DIVERSITY
“ EVERYBODY NEEDS TO GET INVOLVED . EVERYBODY NEEDS TO HAVE A MUCH BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF MENTAL HEALTH IN PARTICULAR . IT ' S JUST MORE ABOUT CREATING A MUCH BETTER ENVIRONMENT AND IT ' S NOT JUST FOR LINE MANAGERS ”
YULIA O ' MAHONY GLOBAL HEAD OF HEALTH & RESILIENCE , PHILLIP MORRIS
Muenster is adamant that teams with psychological safety are much more effective teams . The company is working towards its smoke-free vision , investing more than US $ 9bn to develop more smokefree products for adults on top of its existing portfolio , including heat-not-burn , vapour and oral nicotine products . In order to achieve the company ’ s transformation , more innovations need formulating .
“ In order to drive this innovation , you clearly need psychological safety . So there ' s a big push from our side currently to drive this psychological safety ,” says Muenster . “ We are currently piloting a way to measure inclusion . I think because inclusion is so broad , it ' s really difficult to capture all the different elements , but we are actually running a pilot with regards to inclusion .”
O ’ Mahony believes that role modelling is part of the drive . According to her , in a team where the manager was effectively role modelling and showing good behaviours in terms of personal boundaries , recharging , and looking after themselves , both the engagement and wellbeing scores were much higher .
“ Having open conversations about mental health was very important as well ,” says O ’ Mahony in building psychological safety at the corporate level . “ Everybody needs to get involved . Everybody needs to have a much better understanding of mental health , not just line managers .” sustainabilitymag . com 93