Training leaders and managers in how to support wellbeing effectively is higher up on many companies agendas which is fantastic. How you go about delivering this training will need to depend on your organisation, how you work, the environment, and who your leaders are and their current level of knowledge.
We wanted to share the 5 winning attributes that make a real positive difference to the wellbeing of teams so you can explore ways of developing these skills in your leaders. Some of it may not be new to you or ground-breaking – but remember it is often the simple behaviours done little and often that have a biggest impact.
In a survey by the Harvard Business Review, 58% of people would trust a complete stranger over their manager. Does that surprise you? It is slightly worrying, and may suggest that there is poor psychological safety here so people are not comfortable to open up.
So what is the remit of a leader when it comes to wellbeing? And where do the boundaries lie?
A leaders role is not to be an expert in wellbeing and mental health or fix someone’s personal problems. They do however certainly play a key role in developing, empowering and supporting their team members. And we know that people tend to leave managers, not jobs. So let’s consider 5 winning manager behaviours that will promote positive wellbeing at work:
- Be self-aware
Great leaders/managers are aware of how they feel, what their emotions mean and how these emotions can affect other people – in essence, they have a good level of emotional intelligence (EI).
EI has been linked to greater empowerment, improved mental health & wellbeing, and increased job performance. Leaders with high EI get better results from their team. It makes sense! Take for example a leader who shouts when he’s under stress, or a leader who stays in control, and calmly assesses the situation. Who is likely to get the most from their team?
When we are more aware of ourselves, we also then build awareness of others emotions. This is vital for leaders, as they will then be able to spot changes and signs in people who may be struggling or may need support, as earlier as possible.
We all start with a different level of EI and that is OK. Evidence suggests that we can all develop skills in EI through training but there needs to be a motivation to do so!
- Lead by example
This is the most powerful thing a leader can do. With an increased focus and desire to achieve a healthy work-life integration, and an increase in pressures placed on us all, the leader who demonstrates how that balance can work for them, who looks after their own wellbeing and is open and vulnerable when it matters, will give permission for their teams to do the same.
We deliver training to a wide variety of managers and most admit that they encourage their teams to take lunch breaks away from screens, go for walks, finish early for an exercise class or to pick their kids up from school, avoid sending emails at night…but that they rarely do this themselves. It starts with the leader. A leaders wellbeing is a priority as they need to feel they are in the right place and show up for themselves before they can show up for others. Training that focuses on this as a starting point will have more impact than training in practical tools or soft skills that the manager then cannot find the time to embed.
- Create permission to talk
Do you have an open door policy? Probably, as most leaders do, but this is trickier to make visible if your teams are mainly remote. Here are 2 ways that you can create that permission for people to open up:
- The first is to have informal chats booked in each week so you always talk to your team members about non-work matters and give opportunities for them to raise a concern or for you to see how they are regularly. Things can get missed when we are all heads down and focused on work outputs.
- The second is to allow yourself to be vulnerable at the right times. If your team see you being open about feelings, they have permission to do the same. Sharing a little bit of what makes you human is powerful. It could be letting people know that you have found a recent change at work challenging and then sharing how you’ve overcome it, or being honest when you haven’t been sleeping well or letting people know you got something wrong.
- Be compassionate
Compassion is going one step further than understanding and empathising with another person through taking thoughtful and appropriate action to help them. It is about kindness to others and yourself and there is a growing body of evidence that compassion brings with it better teamwork, engagement, motivation, and performance. We can all be compassionate leaders, even if that is leading ourselves compassionately.
Compassionate leadership does not mean molly coddling as this is not helping the individual or the organisation. It is about helping that person and that could be through giving honest constructive feedback or challenging someone’s viewpoint in a considered way.
- Be the coach not the fixer
It can sometimes be faster to solve a problem for someone than help them get there themselves but this approach does not develop and stretch people, it can cause them to stagnate, and lose all accountability and commitment. Coaching as a leader is vital for wellbeing as it moves you away from feeling you have to fix a persons problem (how can you be expected to fix someone’s anxiety?) to working with them to identify what they can do to move forward positively.
Final thoughts
Upskilling managers in the practical tools to support their own and team wellbeing is increasingly popular in organisations and it does work.
- What are leaders doing well that they need to keep doing?
- What skills have they maybe stopped doing that they need to pick back up?
- Which skills or behaviours need to be developed through training?