Compassionate Management of Mental Health in the Modern Workplace

This proactive guide brings the relationship between work life and mental well-being into sharp focus, surveying common challenges and outlining real-life solutions. The authors' approach posits managers as the chief mental health officers of their teams, offering both a science-based framework for taking stock of their own impact on the workplace and strategies for improvement. Areas for promoting mental wellness include reducing stress and stigma, building a safe climate for talking about mental health issues, recognizing at-risk employees, and embracing diversity and neurodiversity. Emphasizing key questions to which managers should be attuned, the book speaks to its readers-whether in corporate, nonprofit, start-up, or non-business organizations-as a friendly and trusted mentor. Featured in the coverage: · Mind the mind: how am I doing, and how can I do better? · Dare to care: how are my people doing, and how might I help? · Building blocks for mental health: how do I manage my team? · Stress about stressors: what is constantly changing in the environment? · Changing my organization and beyond: how can I have a greater impact? Compassionate Management of Mental Health in the Modern Workplace holds timely relevance for managers, human resources staff, chief medical officers, development heads in professional service firms, union or employee organization leaders, legal and financial professionals, and others in leadership and coaching positions. "Workplace mental health: Wow! A subject that frightens most managers. If they read this book, they will strengthen their own skills and transform their workplace and our society." Donna E. Shalala, Trustee Professor of Political Science and Health Policy, University of Miami; former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services "Mental health is an underappreciated, and oft-misunderstood challenge that is growing in the modern workplace. This book provides leaders with practical advice to address mental health challenges in their organization and improve productivity and wellbeing. This is a topic that can no longer be ignored by leaders in any field, and a book that will fundamentally change the way we think about and help improve mental health in the workplace." Dominic Barton, Managing Director, McKinsey & Company

Professor John A. Quelch has served as Vice Provost of the University of Miami and Dean of Miami Business School in Miami, Florida, USA since 2017. He was formerly the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and Professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Professor Quelch is the first person to be Dean of three leading business schools on three continents. He served as Dean of the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai and Beijing; as Dean of London Business School in the United Kingdom; and as Senior Associate Dean of Harvard Business School. At CEIBS, he raised the school's MBA Financial Times ranking to number 15 in the world. At London Business School, he raised the global ranking to number 8. Professor Quelch is the author of 25 bookson strategic marketing, global branding and consumer-centric health care. He has been a director of ten publicly quoted companies including Reebok, Pepsi Bottling Group, Aramark and WPP, the world's largest marketing services company. He has given speeches and seminars in more than 50 countries and has consulted to many multinationals including Sinopec and Tencent. He is senior strategy advisor to JD.com. Professor Quelch earned degrees from Oxford University, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard Business School and Harvard School of Public Health. Carin-Isabel Knoop is executive director of the Case Research & Writing Group at Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Exposed as a child to the sometimes fatal consequences of a toxic workplace on mental health, Mrs. Knoop attended Harvard Business School to learn how to build better organizations. As the head of the Harvard Business School Case Research & Writing Group for the past two decades she and her team have supported the development of over 1,200 case studies. In addition to working on cases and research projects related to health care and well-being, leadership and organizational design, she has developed and refined a set of management tools focused on maximizing mental health and professional well-being. The book builds on her research, personal and managerial experience to help others understand their responsibility and opportunity to build well-performing human ecosystems. Mrs. Knoop, formerly a consultant in Europe, earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Texas at Austin.

Making the Argument that Good (Mental) Health Means Good (or Better) Business.- The Organizational Context.- Focusing Managerial Attention.- Warning: More Stressors Ahead.- Barriers to Changing the Way We Think About Mental Wellness.- Harnessing Mental Wellness as Competitive Advantage.