QUICK SUMMARY
Learn how you can drive the overall wellbeing of your teams by starting with a focus on the wellness of managers.
Key Takeaways
Wellbeing is a Two-Way Street: Business leaders often focus on wellness strategies for others, but true well-being also involves incorporating self-care and mindfulness into their own routines.
It’s More Than Just a Check Box: Focusing on well-being shouldn’t be a superficial task; it requires sincerity and commitment to fostering a genuine culture of wellness in the workplace.
Mindfulness: A Leader’s Best Friend: Integrating mindfulness practices can enhance decision-making and productivity, ultimately benefiting both leaders and their teams in the long run.
Practical Wellness to Enhance Team Performance: By integrating certain wellness strategies into daily routines, managers can create a more engaged, creative, and resilient workforce.
For business leaders, the topic of wellbeing often leads us down a rabbit hole of strategies, techniques, and wellbeing platforms that offer us the opportunity to check the wellness box, mostly for others, but occasionally ourselves too. But do we actually live by principles and ideas that drive our well-being?
In this article I want to take a look at how leaders, and most companies, approach wellness and how leaders influence the results of employee wellness programs in the end.
Trying To Solve The Issue With L&D
Most companies would say they want more productive, healthier, happier employees. And, hence, billions (yes, with a B) of dollars are thrown into learning and development in corporations around the world, according to a recent Josh Bersin report.
This covers soft skills training, hard skills, compliance, and several other types of training.
Many of these trainings are designed to boost productivity, develop the skills necessary for moving into a leadership position, or drive team performance, etc. But is it producing the results?
Take a quick glance around the world of work today, you’d have to say the answer is no. Employees are more stressed, more disengaged, less productive, and managers are more overwhelmed than ever before.
It seems we are solving the wrong problem and putting money into training and half baked employee wellness programs that simply don’t bring results to the bottom line of the business.
What if we instead focused more on creating exceptional people managers who are focused on taking care of their own well-being, and teaching them how to lead by example with the teams?
The Importance Of Self Care
Taking care of oneself is crucial for managers. When managers prioritize their own well-being, they set a powerful example for their teams. A healthy, balanced manager is more likely to foster a positive and productive work environment, inspiring their team to adopt similar habits.
According to a study by The Workforce Institute, managers can impact their employees’ mental health as much as their spouses do.
This highlights the importance of managers prioritizing their mental health. Creating a supportive atmosphere can significantly reduce stress levels for the entire team. When managers take care of their mental health, it shows they value well-being, making it easier for employees to follow suit.
Effective management practices and interactions are driven by the state of mind of managers. For example, one-on-one meetings are a key area where managers can demonstrate their commitment to their team and create connections with employees.
Some other things managers tend to do better when their own self care needs are being met.
- Listening more and talking less – ensures employees feel heard and valued.
- Following up on discussed points – shows that the manager cares and pays attention.
- Avoiding frequently rescheduling meetings – shows respect for the team’s time.
- Setting clear goals – provides employees with a roadmap for success.
Self-care isn’t selfish. It’s necessary. When managers are at their best, their teams benefit. When leading by example in both work practices and health habits, managers can create a thriving and resilient team environment.
Practical Examples For Managers And Teams
So what are some things that managers can do to improve their self care and what are some things that need to be prioritized?
Stay up-to-date on all things HR & leadership
For the manager
As I’ve been saying, first we need to start with the manager before being in the right mental space before we talk about the team.
Let’s look at some things managers need to take care of to optimize their own performance and wellbeing.
Mindfulness and stress management
Practice mindfulness techniques like meditation, breathwork or yoga. Simply taking 10 minutes a day to meditate can significantly reduce stress.
Stress management may involve something as simple as journaling or as complex as talking to a therapist.
Physical health
Incorporate regular exercise into your routine, whether that means making time for it in your workday, or playing in your local soccer league at night. Whatever you choose to do to maintain physical health, the body needs to be challenged for the mind to be at its best..
While a morning run or evening yoga session can boost energy and reduce stress, a balanced diet and adequate sleep are also vital components of maintaining high energy levels and focus.
Work-life balance
For managers and leaders, just like anyone else, it’s important to set clear boundaries between work and personal life if they’re going to have any semblance of work-life balance.
Avoid checking emails after a certain time in the evening. Whether it’s Slack, texts or email, silence notifications after a certain hour and set up auto responses so that people know when to expect a reply.
And take regular breaks during the workday. Short breaks can enhance productivity and reduce burnout.
Research wellness strategies
As a manager, it falls to you to inspire employees to think about their wellbeing. But it may not be something that feels natural all the time. It’s likely you’ll need a source of inspiration along the way.
Whether you source ideas from wellness focused content from social media or subscribing to a wellness newsletter, you’ll want to do some research and continuing education around helping people establish good wellness practices.
For your teams
Once your boundaries are set and you’re getting more from your own performance, then you can begin to spread your strategies and ideas to your teams.
Some things that will help them be more productive and happy include:
Implementing technology practices
Use project management tools to improve collaboration and streamline processes. If the company doesn’t have the right one, encourage them to investigate new tools and make a case study for showing how they were able to overcome key business challenges using it.
Provide access to learnings, coaching, and online courses for continuous learning. This will help your people feel engaged and invested in.
There are also a variety of wellness platforms for employees out there. Be open to feedback about the ones you’re currently using and considering trialing others that may prove more engaging and effective for your people.
Work better together
Audit the way you do meetings to identify where meetings can be eliminated, reduced, or better structured to avoid unnecessary time sinks. You’ll also want to consider how your meetings could be more inclusive.
Organize regular brainstorming sessions, preferably in person if possible, to encourage a flow of ideas from different team members and foster creativity.
Encourage an open communication culture where team members feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and feedback, leading to more effective collaboration and problem-solving.
Encouraging mindfulness
Introduce mindfulness breaks during the day. Encourage team members to take short breaks to meditate or relax and consider finding a facilitator to do a guided meditation that you will attend.
Follow this up by leading by example. This can take a lot of forms, but sharing how you find mindful moments throughout the day is one of the most effective.
Provide resources for stress management, like access to wellness programs or mental health days.
Promoting physical health
Organize team fitness challenges or group workouts. A step-count competition can be a fun way to promote physical activity.
Offer webinars on nutrition and healthy living, and promote access to wellness resources.
Another big part of supporting physical health is making sure people have options for healthy snacks in office settings. A lot of white collar jobs take place in sedentary settings. Providing fatty, processed foods that offer little nutrition is not going to help people be their best at work.
Encourage walking meetings or something that allows movement when possible
Supporting work-life balance
Respect personal time. Avoid sending work emails after hours and encourage team members to disconnect. Just as you have to ensure you set boundaries in order to cut loose, ensure they can do the same.
Offer flexible working hours or remote work options to help employees manage their personal and professional lives better. Remote work may not be popular with executives who are more keen on control tactics and power dynamics, but it will help your people separate from the job and perform better.
Effective managers who take care of their own well-being and lead by example can create a positive, productive, and healthy work environment. That is how you have more productive, healthier, and happier employees. Focus on this, results will follow.
