One Year On…How much has changed?

Everything is the answer in short!

However there is no doubt in my mind that the last twelve months has changed everyone’s outlook in life.

Over 125,000 soles have lost their lives, millions have not seen or hugged parents or even their children.

Friends missing the support of each other, missing the simple things in life. Some shielding for nearly a whole year. Jobs lost, income concerns and for many real financial worries.

Businesses closed, no theatres, no cinemas, no pubs, high streets emptied, redundancy at a level not witnessed for many years.

However, we have also seen communities come together, individuals who have done extraordinary things for others. Neighbourhoods getting to know each other, standing on door steps banging pots and pans in recognition for the amazing work of the NHS staff - individuals I am simply in awe of, those who retired returning to the front line to protect our NHS. Millions of volunteers doing the shopping, delivering or simply phoning strangers to see how they are.

Businesses and individuals reinventing themselves, innovation and technology usage especially in the over 50s like never before.

More people walking, more time at home with your immediate family. Netflix, board games used for the first time in years. Making an effort to link to those not seen for a long time, parties online, creative events via zoom.

“You’re on Mute” - saying of the year!

Them there are those who just seem to say the right thing and know the mood of the nation.

Captain Sir Tom Moore - “‘Let’s try not to get downhearted, we will get through this, whatever is thrown at us and together we can ensure that tomorrow will be a good day.”

Our wonderful Queen - “We will meet again” & “Of course, for many, this time of year will be tinged with sadness: some mourning the loss of those dear to them, and others missing friends and family members distanced for safety, when all they’d really want for Christmas is a simple hug or a squeeze of the hand.

Added to those who have empowered us through words I recognise those leaders who have made unpopular decisions, there will be a time to reflect and review.

Then we have three special guys, who I think have been honest and in their own ways vey warm and showed great humour in a difficult subject:- Jonathan Vantam, Chris Whitty & Patrick Valance, all legends in my book.

Closer to home, I remember that we were panicking our house move would not happen, we completed by 45 minutes before the government closed the housing market down. I remember meeting the estate agent in a car park handing keys over to me covertly. You couldn’t write it!

Work was bizarre, everyone furloughed but for a few. It created an amazing spirit in everyone. Zoom socials for the team, the first lockdown felt like a war bunker approach.

We all managed a few months of some activity during the summer but then another lockdown and then another.

This time it seemed tougher, it was winter and everyone seemed to struggle in different ways. This time new strains of Covid19 that seemed to worry the authorities, then out of the blue it got me!

My test result came back positive, within 3 days it was very real, struggling to breathe, exhaustion, hot & cold sweating. Day 4 shallow breathing and the body aching - Covid19 had really hit me and my colleagues.

During the year creating a new project called 41ClubConnects was a highlight, keeping guys over 40 connected online, supporting their resilience and giving them a little sunshine. Thanks to a great friend Mark House, we created something very special that will I am sure continue to grow. Watching the guys smile, laugh and see friends they have not seen in many years is priceless.

Then that idea, motivation and want to get a group of guys together and trek to Base Camp Everest.

Named “DoingExtraordinaryThings” I managed to get ten unassuming guys to agree to walk up 5376 meters in altitude over 106miles to Everest Base Camp. I wanted to create a light at the end of the tunnel and a focus.

Behind the scenes, like many I have put weight on hence the BCE challenge! like many I have not seen my mother for 15 months because she lives in Wales, the most resilient woman I will ever know at 73 years old.

Most of all I am thankful for the support from my friends and most importantly my rock & partner Jane Smith, who I drive mad daily, along with the pugs and cat!

In reflection of how much has changed, the real answer is that we don’t really know the true impact yet, but one thing is super clear we need to have more kindness in society, less nonsense in the press and more of a respect for our nation, NHS and each other.

Maybe the biggest lesson is that technology cannot and does replace everything.

Remembering those who have lost their lives must be the biggest lesson of all.

Marcus Jones

Five Key Stress Resilience Skills - A Quick Guide

Five Key Stress Resilience Skills

Covid19 has affected so many in different ways over the twelve months and one word that keep being talked about without any detail is rationale. So to understand and help others i have put together this understanding of the effective blueprint related to the pressures we are all exposed too. So in my research to support my team I came across a great piece of information via www.stressresilientmind.co.uk

I hope this information and links are helpful.

