Most people around the world thought the COVID-19 pandemic was going to end in a few months. But one by one, companies, regardless of size, started laying off people from their teams. Some businesses had no choice but to close down.
With all that is happening, even employees who are still with their current companies are suffering from mental health issues such as killer anxiety and stress, worrying whether they will still have a job tomorrow or not. Thus, there’s a need to support employees’ mental health.
According to a global study, 70% of workers are more stressed and anxious than before. The work-life balance has been severely impacted by the current mental health in the workplace setup. Aside from this, social interactions have become less frequent, which has made reaching out even more challenging despite the advanced technology.
These factors contribute to how your team manages their tasks effectively.
As a leader, how do you ensure that responsibilities are taken care of while keeping your team happy? We list down some of the things that may help you support team mental health.
- Keep Your Personal Mental Health In Check
Handling a team is more stressful than being in one. You are mostly accountable for what the team does, how they perform, and the quality of the outputs. As a leader, you have to be warier in your emotional intelligence to ensure that you know how to manage your emotional distress, behavioral health, and mental health issues (depression, anxiety) that create reduced productivity.
You have to maintain positivity within the team without resorting to “toxic positivity.” Toxic positivity disregards the emotional and mental recovery needs of your teammates. It just focuses on staying positive. It completely misses the feelings and emotions of other people in a particular situation.
As a leader, you need to be sure that your natural mental health is stable to avoid this. A sufficient emotional quotient resource will enable you to listen and attend to your team’s well-being.
It will also help open up a bit more to them and show a specific vulnerability. Doing so will increase trust and honesty which will promote open communication within the team to open up one silver lining. Your teammates or the members of your organization may also learn new insights and customized approaches to coping strategies from you.
- Treat Emotional Crisis The Same Way As Physical Issues
Sick leaves often equate to physical illness alone. These off days are most often used when employees are down due to having coughs, colds, feverishness, etc. Some still get uncomfortable and hesitant, asking for an off day because of the emotional weight they carry.
As leaders, you have to be empathetic towards your group, especially during this pandemic crisis. Work-induced strain resources have dramatically increased because we do not have something to look forward to, such as vacations, catching up with friends, weekend getaways, and the like. Thus, the need to improve mental wellness at work is important.
Emotional and mental health should bear the same weight as physical health.
The leader’s responsibility nowadays is geared towards the business’s success. It is also ensuring that you can impact the well-being of the community of people that you handle.
Help Your Team Be “Emotionally Literate”
Emotional literacy is the same as learning how to read and write. It knows how to ascertain when you have a healthy mental state or not. However, being emotionally literate is not something that was taught to us in school. It is something that we still need to develop and learn as unprecedented time goes by. Thus, we should secure mental health resources to encourage group members.
As a leader, one of the best ways to support mental health of your team is by knowing and understanding how to regulate your emotions. When a leader is capable of doing so, the flock will follow. The best way to showcase this to your work group employees is by leading by example.
Understand that emotional literacy is not something that they can go through alone. Sometimes, an employee’s true potential is unleashed when they feel that their emotions and mental well-being are valid and genuinely cared for. Always pay attention to other’s crisis line to promote suicide prevention.
As part of health awareness, it may also be the time to get to know the members of your group better. You may use this to unleash their creativity and find out if they have other skills to contribute to the organization. Emotional literacy is a two-way street and helps your organization establish a healthier workspace throughout this digital era.
According to the disaster distress helpline service counseling expert, the pandemic is not something that we were ready for. There were no treatment services handbooks or preparations and resources on how it should be handled. It has dramatically impacted the economy. It has created the loss of businesses and the loss of lives that adversely affected our mental illness as workers and ordinary people living our day-to-day lives. Thus, it’s important to support mental health at all costs. Reach out to health services, call and text a behavioral health professional.
However, this pandemic contact has also shown us that mental health should no longer be a taboo topic. It is something that we should recognize, and the workplace should pioneer human-centered leadership. Note that mental health at work is as important as anything else. Thus, focusing on mental health awareness is a must for all employees. May the condition be anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance abuse, etc.
Insights In Assisting Team’s Cognitive Wellness
Talking about workplace mental health, leaders need to keep in mind that discussion and communication regarding mental health benefits should be promoted in the workplace. Mental health challenges and emotional well-being should also be included as leadership skills to function effectively and to be able to fully support everyone on the workplace team. If it’s too much to handle, seek mental health professionals to support employees’ mental health or try focusing on mental health training that prioritizes health at work. You can call or text a mental health professional, for that matter.
Frequently Asked Questions
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