Four Ways to Improve Mental Health in Your Organization
As a leader, you understand that to take care of the well-being of an organization, you must care about the well-being of its people. Mental wellness is critical to reducing burnout, increasing productivity and staff retention, and improving functioning across many key skill areas, from communication to creativity to task completion. Healthy organizations must foster an environment that promotes mental health and wellness in order to thrive.
Consider these ways you can support mental health in your organization.
Healthy Practices Start With You
Do an honest inventory of your mental health practices. What activities do you incorporate that bring balance to your life? Do you check in with how you’re feeling through the day or week? Have you allowed yourself margin in your work life to process stressful events or challenging feelings that come up? As a leader, you set the tone for your staff.
Begin to incorporate simple, consistent approaches in your work and interactions. Perhaps you find yourself discussing an unexpected challenge that has come up in a project, or a stakeholder brings you disappointing news. These are opportunities to practice mindful techniques, such as deep breathing or doing a quick body scan. By modeling these practices with your staff, you display that taking care of your mind and body’s natural reaction to stress can lead to clearer thinking and problem-solving.
Understand your implicit biases and blindspots
First, we all have implicit biases and cultural blind spots based on many internal and external factors. In 2021, over three-quarters of workers reported at least one symptom of a mental health condition (Greenwood & Anas, 2021). Marginalized communities, such as Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) or the LGBTQIA community, have historically experienced racism and discrimination in the workplace and are often less likely to seek support. Creating a workplace culture of mental wellness must include exploring and addressing implicit bias, microaggressions, and oppressive practices.
Promote Balance Through Self- and Community- Care
Encourage your staff to use their vacation time and personal time off (PTO) and support healthy boundaries around work-life balance. Simple practices, such as away messages on email accounts, help staff feel secure that they can recharge without worrying that it will reflect poorly on them. If your organization doesn’t work a typical work-week schedule, consider ways you can offer team members some flex time. For example, suggest an all-office break on Monday or Tuesday after a big weekend event.
Provide flexibility for staff to work in a way that fits them while maintaining clear expectations. This allows people space to take care of themselves and still meet the organization’s needs. Teams have many tools available; people no longer need to be in the same office or work the same hours to meet goals. Be clear about what you need, then allow your team to make it work.
Adopt a Reflective Stance
Supervisory relationships are key to promoting mental well-being in the workplace. These relationships should include three components: Administrative, Skill-building, and Reflective.
Many leaders lean heavily into the first two areas but miss out on the third. Learning how to grow your reflective capacity will help reduce burnout and build emotional and psychological safety in the workplace.
When adopting a reflective stance, you remain curious about your staff person’s experience and the feelings that those experiences bring up for them. This is not a time for problem-solving but a time to listen and reflect what you’re hearing. Consider this example:
An employee at your food distribution center shares about an angry visitor who came to the center that week. She shares that she ended up raising her voice and telling the visitor they needed to leave, or they wouldn’t be able to return again.
You could choose at this moment to discuss relevant policies and procedures (administrative). Or schedule a training for staff on de-escalation (skill-building). Both could be beneficial, but first, consider one of these reflective responses:
“I’m so glad you’re sharing this with me. I’m wondering how it felt for you while that was happening. Could you say more about how you were feeling?”
“You had to handle a really challenging situation during an already busy day. How do you feel now as you look back?”
“I have some ideas that might help in the future, but first -- how are you feeling now, having shared that experience?”
When employees feel heard and understood, they feel less isolated and alone in their roles. They experience your support, allowing them to reflect that support to customers, clients, and stakeholders.
Engage Through Employee Benefits
Provide mental health and wellness resources, just as you provide other benefits. Consider mental health when choosing health insurance options. Read the fine print and ask about how many therapists in your area are in-network.
Consider offering other wellness supports to staff, such as:
Headspace is a leading mindfulness app; offers Headspace for Work for teams and organizations.
Down Dog App is a yoga and wellness app; staff can join for free if a company has a subscription.
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) provide access to immediate mental health services, counseling, and even legal aid or identity theft assistance.
Nurturing a culture of positive mental health is beneficial for staff, leadership, and stakeholders. For more support building organizational health, contact Spark Group Consulting today!
Sources:
Greenwood, K., & Anas, J. (2021). It’s a new era for mental health at work. Harvard Business Review.
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