“Stress Resilience Blueprint  is described stress resilience as the ability to recover quickly and easily from stress, upsets and set-backs. Recent case studies show that resilience is a composite skill-set that can be learned and developed with the right tools and training. And the foundation is a set of what I called mind-body skills. 

Mind-body skills you could say are about managing the mind-body connection (that is, the relationship between experience and biological processes in the body) so that it works for you rather than against you.

There are programmes that focus on training and developing these mind-body skills, especially with biofeedback. The basic strategy is to learn to guide your biology towards states that support well-being and optimal performance.

In this article we explore the five key mind-body skills set out in the resilience blueprint.

Here are the list the five, before tackling them individually.

1. Self-awareness

2. Attention – flexibility & stability of focus

3. Letting go (1) – physical

4. Letting go (2) – mental

5. Accessing & sustaining positive emotion

Self-awareness

This is self-awareness in a particular sense: it's awareness of your body responses and processes, including feelings, desires and urges to act, plus awareness of your thoughts and thinking patterns, and then crucially how these two relate to each other – awareness of how the mind-body connection plays out in practice. How your body responds to your thinking, and how the feelings in your body condition your thoughts.

Self-awareness is a prerequisite for choice and control. If your thoughts and feelings are operating outside of awareness, then they control you. If you want to control them, the first thing is to open up a window of awareness that is a chance to pause and consider before choosing, deciding and acting.

Self-awareness is the foundation of all other resilience and emotional intelligence skills.

Attention

Your attention, or your focus, is like a muscle in many ways. It can be trained and developed. It's not obvious how focus relates to well-being generally, and one of my later articles will explore the connection in greater depth, but one part of the answer is this: being focused means being in the here and now. When you're not focused, your mind tends to be either worrying about the future or regretting the past. And that's where you generally find stress and unhappiness: when you're off in the past & the future rather than the present moment.

Mindfulness is a key tool for training attention, and a particular kind of attention: present-moment awareness that is receptive, accepting, kindly and appreciative. That's why mindfulness is a key part of my resilience programme.

Letting Go Part 1: Physical

There are two parts to letting go, and the first is letting go in a physical or bodily sense. In the first place that can mean letting go of muscles and tension, but I mean it more broadly than that – calming the body, reducing restlessness and agitation and physiological arousal.

In terms of the Human Performance Curve model of stress , introduced in an earlier article, I'm talking about the faculty of moving to the left – just what you need if you're caught in the “quicksand trap” when you're to the right of the peak and heading down the slope.

Letting Go Part 2: Mental

The second aspect of letting go means in a mental sense. That means separating yourself, to a degree at least, from your own thinking, and the narratives playing in your head – creating mental space, so that you differentiate your thoughts, beliefs and stories about the world, from the world in itself. And of course your beliefs and stories are intimately bound up with emotions. So creating space around thinking tends to take the heat out of emotions – that's it's value.

In CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) the emphasis is on changing negative or unhelpful beliefs, but in other approaches you don't need to go so far. In Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or ACT, it's enough to create this space in the way I'm describing here. In ACT the process is known as cognitive defusion (I explore cognitive defusion more fully in this article.)

Cognitive defusion is an aspect of acceptance, which just means letting go of internal struggle or resistance. This is acceptance in a positive sense, not just resignation – so for example forgiveness is a kind of acceptance.

Here's a key point: cognitive defusion is made significantly easier when combined with physical letting go, especially letting go of muscle tension – an idea I'll return to later in this series of articles.

Accessing & Sustaining Positivity

Most people are primarily occupied with getting rid of negative emotions. But it's not enough to get rid of bad feelings, and ultimately not always possible anyway: there's always a danger of creating mental quicksand.

Positivity is not simply the absence of negative emotion, or even the opposite. When you withdraw your attention from negativity (stop feeding it energy, but at the same time not struggling against it) and instead give your attention to positivity, it can start to naturally displace the negatives. So you don't have to get rid of bad feelings first.

Accessing positivity is a relatively distinct skill, that can be trained and developed like the others in this list. Positive psychology has developed some great research-proven tools and techniques.

