It was a pleasure and a privilege to be at the House of Lords with parliamentarians and friends from across Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England’s network last week as we shared a first glimpse of our new campaign for workplace culture change,
My Whole Self.
A huge thank you to everyone who came on the day, to our patron Lord Patel for hosting us and to our guests and speakers for sharing their ‘whole self’.
We heard from the Speaker of the House, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, on his journey from being a ‘lad from Lancashire’ to a leader in the Commons. Nat Kilsby, a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, spoke about what it means to be a leader and bring their whole self to work as someone who is genderfluid.
And Lord Patel talked about his international upbringing, his passion for cricket as a proud Yorkshireman and why the work we are doing with South Asian women and the English Cricket Board is so important.
MHFA England’s Head of Culture and Wellbeing, Ama Afrifa-Tchie spoke about her experiences as a woman of colour and I shared mine as a gay man entering the workplace in the 90s.
For me, living authentically in our bodies and our minds means we can be and feel the best we can. This means that any conversation about mental health and wellbeing must have an understanding of diversity and inclusion at its heart.
I am Chief Executive of MHFA England. I am also a civil partner and husband, Cornish, proudly internationalist, a horse rider and a dog lover.
I know from my own experience that I wasn’t able to deliver my best work when I was holding a secret before I came out. Nor did I deliver my best work when I didn’t feel safe to talk freely about my relationships and social experiences. When you are hiding bits of yourself your mind is focused on protection rather than excellence and innovation.
And yes, we know there has been a lot of progress since I started work 25 years ago, not least we have the 2010 Equality Act. But the gap between legislation, rhetoric and reality remains.
Day in, day out, people right across the country are going to work hiding parts of themselves for fear of discrimination, judgement, bullying, or harm. Too many people, including women and people of colour can feel unheard and unseen with their ideas and successes too often credited to others.
In 2020, it isn’t possible – or desirable – to try to fit ourselves into a one size fits all work shaped suit, or be expected to leave part of ourselves at the door when we get to work.
This is where My Whole Self comes in. This new campaign invites us all to find common ground, to connect with each other’s understanding of the world, to think bigger and bolder and to be empowered to work more effectively together.
We know that when we have work with meaning and are able to be our whole self it powers our performance and our wellbeing which is very good indeed for business, for individuals and communities.
Bringing our whole self to work builds psychological safety and deeper connections and research shows this is one of the key ingredients of every successful team.
So as we build up to the release of our campaign toolkit next week, I call on you, wherever you work, as a small business or a multi-national to join the
Institute of Directors, the
Federation of Small Businesses and the
Chartered Management Institute in supporting and engaging with this campaign.
Save the date for My Whole Self Day on Wednesday 18 March and join us in encouraging everyone – whether those you work with directly, in partnership or through your supply chains – to bring more of themselves to work.
Find out more about the campaign and how you can get involved at mhfaengland.org/my-whole-self.
