Jakob Schmidt, Head of Planning & Development at Nordjyllands Beredskab, was due to hold a theme day on psychological well-being this autumn. The group had been newly established following a reorganisation, but everyone had previously completed the online group course on psychological well-being. To make the theme day as relevant as possible, Jakob let the group choose for themselves which modules from the course they wanted to revisit and work on further.

The group chose: Module 3, which deals with ”What is psychological security?’ not ”…”, Module 4 ”On the leader’s role in the team”, Module 5 ”On supportive working groups” and Module 7 ”On fear and the triune brain”. They also selected two of the sequences from the Masterclass, namely ”The Psychology of Silence” and ”On Making Suggestions’.

Jacob Schmidt says: ”For me as a manager, Module 4 – the one on the manager’s role within the team – was particularly important, as we are a new department and it was therefore important for me to have that specific topic explored. I think I managed to put it something like this: that this specific module could be used to defuse a potentially explosive issue.”.

At the end of the day, the group agreed on which trial actions they would continue to work on, and they agreed on the following:

1. ”We must remember to celebrate our victories.

2. Learning point of the week/month.

3. We do not expose each other’s mistakes.

4. The person who ”owns” the fault decides for themselves whether it should be rectified.

5. Vi siger god morgen til alle i afdelingen – og så vidt muligt også farvel 😊

6. We can draw up a skills catalogue so that we know internally where we can turn to for help and advice.

7. ”We’re trying to incorporate some social elements. During working hours and, ideally, with a professional focus.”.

Jacob Schmidt: ”All in all, it was a fruitful day, which now ”just” needs to be put into practice – by far the hardest task of all.”.

We believe this will go well, as Diana Sørensen, Director of Nordjyllands Beredskab, explains that they have just taken on a new member of staff to help ensure these positive initiatives are sustained.