Mind-Body Skills Are Foundational

Mind-body skills form a foundation for higher-level resources. I'd like to briefly give one example: will-power. What I mean is, when you draw on your will-power you are implicitly drawing on the lower level mind-body skills.

Will-power includes resisting impulses to act on short-term desires that conflict with your higher-level goals (e.g. eating a cake when you want to lose weight). This desire is an embodied process, and you need to be aware of it in both mind and body (self-awareness). You need to stop fighting or resisting the feelings (letting-go) and instead focus on your wider goals (attention) and your motivation for achieving them (which means accessing positivity)”.

In conclusion, I hope you can get a sense of how the core skills listed are so important in daily life. To repeat my mantra: these skills can be learned and developed with the right tools and the right training.

Marcus

Everest Base Camp Challenge 2021

During 2016 I had the immense pleasure of visiting Kathmandu - Nepal through Round Table, it was a significant experience in my life and in a year as National President of the UK. It truly opened my eyes to the magnificent views of the country along with the amazing people who are warm and so welcoming, many have become life long friends today.

Just after the earthquake ravaged through the region and destroyed so much infrastructure, through the power of Round Table International the “All4NEPAL” appeal was created by the the International President Jason Thomson, which supported the rebuilding of educational centers and schools in the most remote areas.

I have always had a real interest in the history of Everest due to the many endeavors of those extraordinary people who have pushed their bodies to the extreme, but more than that the real stories of real people who support those who complete their adventures being the indigenous people of Nepal, especially the Sherpas.

Growing up in Wales, you are instilled with a real passion for life that can only be described as driven & focused, along with a fire in the belly we are also brought up with a real respect for the magnificent countryside. During my mid twenties I had the views of the Brecon Beacons from my bedroom window and in the winter -5 was the average early morning temperature. Many times during the summer I would walk through amazing countryside and witness the views whilst trekking over the Beacons.

Over the last twelve months like many, a few pounds have been added to the waistline and for many it has been a challenge to get fit through the Covid19 pandemic restrictions.

During the past year I have had the privilege to support many with an amazing online project called 41ClubConnects. The digital project reaches out to thousands of men of all ages around the UK and world wide, we connected those who wanted fellowship through lockdown.

There is no doubt in my mind the programme has made a difference to men over the age of 40’s. Guys who have been stuck at home and benefited, especially from a wellbeing and fellowship prospective.

However, that led me to do more and create something unique, an opportunity for a small group of guys who needed a little motivation and a real focus.

This time last year I was sitting with Mark Wood Explorer & Adventurer at a dinner celebrating the amazing work of the Atlantic Mavericks who had just sailed the Atlantic ocean as a group of six in a small boat. Truly extraordinary guys in their 50s. Mark and I spoke about his plans over the next few years which included a tour back to Nepal. We talked intently about his adventures and Nepal and it gave me an idea.

www.markwoodexplorer.com

Take a group of guys to the most extreme place on earth, along the way make memories and create experiences for life.

Then the first Covid19 lockdown happened March 23rd, I remember is so well, no one really new at the time what it meant. Most of us thought it would be a few weeks, twelve months later how wrong we were. Mark agreed to support me in April with an online event that helped people deal with loneliness and wellbeing. The audience was guys all over 40, little did he realise the impact he would make and has to so many.

Lockdown after lockdown carried on, resilience was the word in everything we used but you could see come Christmas many started to become worm out from it, Captain Sir Tom Moore kept us going along with the warm words of The Queen.

During the time over December, I quietly spoke with ten guys who I believed would be up for the challenge and great company on a Base Camp Everest Trek, that these guys would support the vision once it was shared. Once confirmed we had our very first zoom call in January and for the very first time many of these guys met, virtually of course. It was an amazing sight to witness, excitement and a few nervous faces, Mark Wood did his bit on the trek. Since then and through the power of zoom and WhatsApp the guys have bonded, working out a plan and the how they want to support others as a by product of what we are doing.

It was really on, deposits paid, medical forms signed and we were in the event of a life time!

Behind the scenes, more conversations are going on that will lead to our very own website for the trek launching in two weeks time www.doingextraordinarythings.co.uk, we have decided to support the amazing work of The Frank Bruno Foundation & Dementia UK, plus supporting the local schools in Nepal with tech equipment.

