During Mental Health Awareness week, there is quite rightly much talked about with regards to how to support good mental health in the workplace. However, we suggest that for long term sustainable impact, leaders should look to integrate healthy practices into the day to day of work, rather than having spurts of activity and reacting when issues arise. Here are the key things to consider when thinking more strategically about mental health in the workplace:
Build wellbeing into your leadership culture
As a leader, you are the role model for positive (or negative) wellbeing behaviours at work. You set the tone by your own actions; people do what you do rather than do what you say. Small things make a big difference, for example how you role model working hours set a huge precedence. If you like to work outside normal working hours, that’s up to you, but bear in mind what your team will make it mean. Think about scheduling e mails to arrive during working hours or adding something to your e mail sign off which explicitly states that you might choose to work evenings, but you do not expect people to respond during this time.
Another area you can focus on is making wellbeing a talking point in communications and participating in discussions on the topic yourself. Build discussions around sustainability and good wellbeing practices into day-to-day work discussions. Make sure people (including yourself) are skilled in organisational skills and can set and maintain boundaries.
Adapt your leadership style
Recent years have shifted leadership styles to be more open and adaptable but at the same time remaining clear and directive. Combining empathy with direction can be a challenge, but research showed us that a stressed and anxious workforce needed to see and hear both styles (Busse & Regenberg 2019). As a leader it is essential to develop a style that is also authentic to your personality. Work with your coach to tailor and develop the right style for you.
Supporting a continued remote workforce
With many more people working remotely, this is widely accepted as good for mental health, giving people the opportunity to minimise stressful commutes and get a better work life balance. The change was not without mental health pitfalls however, as people find work life boundaries can become more blurred, and loneliness and lack of connection are still major remote working problems. This makes burnout a high risk for remote workforces. Being conscious of this and designing the working rhythm so that people still come together to connect, make space for virtual catch ups that are not meeting related and increasing the time spent generally checking in on people are strong mitigators for these challenges
We wrote extensively on the topic of burnout – our article ‘3 Life hacks to keep your energy up and avoid burnout’ may still be of help and give you ideas to share in your organisation.
Looking after yourself
Of course, as a leader, you may well experience mental health issues and burnout yourself. So, don’t just check in with your line managers and teams; check in with yourself too. Make sure you schedule some downtime and find someone to talk to if you need. As they say in airline safety briefings ‘put on your own oxygen mask before helping others’. Our blog on Why well-rested people enjoy better performance explains how we need to give ourselves the right kind of rest.
In conclusion
By continuing to pay attention to employees (and their own) mental health, leaders will be able to build more supportive organisations from the inside out, of which the benefits will be felt today and into the future.
Further help
Our Leadership Development programmes offer inspirational coaching and training to help leaders reach their full potential. At a time when your people are looking to you for the answers, you might benefit from an external perspective.
Find out more: Leadership Development
References and links
Busse, R., & Regenberg, S. (2019). Revisiting the “Authoritarian Versus Participative” Leadership Style Legacy: A New Model of the Impact of Leadership Inclusiveness on Employee Engagement. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 26(4), 510-525. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051818810135
