For an organisation to grow and thrive, leaders, managers and employees alike all need to embody the organisation's culture. When that doesn't happen, employees leave and growth stagnates. How do you create a culture that everyone, with their diverse backgrounds and values, can get on board with? I spoke to Heather Polivka, CEO of HeatherP Solutions on how she uses her blend of HR, marketing and operations to create a healthy workplace culture that creates success for organisations.
- Listen to the latest episode: Creating a Healthy Workplace Culture, using the Podbean player below. The most recent 10 episodes can all be accessed directly.
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Working Well Podcast Episode Guide
Episode 35: Creating a Healthy Workplace Culture (23/6/21)
Susanne speaks to Heather Polivka, CEO of HeatherP Solutions about creating a healthy workplace culture. Heather discusses how she uses her expertise in marketing, HR and operations to provide a multi-dimensional solution to workplace culture issues. Susanne and Heather talk about the importance of establishing organisational values as a first step forward, the role leaders play in living these values in their behaviour and how Heather's top-down, bottom-up creates successful organisations. Heather can be found at https://www.heatherpsolutions.com and on LinkedIn.
Episode 34: Handling Difficult Employees (11/6/21)
Susanne interviews Author and serial Entrepreneur Kev Ashcroft to discuss how to handle a difficult employee in the workplace. They discuss the impact on this situation on his mental health, how it impacts the rest of the team and strategies for improving the employee's performance without sacking them. Kev also talks about how to sack an employee if other avenues have been explored.
Kev Ashcroft can be found at: https://www.kevashcroft.com.
Blinkered Media (marketing agency): https://www.blinkeredmedia.com.
WP Support Specialists(Wordpress specialists): https://www.wpsupportspecialists.com.
Kev's Book: Outsourcing for Success, How to Make the Most of Freelance Talent and Boost Your Business.
Episode 33: Networking For Introverts (26/5/21)
Susanne interviews Author, MIT Lecturer and experienced CTO Mark Herschberg to discuss networking for introverts. In the show, Mark questions the traditional view of networking and gives practical advice on how it can be made easier, especially if you prefer 1-2-1 interactions and small groups. You can find out more about Mark and his book The Career Toolkit at https://www.thecareertoolkitbook.com and buy his book from the usual outlets.
Episode 32: Workplace Wellbeing Survey Results (12/5/21)
For Mental Health Awareness Week 2021, Susanne looks at the results of a wellbeing survey she undertook with employees and employers, to find out what's really going on with wellbeing at work. Discover the extent to which wellbeing is being supported at work and what employees are saying about it. If you make decision on wellbeing in your workplace, this will give insight into some of the issues you could consider when reviewing wellbeing policies.
Episode 31: Managing Procrastination (24/3/21)
Why do we procrastinate? How does it manifest for us and what can we do about it?
Episode 30: Opportunities After Redundancy (10/3/21)
What do you do when you're made redundant? It's a challenging time, but there are great opportunities that can result. Susanne talks you through questions to consider if you're re-evaluating your career after redundancy and reflects on the amazing impact that redundancy had on her life.
Episode 29: The Courage To Be Disliked (24/2/21)
My summary of the book The Courage to be Disliked and the lessons it teaches about personal responsibility, managing power struggles, seeking recognition, praising others, self-acceptance, having confidence in others and workaholism.
Episode 28: Supporting Your Children During Work and Homeschool (4/2/21)
In this interview, Susanne talks to her 9-year-old daughter Lauren about her experiences of homeschool. Lauren discusses what she's learned through being in lockdown and shares her advice to parents and children alike on looking after their mental health during this time.
Episode 27: A Leap of Faith - Overcoming Fear (30/9/20)
Susanne talks about her recent experience of overcoming her fear of heights by doing a treetop walk: what spurred her on to do it, what action she took and the lessons she learned from it.
Episode 26: Developing the Mindset for Managing a Chronic Condition (2/10/19)
Using her own experience of managing chronic fatigue for 20 years,
Susanne talks about how you can develop a positive mindset to manage chronic conditions. What changes can you make in your life and your work?
Episode 25: Wellbeing Rooms at Work (12/7/19)
Susanne interviews Juliesa Aldolphus of the DMZ Business Incubator at Ryerson University, Toronto, about the wellbeing room they have in the office, which is made available to both staff and entrepreneurs who use the service.
Episode 24: Time Management (26/6/19)
Susanne talks about the reasons why we struggle to manage our time and gives practical suggestions on what we can do to improve how we use our time.
Episode 23: Helping Someone With Their Mental Health (16/5/19)
It's Mental Health Awareness Week. In this episode, Susanne talks about how you can help someone else with their mental health issues. How do you handle that difficult conversation?
Episode 22: Looking After Your Mental Health (14/5/19)
This episode looks at what you can do to improve your own mental health. How do you manage day to day life when you are struggling to get out of bed? Susanne gives you a number of suggestions to help make work and life in general more manageable.