Over the next six months we are all training hard so we can all handle the 5376 meter altitude climb and 106 mile walk over 16 days in October from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp. We are all in our 50’s and just a bunch of ordinary guys trying to do something extraordinary for others. With a drive and passion to make a difference for these amazing groups, we are walking many miles in preparation. Some have more to do than others in the fitness levels (me!). However I feel a huge responsibility to these guys, bringing them together and motivating them to come outside their comfort zones.

I have asked the guys to keep a journal of the next six months and the aim is that we share the information via blogs, zooms and other meetings. We are also planning a dinner with Frank Bruno to share the foundations work and raise the funds required for the charities. whilst we are on our trek to Everest we are also planning online calls with schools in the UK and with business leaders. I want the guys to have a life long experience from this event, its not just a trek, it making a difference and it will be their story to tell.

My first long walk is under the belt but I have a serious amount of work to do fitness and mobility wise, my motivation comes from those around me, the guys and those who believe in what we are doing.

“Crazy” is what a few of my friends say, you will never do it!

2014 some believed I would never finish the London Marathon, so in 2016 I did it again - just to prove its your mind set and it can be done - twice!

You can imagine what some are saying on Everest Base Camp, well, try telling the ten guys I have wound up, motivated and encouraged to do so - there is no stopping them.

Trek to Everest Base Camp

We are all getting older, going over 50 means on average 33% of your life is left based on averaging, now some could look at this and say it morbid, I say its fact.

Have a journey in life to remember, go above and beyond, most of all leave a mark on those who will follow.

If you can support the guys and I please feel to share this and other posts, come to our charity dinner or simply make a donation no matter how small.

MD or company owner who can support with IT equipment to schools, please get in contact to discuss further.

One thing I do know, Ordinary Guys Can Do Extraordinary Things!

With a little help from their friends.

Your in Friendship.

Marcus Jones

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/DoingExtraordinaryThings

www.doingextraordinarythings.co.uk

It’s a Kind Of Magic At “The RTBI Past Presidents Weekend”

When you bring Twenty-One Past Presidents of RTBI together, one thing is certain, we are Ex Tablers and the banter flows with an energy you would expect.

Our weekend get together started with a Friday night music social with partners. Drinks flowing and a little bit of Freddie Mercury music. It’s fair to say that “A Kind Of Magic” was taking place with the friendships forged through the magic of Round Table. That the show must go on belted out from many a Past Tabler.

Saturday morning started with a good hearty full english breakfast and the excitement for one of the surprises of the day for the Ex Tablers.

A driving experience of the extreme type and suitable for all. The guys drove an absolute power house vehicle in the guise of the Ford 2.0 litre Ecoboost turbo engine which gives 280hp, 430 Nm torque accelerating the Revolution to 60 mph in 4 seconds and onto a top speed of 135+ mph.

A competitive and fun experience, move over formula one drivers especially with RTBI Past Presidents. The race times were marginal after three gruelling ten minute sets of laps and a few accidents, the race experience had a top three; 1st Place Mark House, 2nd place Marcus Jones,  3rd place Ken Donald.

After a quick shower, it was onto the second experience of the day and a more formal lunch and “state of the nation speech” by the current RTBI President. 

President Richard Holland gave a positive and competent update of Round Table Great Britain & Ireland along with the news of great progress being made by the National Board, National Council & its current members.

During the dinner all Past Presidents gave a few words of encouragement and some of their own thoughts. It was also humbling to listen to so many stories experienced by those around the table. All attended are enjoying the Continued Friendship in 41Club.

Our most senior Past President Rodney Huggins 1975/76 shared what I could only describe as historical facts and stories that instilled you with the clear knowledge you are in the audience of Legends of RTBI.

After a final few words of thanks, we all retired to the bar to rejoin our partners, who had themselves enjoyed a real retail experience with their own lunch during the afternoon. The experience weekend brought back so many memories and in the words of a Past President and Ex Tabler “it was Tabling at it’s best”.

The organisation of the weekend allowed for an all encompassing event that everyone enjoyed thanks to Past President Bruce Bennett and Lynn who ensured every single detail in the planning pushed the yearly event to another level.

