Employee Mental Health, Pt. 2
Leaders play a critical role in contributing to the conditions for positive mental health in the workplace – both their own as well as others. Listen to hear what managers can do for themselves and their staff!
Hello. I’m Alicia Davis… and I’m Stacie Watson…
[Alicia] And we are the founders and co-owners of Transformative Leadership Strategies. And in our last video, we were referencing a Forbes article where we were talking about how impactful leaders are – managers are – to the mental and emotional well-being of their staff. And we wanted to do a part two of that because we got a really great response to that email that we sent out. It’s really resonating Stacie.
[Stacie Watson] I was just gonna say, I think it really resonated and it’s probably because we know it to be true, you know, both from the perspective of being staff members and employees ourselves and knowing how our leadership matters to us. And then recognizing as leaders, how we really do make a difference in sort of the mental health and wellbeing of the people on our teams.
And so last time we talked a little bit more generally, just about acknowledging that that is true and how it can be uncomfortable sometimes to talk about mental health and mental health challenges. You know, we might feel uncomfortable ourselves and trying to create a space to do that with our team members so that was sort of our focus. And today, I think we want to focus a little bit more on what they talk about in the article, some practical ways that we can support, you know, ourselves as leaders and our team when it comes to mental health.
[Alicia Davis] That’s right. And we really wanted to frame it in the way that we approach leadership, which is around both the aspect of how are we being – how are we showing up as a person in our leadership – and then specifically what are we doing… And so, we’re going to share a couple of ideas and then there’s more in the article. The first one is about how are you as the leader – how are you managing yourself? And, and what does that mean exactly, Stacie, from the framework of the article?
[Stacie Watson] Well, you know, I think, and we’ve talked about this a little bit in other recordings, I know. The article just talks about how important it is to recognize how we’re showing up and how we’re kind of “caring for ourselves” as leaders, and sometimes as leaders – and I know we work with leaders who just take it, take it, take it, they take on the weight of the world, the weight of the organization often, you know, on their shoulders – and they work endless hours and never take time off.
That maybe is honorable in that it shows commitment, and it also doesn’t really model boundaries around healthy balance or any of those types of things. So, I think the first piece is really just recognizing how am I navigating my own mental health as it relates to work. And just being really open and honest with ourselves about that, or perhaps with a trusted friend or adviser.
[Alicia Davis] Well, right. And also, being intentional about, you know, making a conscious choice. And it might be, you know, making a conscious choice to pause throughout the day to reset. Even if it’s for a minute. Or to do something for five minutes, ten minutes as a transition time at the end of the day to, as much as possible, let that day be done. And that’s really hard, right? It’s really hard for leaders, it’s a mindfulness practice and it’s practice, right? It is absolutely practice.
And you know, I think the other thing, you know, another aspect of what this article is talking about in terms of what leaders can do kind of ties in with this mental health because as a leader, leaders are really responsible for visioning, for, you know, pointing the organization in a direction, of course, with all of the support of the team. And that was really uh an important aspect in this article as well, wasn’t it?
[Stacie Watson] Yeah, I think part of this article was titled “Give People a Reason to Care,” and it was about just reconnecting to our why. Simon Sinek has a lot of conversations around this question about our why and organizations have a why. And so many of the organizations we work with, you know, they’re very mission-driven, very mission-focused.
So sometimes we get very preoccupied with the details of the day, the details of the tasks and it can, it makes perfect sense, we just get sort of sucked into that. And so, it can be important and helpful to zoom out a little bit and just reconnect to those individuals that are being positively affected with all of the work that we do or the difference we’re making in our communities or in the lives of the people that we serve. It can be really helpful, I think, from a mental health perspective for both leaders and staff members to just take a moment and reflect on some success stories. To reflect on just the things that really are mattering. That even though yes, it’s hard even though yes, we have a lot going on that. We can remember that what we’re doing makes a big difference.
[Alicia Davis] That’s right. So, if you would like to read more of the article, there’s a link here in the newsletter. And certainly, we’d love to talk to you if you’d like to talk to us about any of our approach to leadership development, and we hope this was helpful and inspiring and we’ll talk to you soon. Take care.
[Stacie Watson] Yes. Take good care.
