“It felt like she was invested in our learners”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe wanted an opportunity for our operational management team to validate their existing skills and learn new ones. We are a unique organisation with a unique approach, and the work we do doesn\u2019t always translate into other environments,\u201d explains Sarah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt took us a long time to find a training provider that was very vocal and clear about the importance of a values-based approach to leadership and whose values aligned with our own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur Level 3 facilitator, Janet, went over and above what was required, and it felt like she was invested in our learners as we were. That really made a big difference, and I\u2019m not sure we would have got that same level of support from a different training provider. We couldn\u2019t have gotten to where we are now without Happy being as invested as we were in the learners.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working with Happy has had many benefits for the learners at Dorset Mental Health Forum, such as improving their project teams to be truly self-managing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt has been quite validating in terms of some of the structures, systems and processes that we had in place. It has also enabled us to query and explore some of the areas where we hadn\u2019t disseminated or devolved responsibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor example, devolved budgets are not something that we had done in our organisation, because of the complex ways that our charity is funded and supported. The programmes really got us thinking about what it would look like to devolve a bit more budget responsibility to our project teams and explore tools and resources we perhaps wouldn\u2019t have done otherwise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Level 3 and Level 5 facilitators, Janet and Sarah, have a lot of resources that they shared with our learners and our learners then brought these into our organisation. We approached these with curiosity, and shared and explored that. The main benefit has been creating that shared learning environment, and being able to draw on the resources that Happy brought in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Happy recommended sending several learners onto the programmes, as at Dorset Mental Health, this created a culture of learning and sharing ideas between teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe programmes created a sense of community amongst the learners. We would recommend having more than one learner going through the programme, because that peer support element was really helpful,\u201d says Sarah.
\u201cWe saw learners taking what they were getting from Happy and exploring how they could make it fit for themselves and the context of our organisation. They were also able to support each other and boost each other\u2019s confidence about the material. Over time, we did see their confidence grow and develop, but it wasn\u2019t a linear process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Is there anything that Sarah believes prospective employers and learners need to know before they attend the programme?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important for employers to understand their responsibilities as well as the learner\u2019s responsibilities, and plan for the capacity that will take. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon\u2019t go into it expecting that your only investment is to release the learners for the learning days and study days. Your investment is going to involve generating opportunities for learners to develop all the knowledge, skills and behaviours required of the course by teaching learners how budgets are managed within your organisation.
\u201cYou need to approach the programme with an open mind and understanding that the capacity you need to be able to commit to, is broader than just the 20% off-the-job training. This must be a partnership between you as the organisation, the learner and the training provider, to get the most out of the programme.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou [Janet] have made the learning enjoyable and accessible and so, I have retained a lot of the knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThank you for making the experience so enjoyable and rewarding.” – Chris Jones, Peer Lead for Digital at Dorset Mental Health<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dorset Mental Health Forum transformed its workplace culture with Happy, fostering trust, autonomy, and well-being\u2014empowering staff to thrive and make a greater impact.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8878,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"case-study-category":[55],"class_list":["post-8876","case-study","type-case-study","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","case-study-category-leadership-and-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n