It’s simply “A Kind Of Magic” to be an Ex Tabler and Past President of RTBI and continue that friendship in 41Club.

Past RTBI President Attendees; Rodney Huggins, John Lymbury, Ken Donald, Gerard O Herlihy, Jason Thomson, Nick Lawton, Stephen Sprod, Rohit Tanna, David Barker, Paul Teasdale, Simon Dyson, Steve Grew, Steve Glaister, Mark House, Gary Smith, David Oneil, Peter Bell, John Payne, Bruce Bennet and Marcus Jones.

The NHS - Why We Need To Protect It!

1948 celebrates many great innovations and changes that  have influenced today’s society.

The first ever Land Rover was launched to the public, the Gas Board is formed, Corporal Punishment is abolished, however one key institution was created that affects everyone today and over the 70 years.

july 5th 1948 the NHS was launched. Today we celebrate 70 years of this great institution that serves so many. It is the worlds largest public health system employing over 1.5 million people in the UK. It’s a global brand and one that is admired by the world.

There is no doubt that the NHS system is under pressure, that it’s ageing in some quarters, however there is also a public swell that wants to protect what is great about it, but also recognising significant changes are required urgently. 

‘We are living longer, new complex illnesses are challenging society, obesity on the rise and the fact we are all living longer. There are also the new complex issues surrounding mental health wellbeing , a new support system is required for all generations in this matter. 

Lifestyle factors

The way we live now is also having a negative impact on our health. Drinking too much alcohol, smoking, a poor diet with not enough fruit and vegetables and not doing enough exercise are all major reasons for becoming unwell and needing to rely on our health services. Increasing numbers of overweight children show us that this problem is currently set to continue.

The change in public expectations

Originally, tackling disease was the main job of the NHS. Now, we all expect so much more. From advice on healthcare management through to mental health and social care, contraception, antenatal and maternity services, vaccination programmes and the fast, efficient processing of our medication and appointments. All of this with a growing population due to living longer and higher birth rates with lower infant mortality.

Accident and Emergency departments

More and more people are visiting A&E departments and minor injury units – which is stretching the ability of the departments to cope. A lot of the visits are unavoidable, but some are visiting because of inconsistent management of their long-term health conditions, the inability to get a GP appointment or insufficient information on where to go with a particular complaint. Winter sees an even bigger rise in visitor numbers with staff finding it harder by the year to cope.

Rising costs

The current financial crisis, rising costs of services, energy and supplies; innovations and technological breakthroughs that require more investment – along with higher numbers of people to cater for – all spell out a huge economic disaster for the NHS.

It is estimated that without radical changes to the way the system works, as demand rises, and costs rise too, the NHS will become unsustainable, with huge financial pressures and debts. If we make no changes we face a £30 billion funding gap for the NHS nationally by 2020 .

Advances in medicine and technology

The great news amongst all of this gloom is that there has never been a better time to face an overhaul. Huge advancements in medicine and surgery, alongside IT and technological innovations mean that there is a wealth of ideas and efficiencies that could potentially be implemented to bring our NHS up to modern standards to meet the needs of us all in the 21 Century. Utilising these new approaches within a major restructure the NHS could go on to be a reassuring source of health care and wellbeing, as well as an inspirational model of good working practice for years to come.

My summary, we all recognise it’s amazing contribution, meaning the team who work in it from the surgeons, nurses, paramedics, cleaners, canteen staff and volunteers along with so many others. Now is the time to depoliticise it, not allowing it to carry on being a political agenda for others, to carry on making poor decisions or descions just so they can gain votes. Today it must be recognised that the NHS is owned by the GB&I Public, yes you and I.

We are real people with real lives and those who work within are the same, they are human beings.

Today a real rethink is required , a clear defined strategy that is cross party with real buisness leaders and those who work within shaping the future of it.

Meaning 70 years in the future we can all look back and once again celebrate its contribution to society.

Happy Birthday NHS

We are all proud of you and your teams who continue to make a difference. 

Marcus Jones

 #NHS70

Continued Friendships with Members of 41 Club GB&I

"Continued Friendships can mean different things to different people!"

