For example, there are people who have been waiting longer than a year to get access to these vital services. Having depression/anxiety for a year is a long time and unfortunately, people are probably more likely to need the services longer to overcome their challenges – meaning less money in the pot for newly diagnosed individuals.

However, any money dedicated to Mental Ill Health is a positive step forward – the government should be applauded for this and at least mental health is back on the agenda.

Let’s hope that the money gets to those in need soon.

The best bits?  We all looked very dapper in our matching Parkinson’s t-shirts. Our lunch was great, as was sight of the finish line! 

The bad bits? Rain, cold and wind – it must have been the worst day in June so far! I had my merino layer on, plus windstopper, plus waterproof, plus ride t-shirt and was still decidely on the cool side – which is not how I looked!!!

Huge congratulations to all the SABLE riders and a well done to my husband for putting up with me moaning about the cold all day! There was no escape for him as I was right behind him on our tandem!

Ultimate U are very happy to be sponsoring a Charity Bike Event in aid of Parkinson’s UK on Saturday 19th June. We are cycling 50 miles and we hope to raise plenty of money for this well deserving cause.

 The tandem has been checked over to ensure it is in perfect working order but I’m not sure the same can be said of mine and John’s legs!

I would really appreciate it if you could sponsor me – however little the amount – please click on the link below and thanks!

http://www.justgiving.com/Fiona-Yorke

Will keep you posted about how the event went…

Just as people are becoming confident to share with others their experience of depression, Porter ridicules their accounts of attempting suicide and the daily battle they face to get well by saying, ‘get a grip’.  And it is exactly that lack of empathy and understanding that my clients have to deal with.  Often, during our mental health awareness sessions, attendees – for the first time - feel safe and liberated enough to share their story and seek help.  They often cite the media’s lack of understanding as perpetuating the stigma they face from family, friends and work colleagues.

Evidently, she is just a ‘tension seeker’ and has not really researched her subject before commenting.  The stigma around mental ill health has not gone away- indeed it is one of the biggest challenges facing my clients in the workplace and we work together to tackle it.  Depression doesn’t  just affect the ‘middle classes’ as Porter claims. Mental illness, unlike Porter, does not discriminate, anyone – irrespective of background, wealth or status can be affected.

What’s your view?

A teacher who struck a pupil with a dumbbell has been acquitted of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent the BBC has reported. Peter Harvey, 50, hit the 14-year-old with a 3kg (6.6lb) weight at All Saints’ Roman Catholic School, Mansfield, in July 2009.

Thankfully, the judge and jury saw sense and acquitted him. Harvey had returned to work after being signed off with Stress and Depression. It was clear that he was still not ready to return to work and/or needed additional support to ease him back into teaching.

It can be difficult for employers to know what to do to best support employees when they present mental ill health conditions. I believe some simple awareness training of what to expect from Peter and some coaching for his line manager on how to construct a dialogue about his return to work would have been beneficial.

All too often because there are still a lot of myths surrounding what mental ill health is, managers are reluctant to even talk about it with their teams. This is often because of their own anxieties or prejudice about the subject. Reducing stigma by becoming more aware of how to support employees, knowing how to notice and monitor key signs and symptoms and getting your own prejudices re-examined could really help.

Well, it’s now official – we have just sent off our entry for the National Training Awards. These awards are the UK’s most prestigious. We are really proud of our entry which outlines how we introduced an innovative Mental Wellbeing programme into one of our client’s organisations. Of course there is now a process of short listing and if we get through that, then the judges come out and visit us for a further ‘grilling’!

So we’ll keep you updated on progress…we are quietly confident but still have got everything crossed!!

I am intrigued to know what exactly that means…

Do people really know how to have fun at work? With all the caution around whether certain banter is acceptable plus the increasing levels of workload after the recession has hit, seeing staff numbers decrease, getting into ‘fun’ could prove quite a challenge. But I am absolutely convinced that it is the right thing to get into.

I’ve seen small changes to the working environment making a huge difference to how people feel about their surroundings and whether they have permission to relax and have a bit of fun. For example, one of my clients has recently moved into new offices – all the walls are white and give a very clinical feel. The Operations Manager wanted the atmosphere to feel more friendly and personal. So, he invited his team to bring in some photos of themselves when they were younger and these were projected onto various walls. This created a talking point, interest and lots of giggles that reduced tension and allowed dialogue from different departments to increase.

Okay I am not suggesting that we all start doing this but really thinking about what we mean by a ‘fun atmosphere’ and identifying what the boundaries to this will be are essential. So let’s get it on the next team meeting agenda, “Item 1 – How we can create a more fun atmosphere at work” and roll with it!

Our view…

You may have heard that earlier this year PC Mark Johnson of Nottinghamshire Police received a six month conditional discharge and was ordered to pay £2500 costs for the deaths of two police dogs Jay-Jay and Jet who were left in his van without ventilation in 29.3 degree heat last year.

The sentence for Johnson was not as lengthy as it could have been after it emerged he had been suffering from depression and obsessive compulsive disorder.  It was identified that his employers could have done more to support Johnson with his poor mental health.

This case raises important considerations for employers.  Mental ill health can be easily ‘brushed off’ by managers until something devastating happens as with the Johnson case.  Being reactive to mental ill health can often be a mistake; we believe employers need to set a policy, communicate it and raise awareness to staff of how to apply it.  Managers especially need to have a grasp of how to have meaningful dialogue with staff about mental ill health. 

But were others factors at play here?  We think so.  Large uniformed institutions such as the Police can be victim to a perpetuation of a ‘macho’ type culture where not showing a vulnerable side is the norm.  The consequences?  People bottle up issues, refuse to acknowledge that they may have a problem and managers get away with not tackling issues and the organisation removes the opportunity for support and positive intervention techniques by managers.

Now we are not saying that all Police forces do this and we are sure there will be some excellent examples out there of support strategies for staff with mental health issues but we think more employers need to be waking up to the fact that their staff are human and that the old ‘leave your problems at the door’ philosophy of management is exactly what it is – old.

What is your organisation doing to get teams resilient against mental ill health?