Despite our different career paths, the three of us have all experienced the challenges of working with companies where the culture somehow manages to inhibit human potential.  We have all seen and been involved in corporate change programmes and leadership initiatives with great intentions, but where something always seemed to be missing.

What brought us together was MenSpeak, the UK’s leading men’s group community; we are all members of the core facilitation and management team. We became deeply involved in building and holding men’s groups and saw the amazing effects on personal wellbeing, awareness, and confidence. During the Covid crisis the MenSpeak daily online check-ins have been a lifeline and critical point of connection for thousands of men in the UK and abroad. 

Despite being rather different characters, we became friends along the way. And with the growing obligation on organisations to create healthy communities, the same question dawned on all of us; ‘How can we bring the quality of results we’re seeing in our men’s groups, into the organisational world?’

With this question in the air, fate took a hand during the 2020 UK winter lockdown.  The MenSpeak team were asked to give a talk at a corporate ‘lunch and learn’ about what men’s groups are.  Rather than talking about it, we ran a typical men’s group check-in for the 40 or so men and women that signed up.  Senior and less experienced people, familiar and unfamiliar faces, bosses, and team members – all together.  The impact was remarkable. People said it helped them feel (re)connected to, and supported by, each other in a way none of their regular ‘team bonding’ sessions had done. 

This event only deepened our conviction.  Research and numerous client conversations confirmed that while organisations are taking the wellbeing of their people seriously, conventional routes such as mental health training for managers, wellbeing specialist appointments and personal coaching don’t go far enough.  There was nothing to help people really connect across structures and hierarchies to create sustainable supportive communities at work.

There is now.