I probably don’t have to remind you that leading a team is a tough gig.
We place huge expectations on our leaders to meet budgets, hit deadlines, come up with creative solutions to keep demanding clients happy… The list goes on.
And I often question whether we’re doing enough to set our leaders up for success.
A leader gets things done through their people, and you’ll know that the best leaders create teams of high performers. Teams that keep coming up with the goods even when the odds are against them.
But as the pace of change and the market intensifies, it’s getting harder to do that. Team members are under constant pressure – they’re stressed, they’re exhausted, and in increasing numbers developing or suffering through with a mental illness.
The problem is, even as we expect our leaders to produce a great team effort, we aren’t giving them the tools to manage anxiety, depression and substance abuse-related mental conditions in their teams.
How do they deal with the, at times, irritable, or withdrawing behaviour of a mentally ill team member?
What do they do when an employee tells them they’re considering suicide?
How do they return the team to high performance without being insensitive, or without the risk of harassing or bullying an individual, or ostracising them, or making their mental state worse?
We know that 1 in 5 employees has a mental illness, and research around the world is telling us a worrying fact:
Individuals are hiding their symptoms because they don’t have faith that their leadership will treat them well.
The Workplace Mental Health MasterClass for Leaders is our answer to this problem. Over an intensive 1 day format, leaders will receive the practical skills from qualified workplace mental health professionals, to address mental health in their teams.
They’ll know the warning signs to look for, how to positively address the behaviour and performance of a mentally ill team member, and they’ll know how to handle the ongoing conversation on mental health matters within their teams.
Click here to see what you’ll learn in the Workplace Mental Health MasterClass for Leaders or please share this blog to a colleague who may benefit from these skills.
Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organisations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.
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