Creating a strategy or action plan - part 1

The value of a strategy or action plan

Creating a strategy or action plan can help everyone focus efforts on priority areas, the action needed to achieve change, who is responsible, what resourcing is required and when change is likely to be achieved. A strategy or action plan also provides the basis for measuring progress and success. 

Depending on the size of your organisation or the scale of changes you want to make, you may choose to create a detailed strategy or a simple action plan. The value of creating a strategy or action plan goes beyond what is on paper. The processes of assessing areas of need and consulting stakeholders can be key to getting their support for the change ahead.

When developing a strategy, working group or plan, focus on the purpose and mission – ask why are doing this? This focus can be a useful guide to move action forward. It can also help to follow a recognised overarching framework – such as the Blueprint for Mentally Healthy Workplaces, which outlines the 3 pillars of Protect, Respond and Promote.

Audit existing initiatives and investments

Reflecting on what you already do and how people respond will help you identify any gaps or opportunities. Many workplaces may be taking more action than they realise. A key activity to inform the needs analysis is to audit existing workplace mental health related initiatives, policies and programs. It helps you understand which initiatives and activities are already in place, how they are performing, how people use them and where the gaps in action or support are.

Here are some questions to help guide this audit:

• What does your organisation currently do to create a mentally healthy workplace?
• What supports, services or programs are available to support mental health in the workplace and/or recognise mental or suicidal distress and support people? What is the uptake/participation rate? What feedback did people who have engaged provide?
• How well do services, supports or policies fit with the 3 pillars of a mentally healthy workplace – Protect, Respond, Promote?
• Have existing approaches been evaluated?
• Have people provided suggestions for new approaches, services or activities?
• What referral processes or pathways exist for people experiencing mental or suicidal distress? How often are they used?

Review available data

Many workplaces have data they can use to understand their current state. It can include metrics organisational data, grievances, issues of risk and legal compliance. It can also include any recent reports or surveys about things that influence mental health at work or people’s experience of the work environment. Read ‘Measure what matters’ for more ideas on data you may already collect.

Consult in a fair, respectful and ethical way

Your strategy or action plan must deliver on what people feel are their key problems or areas of need. And to do that, you need to consult with people across the organisation about what they see as priorities, gaps or opportunities.

You need to protect safety, confidentiality and privacy when consulting, so that people feel comfortable providing their views. This is particularly important for sensitive topics such as mental health or any negative experiences created by the workplace. People need to feel they can raise issues and provide their views without any negative consequences – e.g. fear of losing their job or being overlooked for a promotion.

Give them opportunities to provide input anonymously e.g. via anonymous surveys, suggestion boxes, written submissions or private interviews. People will likely be more open, which helps you get a clear picture about the major issues. Organisations should be mindful of their obligations under the Privacy Act when consulting.

Include a wide range of people across the organisation in your consultation, to capture the full experience of your workplace. When looking at the data, consider whether some concerns vary across different groups of people (e.g. age, gender, cultural background, parental status, role) or across different parts of the business.

Identify priority areas

Based on the needs analysis, identify priority areas for action and investment. The 3 pillars – Protect, Respond and Promote – can be a useful starting point.

These questions can help you identify and set priorities:

• How well is your organisation meeting relevant legal and ethical obligations?
• Who needs to be involved in discussing or deciding priorities?
• What are the current urgent issues, gaps and opportunities – and what approaches might you want to take in the longer term?
• Is there anything causing immediate and/or significant harm that needs to be addressed?
• What is the likely impact of different actions on mental health in the organisation? Consider ranking them from most impactful to least impactful.
• What resources are needed to achieve these actions/enhancements?
• How motivated, prepared or able is the organisation to act in these areas? Do you need to complete any preparation, awareness building or training before you can act?

Once you have created a list of priorities, re-word each priority into a goal – something that clearly defines what achieving this priority would look like.

Identifying what will work for you

Investing in action to create a mentally healthy workplace takes time, money and resources. It also asks people to commit to the change process. To realise positive benefits from these investments, the activities you plan need to be effective and safe.

You could select activities based on a ‘evidence-informed’ approach. This approach involves considering whether any significant new programs, practices or even training have evidence that they will work – such as piloting, research studies or an evaluation. Look at the outcomes of potential programs, not just whether people enjoyed participating.

However, if you are just getting started, it may also be helpful to think about ‘optimisation’. In other words, find the best possible solution while working within existing limitations or constraints. Rather than trying to identify the perfect solution, focus on finding what will work best given your available time, money or other resource constraints.

Explore what your industry peers have done to improve mental health in their workplace and leverage their lessons about what worked well and what did not. Our library of case studies may help here.

This means you get started, and you can improve on your approach over time when more resources become available, or other constraints are lifted.

Once these steps have been completed, continue with drafting your strategic plan in part 2 of creating a strategy or action plan.