Friday 16th February Region 15 The Heart of England hosted it's 2nd annual dinner with an invite for all to attend. So in 41 Club style a few from out of area visited.

With a warm welcome from so many familiar faces, it was straight into the banter of the evening with Peter Good National IRO , Hugh Milward the National Archivist and so many great Ex Tablers/41 Club Members.

Supported with a great speaker, who in my experience on the circuit must be one of the best I have witnessed, along with Dave Campbell National President of 41 Club GB&I.

Dave presented a great update on the progress of membership and projects around GB&I, especially the work with The Princess Trust, his chosen charity of the year, not only the great amount of money raised but also the mentoring scheme so many have signed up too.

Then moving onto "Dick" Richard Griffin LVO.

The former bodyguard to "Her Majesty The Queen" and HRH Prince Phillip Patron of Round Table Great Britain & Ireland.

His personal account with the royal family along with a behind the scenes viewpoint through great pictures made for an engaging presentation. 

To give an understanding of his background here is an extract from his website;

"In 1986 he was promoted to Chief Inspector and moved to the Household of The Duke of Edinburgh for whom he worked for 13 very enjoyable years, the highlight of which was being attacked by a giant panda whilst on a visit to China. In 1999 he became a Personal Protection Officer to Her Majesty The Queen for whom he worked for 14 years. This period was the pinnacle of his career as he travelled throughout the world with Her Majesty. In 2010 he was promoted to Superintendent and held the position known as “The Queen’s Police Officer “until he retired in April 2013 when he was honoured by being made a Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order, a personal decoration from Her Majesty. During his career as a Royalty Protection Officer he visited over 150 different countries"

It was a real personal account with so many laughs, but also great pride came through with his stories an great pictures shown. A fellow Welshman, it was an honour to meet and discuss my personal experience of HRH Prince Phillip with him.

41 Club - New Horizons with new experiences and continued friendships. 

Well done to the Heart of England Team for putting on such a great evening.

www.41club.org

New Horizons with 41 Club

Transition is change and no one really likes change apparently, yet we all need to continue the journey of life.

I have spoken to many current members of Round Table GB&I and current 41-Club members and all say one thing, they love the associations and what they represent, especially in current diverse difficult times. The realisation and fact that we are not immortal in life, that we must move on becomes something no member looks forward to. 

I have mentioned many times in my speeches to the members of all associations that;

"Round Table means different things to different people, for some it's community, for others it's charity, for most it's the fun and fellowship for life." Guess what, it continues to mean the same in 41-Club, however there is actually more to consider.

You realise that you move with the generation of members that have become your friends for life the "class of 2010" for example, that those continued friendships are truly for life, that community still means so much to us all, we have plenty of energy to support the Santa sleighs, beer festivals and so much more.

However something positive is changing in today's 41-Club around the world, members are now creating their own community events outside of Round Table, that we do more international travel with our international friends in over 25 countries and its growing. Many of our members go on to create fantastic work in the public domain, many become local leaders in education or the community.

Our members are today creating their own identity, a new vibrant DNA for an organisation for the 41-Club members world wide. 

We have the opportunity of new horizons along the journey of life, we engage with our communities, we encourage and support members of The Round Table Family. Most of all we continue our education through new experiences.

We "Engage, Educate & Encourage" those we meet, why? Because we get it!

We understand what it means to wear the badge with pride and most of all we are all Ex Tablers who want the current generation to Adopt, Adapt, Improve on what we have contributed and built.

We also intend to carry on having fun, friendship and fellowship!

Yours In Continued Friendship

Marcus Jones

"An Ex Tabler, 41-Club Member & Someone Who Get's It, Along with all who wear the badge with pride!" 

www.marcusjones.co.uk

Leadership and Mental Health in the Workplace

For many Leaders or CEO's today, the impact of mental health in the work place or related issues are now starting to become very clear, due to a better understanding and more supportive information from groups such as CALM, Mind and the Heads Togetherprogramme in terms related to this subject.

In the Automotive Industry, Armed Forces, Fire Service and Police Force( which is still male dominated & something that needs a real step change), the reality is realised due to the impact on team members well-being within the age bracket of 18 to 45 year old male sector, which matches the research work of CALM.(Campaign Against Living Miserably & Heads Together).

