There are so many things you can do to support the wellbeing agenda in the workplace and as a leader in any organisation you kind of have a responsibility to do so! At a very basic level you should be holding and encouraging regular health and wellbeing conversations (not just because it’s appraisal season). This doesn’t have to be something scary with a document to complete. It is just a check in, how are you? But how are you really? Find out what’s working well for your colleagues and what isn’t. We often bring our personal challenges to work, despite trying not to It’s human nature to not be able to just ‘switch off’.
During regular 1:1s, regular team meetings where some of the agenda items are not work related you could run 10min of fun or 5min of wellbeing check ins. By doing this you are creating safer teams and acknowledging individuals as people rather than ‘workers’. Your aim should be to create psychological safety within the team which needs vulnerability from you as a leader to show accountability, admit when you are wrong, show your real side which will in turn encourage collaboration. Don’t be one of the organisations that clock watch toilet breaks!
By implementing mental health first aiders, health and wellbeing champions and creating an ‘army’ of supporters and sign posters will help everyone know that they have each other’s back and have somewhere to go for additional support.
Away days don’t have to cost money, they can just be a break from the norm using in house services or just taking the time out to step away from the day job and be creative, inspire change and educating staff on what might be useful for them as an individual as well as a team.
We should encourage staff to continually learn, book courses, allow time to attend support groups or network meetings. We should be developing our staff in every way we possibly can.
Allowing for hybrid working where appropriate to encourage flexibility and trust within the organisation. Some of the really basic stuff such as having clear roles and responsibilities, shared projects and deadlines, allowing for brainstorming and quality improvement, being fair with work load and commitments are all essential to staff wellbeing.
Get to know your staff, how do they like to work, what makes them tick? These are the qualities of all the best leaders. I read somewhere recently that great leaders don’t see themselves as delivering great leadership, they simply see themselves as being a decent, supportive human!
