“Our pragmatic view on mental well-being just click together”

The topic of complementarity is a common theme when Koen Van Hulst, responsible for mental well-being at Mensura, and Tom Nijsmans, Managing Director at The Tipping Point, talk about how their organisations work together.

“At Mensura, we strive for measurable impact in the workplace. We do this based on risk analysis and targeted advice, among other things. But it should not stop there," says Koen Van Hulst. "Strong analysis and substantiated advice around mental well-being are not the same as an action plan. And, as far as I’m concerned, that’s where the great strength of our collaboration with The Tipping Point can be found. They help turn that advice into concrete action."

Tom Nijsmans agrees. "To realise the impact to which Koen refers, one-off interventions are not enough.
A project-based approach is required to ensure sustainable anchoring within the organisation. So we call ourselves 'learning architects' at The Tipping Point. We exchange information with Mensura's prevention advisers and work on topics such as feedback culture, psychological safety and leadership."

Koen Van Hulst: "I regularly talk to other parties, but we share the same DNA with The Tipping Point.
Our pragmatic view on mental well-being just click. Have a look at our risk analysis: we deliberately keep it compact. What we do has to resolve something and be genuinely applicable."

Tom Nijsmans: "Our baseline at The Tipping Point is 'Passion meets Science meets Practicism'. I also find a similar approach at Mensura: translating legislation into targeted actions that are based on science. That's what it's all about. That impact is also contained in the trainings we provide. Did the person completing the training benefit from it? Will there be an effective change in behaviour?" 

Tom Nijsmans: "Return on investment is not the same as return on expectation management. By properly filtering for expectation patterns, we can be honest and transparent about whether a concrete question is the right starting point."

Koen Van Hulst: “That’s right, customers sometimes tend to think in terms of solutions right away. 'Can you come over, we have issues with aggression in the workplace.' By properly capturing the need in a prior conversation, a prevention adviser can sometimes come to a different conclusion. Starting from a good analysis, checking the incidents that have taken place, examining the existing procedures, and so on allow solutions to be targeted. And that's where The Tipping Point comes in."

Koen Van Hulst: "The HR world is evolving. 'Change' remains a constant, but we also get questions about diversity and inclusion on a daily basis."

Tom Nijsmans: "I see three trends, to which we respond to at The Tipping Point. Within the whole change story, leadership occupies an important place. Quite a lot falls on the shoulders of managers. They are responsible for a great deal of things but do not always have the necessary knowledge or tools. We are already working on that with Mensura, but we can go further. 

We also put dialogue at the heart of our approach, a fundamental aspect of feedback and psychological safety. And a third is the way people learn. We are currently experimenting with asynchronous online learning.
After all, getting 12 people together for training is not an easy task."

Koen Van Hulst: “Well-being and a focus on this area has to be experienced, it is a culture that must be brought to life. Training on this is crucial, if you ask me, but as a consequence of working towards a culture of well-being. Not as an end in itself.

Basic training such as 'Respect at Work' remains important. You might be tempted to think 'everyone knows about that anyway', but in reality this is not always the case. The same goes for person of trust trainings.
We engage in dialogue with participants, starting with examples and asking what they think."

Tom Nijsmans: "Learning is a way of exploring career paths. In that sense, I think five days of training a year is too little. A requirement for some courses would certainly not be a bad thing. Again, take the example of leadership. How many people in leadership positions are engaged in self-leadership? Who are you?
As a manager, how do you handle feedback or resistance? There should be more focus on those aspects.
'I wish I’d known this much sooner' is something we hear regularly."