Team Activity

We recommend viewing the video individually prior to the meeting or as a team.  

Reflect on current practices that are working well for you and as a team. 

For areas of improvement: 

• Focus on moving forward and not on the past 

• Offer constructive suggestions for improvement 

• Discuss ideas, not individuals 

• Give everyone the chance to contribute 

Psychological and social support in the workplace is a big topic and it can seem daunting to address it. There are a few simple ways to begin to address these issues and make changes in our workplace. Remember change happens over time, and taking small steps in the right direction can make a significant impact over time.  

When making changes to our organization, it’s important to first determine where the problems lie, if any, and find creative solutions to those problems. So, get a sense of your own or your team’s needs and concerns when it comes to mental health and what resources are available. For example, call our Employee and family assistance program (EFAP) for a topic of interest. By calling our EFAP, you able to get familiarized with the service and it also helps to share a lived experience with those you recommend the service and also helps reduce the stigma of using the service.  

This step is a brainstorm session to put as many words as possible that represent psychological and social support. Take 2-3 minutes for the group to share their suggestions and reflections on these three questions:  

• What current practices are working well that support psychological and social support? 

• What current practices do we stop or improve? 

• What does psychological and social support mean to you?   

If you are conducting a virtual meeting, you can use Microsoft Teams to easily create a Word Cloud: 

1. Create a meeting in your Outlook calendar 
2. Go to your Teams Calendar, expand the meeting invite to full screen 
3. Click the + sign, which is located on at top next to Q&A 
4. From there, add the ‘Forms’ app and save 
5. Click on the 'Polls' tab and choose the option ‘New Poll’ 
6. Then select 'Word Cloud' and write in your questions

Here are some one-word examples to get the team going: Support, Understanding, Stress Management, Resources, Accommodation. 

Once the word cloud is completed, come up with specific actions that would positively demonstrate each word. Be practical and reasonable. Have a least one action for each word. 

Here are some examples: 

• Support: Train one or more staff or faculty members to be effective peer supporters and/or identify services that are currently available to support psychological health 

• Understanding:  Offer mental health awareness training for all 

• Stress Management: Share stress management tips at team meetings. For example, share personal strategies for managing stress at work 

• Resources: Pass on resources to all team members  

• Accommodation:  Ensure all team members are aware of the Health and Wellness team in Human Resources that offer support  

When developing your plan, each action should be:  

• Observable:must be able to see or hear it 
• Measurable:to which extent it makes a positive difference  
• Reasonable: managers need to have the time and resources to do it and must be reasonable for staff and faculty
• Relevant:make sense and everyone can adopt it 

Also consider if the ideas need approval form senior management, need funding you don’t already have, contravene a collective agreement, policy, or contract.  

To move into action, we recommend thinking critically about these actions and choose one to agree on to start. Depending on your group size, we suggest groups of 3-4 to allow small group discussion either at a table or in an online breakout room.  See bottom of page for instructions on setting up breakout rooms.     

Preferred 3 actions:  

1. __________________________ 
2. __________________________ 
3. __________________________ 

Once those 3 actions have been decided, look for a quick win to start. Have the group vote for the one action you want your manager/team to take. We recommend the criteria be: 

• Be low cost or no cost 
• Is relatively easy for the manager/team to adopt now 
• Doesn’t violate any uOttawa policies or contracts 
• Has the impact you want to have on psychological and social support 

Remember, the other ideas can also be considered later by your manager/team! 

Breakout Room Instructions 

1. Create a meeting in your Outlook calendar 
2. Go to your Teams Calendar, expand the meeting invite to full screen 
3. Go to Breakout rooms and select Create rooms 
4.  From the dropdown, choose how many rooms you'd like to create 
5.  Select Assign participants and choose whether you'd like employees to be assigned to rooms Automatically or Manually 
6. As soon as the meeting starts, you can open the breakout rooms

What potential challenges to adopting this action and how might we deal with that? Your current task is to brainstorm potential challenges before they arise. Remember to stay away from discussing individuals or personalities. Your task is to come up with constructive and helpful ideas to support the success of the action.