Leaders: How exhausted are you?

Leaders have many responsibilities and are considered responsible for their team outcomes. Literature shows how decisive they are for health promotion and risk mitigation in the work context, but also that leaders are exposed to a lot of health risks, and normally reveal higher levels of emotional exhaustion and stress than others in the organisation. Thus it seems obvious that they also need to be equally, if not more, supported and that a strong focus on their intrapersonal and interpersonal skills reveals to be critical now more than ever.

Concerning health issues, it is common to assume that the leader should be an example and willingly take part in the same health programs and solutions as others. But, when talking about health, the leader’s role is much more than just being an example. Leadership as a process presents many challenges, and people are demanding better practices and processes that evidently affect work stress and health outcomes. Some examples of bad practice could be: when leaders don’t openly talk and discuss health issues or address a critical needed change to reduce the burden; when they assume that everyone experiences stress the same way; when they don’t assess the root causes of risk factors and are too focused on individual benefits or health programs to buffer the impact of stress factors at work (e.g., job demands, workload, support, autonomy, working from home).

Good practice implies that leaders notice changing behaviours or habits that signal health risk in others, but for instances, symptoms concerning mental health at work could relate to different issues and leaders lack the specific professional skills to detect and understand the entire complexity of mental health problems. It is important to be vigilant particularly to behaviours that emerge within the organisational context and pose considerable risks to people such as bullying, discrimination, harassment, toxic behaviour and continuous disrespect. It seems leaders should focus more on “seeing” the work-related behaviours, the organisational context and culture, and then acting upon it, and less focusing on observing specific idiosyncrasies of their people concerning healthy behaviours of lifestyle.

It seems obvious that leaders should be respectful and responsible, and manifest high emotional intelligent competence, but is still not guaranteed in every work context. Communication is key for any relationship and guaranteeing people feel comfortable when talking about what they are experiencing and feeling at work will increase their trust and health, particularly when the leader creates spaces for uncomfortable but necessary conversations. Leaders need to foster a relationship with their people and the quality of this relationship becomes critical for health and productivity outcomes. In the Leader-member exchange theory, the leader has a key role in the establishment of the relationship with their team and the quality of these relationships predicts performance, motivation and wellbeing outcomes.

Research also shows that the building blocks of a healthy workplace is where everybody is more attentive to other’s needs, balancing performance, job satisfaction and health and wellbeing, as key priorities. We must not forget that a relationship is both ways and in some contexts the team might not be so attentive of their leader’s needs and allocating all the pressure on the leader might not translate the whole picture. For leaders to fulfil their role in health prevention, training and development is much needed, so that health literacy at the workplace is upgraded not just for leaders but for everyone.

A key first step must be to recognise that leaders are currently under a lot of pressure in organisations that can, and in some cases already, compromise their health and capacity. For them to be able to fulfil their obligations to the organisation and their people, they need to be healthy, empowered and supported. It is essential to give leaders, who deliver results, manage people and respond directly to their needs at work, good tools and skills to manage these demands and protect their own health in the process.

In conclusion, leaders have a key role to play concerning health in the organisation, but they need support, tools, and skills to be able to fulfil that role. Some key actions to consider helping leaders perform while keeping their own health intact: 

• Be alert, awake and proactive in promoting your own mental health, using the organisation’s programmes and benefits, or requesting direct support if needed.

• Have open conversations concerning health issues with your team. Involve everybody in these discussions to clarify risk factors (e.g., psychosocial risk assessments, engagement surveys), identify root causes and issues to address.

• Be attentive to people’s needs, not only about job demands and outputs, but also about personal aspects and emotional reactions.

• Make sure that everybody has the knowledge about the programmes and practices that the organisation has for health promotion and increase everyone’s health literacy.

• Make a current assessment about workers’ needs and have data that can help you understand the real impact of strategies/actions and define clear priorities.Address negative behaviours in the team at once and proactively.

• Don’t’ ignore them even when they are towards you.Give power and autonomy to people and show them that you trust in their work. Never micromanage.

• Make sure that your people have all the information, tools, and support at their disposal to perform their work, be attentive to their needs, not just in the office but also when they’re working from home.

• Be empathic to your people, put yourself in their place and try, as much as possible, understand what they are feeling and experiencing.

• Give priority to your own health behaviours and understand that your health is a key asset for creating a healthy workplace for your team.

• Ask support from the organisation whenever you need more information to understand what is preventing a healthy work experience for all your team members.

References

5 ways leaders accidentally stress out their employees. (2021, August 30). Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2020/05/5-ways-leaders-accidentally-stress-out-their-employees

Direção-Geral da Saúde. (2021). Guia técnico no 3: Vigilância da saúde dos trabalhadores expostos a fatores de risco psicossocial no local de trabalho. Available at: https://www.dgs.pt/saude-ocupacional/referenciais-tecnicos-e-normativos/guias-tecnicos/guia-tecnico-n-3-pdf.aspx

Erdogan, B., & Bauer, T. N. (2015). Leader–Member exchange theory: A glimpse into the future. Oxford University Press.

Frame, D. J. (2003). Managing risk in organizations (1st ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Lewis, R., Yarker, J., & Donaldson-Feilder, E. (2011). Preventing stress in organizations: How to develop positive Leaders (1st ed.). Wiley-Blackwell.

Maxwell, G. (2005). Checks and balances: The role of Leaders in work–life balance policies and practices. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 12(3), 179–189. doi: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2004.06.002

Percy, S. (2021, November 3). How can leaders help their teams to better manage stress? Forbes. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sallypercy/2021/11/03/how-can-leaders-help-their-teams-to-better-manage-stress/