Leading for Mental Health Means Leading for Success

Glenn Hasteadt, IT Director at County of Onslow

Glenn Hasteadt, IT Director at County of Onslow

In today’s society, thankfully, conversations about mental health are becoming more normalized. With more and more employees making decisions with their mental health in mind, I think it’s time for leaders to be more mindful and intentional about their effect on the employees. The benefits of doing this are clear; obviously, if a leader is mindful of his effect on others, the employees will benefit. What is often overlooked is what effect that will have on the performance, morale, and culture of the team.

Our environments drive both good and bad behaviors, which in turn impacts the effectiveness of the entire team. Our role as leaders is to create environments that drive success for the organizations and customers we serve. We also must find ways to minimize turnover, increase growth and create engaging customer experiences. Some roles are more stressful than others, but whenever possible, the leader should be looking for ways to reduce unnecessary stress. Everyone has stress in their personal lives: finances, relationships, health, family and more. When we add stress at work, they cannot help but bring some of that home, which will generally lead to them not responding to that stress as well as they could. This brings a more broken and stressed person to work, which leads to poorer decision-making and performance at work, which generates more corrective action and more stress. This is a downward spiral that doesn’t help the employee or the organization. When we as leaders can minimize stress as much as possible and create havens for our employees to get even a small reprieve from stress, the opposite reaction occurs. Employees go home better able to handle the stress there, which will generally lead to improvement. This will bring a better employee to work, which creates better decisions and performance, creating an upward spiral.

"If you provide your team with clear expectations, support, and a team-centered environment where folks support each other for the team’s success, your employees will be better equipped to manage their personal stress, which will then lead to continued success for the team."

I’m sure this makes sense, but how do we do this? First, understand that the team reacts to the leader and their communications and actions. Imagine I dropped you and a small team of others on an island where you knew you were safe. Undoubtedly, you would all start working on amenities and improvements like farms and shelters. Imagine the same scenario, but now there is a predator prowling around the perimeter. The actions of your team would be completely different, and your actions would likely be building walls weapons and establishing watch schedules. This is the effect you have as a leader on the team. Your team reacts to your words, behaviors, and body language. You clarify expectations through your praise, correction and the behaviors you allow. There can be no tolerance for gossiping, toxic or judgmental behavior regardless of whether it’s your top performer or not. When you see people acting in a supportive and team-oriented way, you need to praise that action publicly. Be specific when you do; a simple “good job” doesn’t clarify objectives.

Supporting your team and allowing them to ‘fail forward’ is also key. You cannot expect them to be engaged or innovative if they are worried about getting reprimanded (or worse) when things don’t go well. Yes, continued mistakes need to be coached, but support is a better motivator than fear. Take the blame when things go wrong and work together with the employee to get better. Mistakes build experience and a healthy understanding of risk. When things go well, pass the praise; leaders taking the credit for your work is demoralizing.

If you provide your team with clear expectations, support, and a team-centered environment where folks support each other for the team’s success, your employees will be better equipped to manage their personal stress, which will then lead to continued success for the team. Be mindful of the effect of your words and actions on your team, and you will see improvement. Is it hard? Yes, but the payout is worth it. What leader wouldn’t want less negative behavior and more engagement? Do not expect others to change if you do not change to create the environment that promotes your goals.