Mental Health Job Aid for Managers: Psychosocial Factor 8 – Involvement and Influence
Involvement and Influence are present in a workplace where employees are included in discussions and decisions about how their work is done, and employees feel they have meaningful input into their work and believe they have a voice in the affairs of their organization.
Involvement and Influence: Where to Start?
Take Action!
Provide your employees with flexibility and avoid "micro-managing" to foster a culture where your employees have some level of responsibility, autonomy and accountability.
Allow your employees to provide input into the decision making process by seeking and soliciting employee feedback and suggestions when you are asked to provide recommendations to senior management.
Actively listen to your employees and encourage new ideas and innovative approaches to their work through facilitating idea generating team meetings and team "design jams" (i.e. Canadian Digital Service's Design Jam).
Include employees in meetings related to their work by bringing them to senior management meetings or Assistant Deputy Minister meetings where the employee's work will be discussed.
Schedule regular one-on-one meetings with your staff to ensure they understand what is expected of them, as well as the purpose of their work and how they contribute to the overall organizational vision.
Allow your employees to develop their own annual goals, including their work objectives and performance indicators, and learning plans.
Encourage discussions about how work is done and how it could be improved, and provide timely responses to employees' suggestions on improvements, as well as a rationale about why certain suggestions are approved or not approved.
Provide training to help your employees maintain a sense of control over their work (i.e. priority-setting and time management), and in effective communication skills (i.e. interpersonal problem-solving and negotiation) (see Canada School of Public Service Courses listed below).
Additional Resources
To assess each psychosocial factor, you may use the Organizational Review Worksheet and Survey Tool provided by Guarding Minds at Work.
Developed in collaboration with the Centre of Expertise on Mental Health in the Workplace.