Episode 21: Body Image and Mental Health (13/5/19)
It's Mental Health Awareness Week and Susanne is looking at how body image affects our mental health and the impact on us in the workplace.
Episode 20: Adopting a Positive Mindset (18/4/19)
April is Stress Awareness Month and Susanne is looking at how you can adopt a positive mindset to reduce stress. This podcast looks at the impact complaining has on the brain, how you can cope with others complaining, practicing gratitude, problem solving and looking for opportunities in negative situations. Susanne also talks about the importance of a positive mindset in leadership.
Episode 19: What do you Tolerate at Work? (27/3/19)
Tolerating stressful situations at work can make for an easier life, but ultimately it is bad for our mental health. This exercise helps you think through what you tolerate and why, allowing you to create a strategy for improving the situation.
Episode 18: How to Stay Focused at Work During a Personal Crisis (8/3/2019)
Are you experiencing a personal challenge or crisis in your life? This episode has practical strategies you can apply to improve your focus at work, despite the distraction.
Episode 17: Kindness in the Workplace (20/2/2019)
The importance of kindness in the workplace and the positive effects it has.
Episode 16: Emotional Eating (6/2/2019)
Do you use food as a comfort? Discover strategies to curb your emotional eating in this podcast.
Episode 15: Perfectionism (15/1/2019)
How do you reduce perfectionist tendencies? Susanne discusses how to reduce the impact perfectionism has on yourself and others and how to manage others high expectations of you.
Episode 14: Goals for the Year Ahead (19/12/2018)
Do you have new year resolutions? Here's a step-by-step exercise in how to set goals for the year ahead.
Episode 13: Reducing Workplace Stress for your Employees at Christmas (4/12/2018)
Christmas is a time of year when people feel additional pressure. Susanne discusses ways to improve the Christmas season for your employees.
Episode 12: Becoming Happier at Work (20/11/2018)
Susanne looks at how you can increase your happiness within the workplace by understanding yourself better, being clear on your goals, finding meaningful work, improving work relationships and accepting change.
Episode 11: How to Manage Your Stress (13/11/2018)
The stress series continues with advice for managing your own stress. Susanne looks at how to take better care of yourself, reducing the pressure on yourself when stress affects your cognitive abilities and how small positive changes reduce your stress.
Episode 10: How Technology Affects Workplace Stress (7/11/2018)
It's International Stress Awareness Week this week and National Stress Awareness Day in the U.K. on Wednesday 7th November. The theme for National Stress Awareness Day is Does Hi-Tech Cause High Stress? This episode looks at some of the ways technology can cause stress and some approaches to minimising stress caused by technology.
Episode 9: Assessing Your Own Stress Levels (29/11/2018)
Susanne takes you through an exercise to assess the extent of your own stress levels. If you want to do this exercise online, you can find it at: https://www.lifeswitchcoaching.com/client/assess-your-stress-levels/ Completing this will submit an email to Susanne with your results and she'll follow-up with you by email.
Episode 8: Signs of Stress in an Employee (25/10/2018)
How do you identify signs of stress in employee? What are the key elements of a stress framework in the workplace? Plus advice on what Line Managers can do to help their employee talk about stress.
Episode 7: Work-Life Balance After Maternity Leave (11/10/2018)
Susanne talks to Stephanie Barnet of Shearer's Candles about balancing work and family life after returning to work from maternity leave. Stephanie talks about the challenges she and her partner faced and how they overcame them. She also has some suggestions for looking after your own physical and mental health. Shearer's Candles can be found at https://www.shearer-candles.com
Episode 6: Dealing With Negative and Angry People (27/9/2018)
How can you deal with negative and angry people? Susanne talks about common reasons for negativity, the impact this has on the person and on the people around them and how you could approach it. Also, what do you do when someone is constantly angry?
Episode 5: Grief at Work (13/9/2018)
Susanne discusses how grief affects the brain and therefore impacts you in the workplace and in life in general. Plus, some suggestions on what you can do to cope with grief.
Episode 4: Overcoming my Stutter and my Depression (20/7/2018)
Susanne interviews Blogger Ryan Cowley about how he copes with his stutter in the workplace and how he manages depression. You can visit Ryan's blog on mental health at thebigsalad.ca and his LA Kings fan site is at makewayforthekings.net.
Episode 3: Challenging Negative Thinking and Overcoming Depression (12/7/2018)
Learn about the symptoms of depression and how you can challenge negative thinking. Susanne gives examples of how life coaching has helped clients with depression and gives advice on how to overcome depression you may be experiencing.
Episode 2: How my Chocolate Business Helped Me Overcome Depression (6/7/2018)
An interview with Dr. Neil Robson from Rebel Chocolate about how an interest in nutrition helped him cope with depression and carve out a new career for himself. Rebel Chocolate can be found at https://www.rebelchocolate.co.uk.
Episode 1: How I Created a New Career After Experiencing Workplace Stress (27/6/2018)
Susanne talks about how she made the transition from a stressful work and family situation, through to creating a new career and business for herself.