2014 statistics show that 4623 men in the UK took their own lives, that 78% of all suicides in 2015 in the UK are male and 42% have considered suicide. Apart from the headline facts, the most worrying and the most preventative is that 41% who contemplated suicide felt that they could not talk about there feelings. CALM recently wrote an article head "more stats, yet still no strategy".

So what are we doing to educate a new generation in the work place?

The answer to this and many other questions are very simple, many organisations are not equipped to deal with such aspects on a daily basis, we expect our business leaders to deal with any related issues yet very little CPD training is given by corporate companies, in fact it is fair to say there is no budget for such training.

Many companies have announced strategic work this year recognition of the subject in the workplace such as TOPMAN, Jaguar Land Rover and The Fire Emergency Service especially after the very public impact with the "Grenfell Towerblock fire in 2017".

Changing an attitude towards Mental Health starts with education in the work place, business owners need to create an environment that is safe and conducive to allow an open environment for conversations and education, especially in a male dominated industry. Today we have very little stats on the commercial impact of mental health in the work place, i am sure once this data builds a cost graph that is effecting the bottom line money will be budgeted for education of employees to recognise the signs within the work place.

Recently the BBC published a damning report of Amazon and some reported failings in the workplace, yet Amazon is recognised as a great place to work, so if this is a great company to work for what does the other end of the scale look like?

Amazon statement read "new recruits are warned some positions are physically demanding and that some workers seek these positions as they enjoy the active nature of the work. The company said productivity targets are set objectively, based on previous performance levels achieved by the workforce."

This is a true reflection of their policy, yet their health and safety policy is well written and researched, would you accept this in your company as a Leader?

Social media, a new generation work force and a very diverse society is and will have an impact, my question to those Plc and Ltd companies today is very simple one, what is your strategy for helping Generation Y and Z who will soon join the ranks of Leadership in the next 5 years?

Does your "Mental Health Policy" match the detail behind your statutory policy for the workplace, what are your investment plans in 2018 in this area?

Mental Health should be on the agenda in society and in the work place, why, too many lives are lost through such illnesses and related causes. Its personally on my agenda and early 2018 will see the launch of The Links Foundation- a charity that will work with businesses across the UK to open up the conversation in the workplace with its Leadership whilst supporting the volunteer sector.

Get Mental Health in the workplace on your agenda for 2018 and make a difference for those who work with you in business. Create an environment that enhances well-being.

Marcus Jones

www.thelinksfoundation.com

Changing the face of our communities in difficult times.

In recent weeks we have all seen the devastation that challenges our way of life with Manchester and London Bridge, we have also witnessed the horrific fire in West London. 

Yet out of such challenging times something very resolute has taken place throughout the country. The Queen our greatest leader of all times understands this and in fact one would say she truly understands the country after so many years witnessing so much.

The value of a community is coming through stronger than ever, the fact that strangers can help each other, no matter creed, colour or religion, that reactions are all about preserving what we are great at, that the core DNA of the British people is shinning through.

Politics cannot change communities only people and attitudes can.

For over 90 years Round Table Great Britain and Ireland has led the way through its members efforts, I call them the "Ordinary Guys Doing Extraordinary Things", they are changing the face of your community today through their selfless acts of kindness, through community carnivals, fireworks, Summer fete's , beer festivals , work with groups such as Anthony Nolan or Children in Need, these guys can be seen over the Christmas period trudging the streets with Santa to bring cheer to all whilst raising money to go straight back into the local communities.

All this with a determination to make a difference to others whilst bringing together a generation of men aged 18 to 45 that personally develop through such activities. A social club that challenges the areas of well being that could affect those without such a support group.

A group of guys who work with other great organisations such at 41 Club, local Rotary or Lions, Ladies Circle and its sister club Tangent, and so many more. These guys lead the way in over 400 communities around the country today.

Whilst we watch the TV show all the negative stories, remember there are a group of ordinary guys trying to do the extraordinary for you.

Why not join them at www.roundtable.co.uk, there is a local club near you.

Help them change the face of your community and make this country great again.

Yours in Friendship

Marcus Jones

Past National President 

Round Table Great Britain & Ireland 

www.marcusjones.co.uk

@PPresidentRTBI