We’ve seen the shift happen in our everyday lives: our friends and family are less afraid to mention seeing a therapist or protecting their mental health from toxic relationships. Do these conversations still catch you off-guard? Do you find yourself thinking, “they see a therapist? Things must be worse than I thought.”?
But as we see that evolution from stigma to strength in action, we realize many of our friends are seeing a therapist to prevent situations from getting worse, protecting their mental health before they burn out or lose themselves in harmful behaviors.
As a manager or team leader, you may unknowingly contribute to that burnout. Of course, becoming a therapist for your team members was never part of your job description (and shouldn’t be!). Maybe you feel that you don’t have time to worry about everyone else’s mental health, as well as your own. But burnt out teammates can affect your efficiency, so here’s a few tips to easily promote mental wellness on your team.
Build a Strategy for Team Mental Wellness
In the Work-as-a-Lifestyle movement, you should recognize the whole person, not just the “work side” of their lives. This doesn’t mean you get involved in personal lives, but you create an environment for teammates to bring their best selves to work.
Empathy & Compassion
The first component of your mental wellness strategy is empathy and compassion, even without asking someone to share too much about personal situations. No one wants to feel like they need to defend a “bad day” by sharing personal information.
Bringing empathy to your team involves actively listening when you ask how a teammate is doing, understanding that outside events may affect work performance, and recognizing that different people need different things from their work environment.
Weekly Check-Ins
Remember, sharing small thoughts early and often is key to your mental wellness strategy: weekly team and individual check-ins prevent teammates from feeling alone or overlooked in a project. Instead of waiting for yearly performance reviews, build continuous feedback into these check-ins, so no one is dreading review season.
Keep psychological safety the priority during these meetings: no one should be embarrassed to ask questions or mention their concerns. Without psychological safety, your team will not feel confident enough to share the creative ideas you all need to produce your best work.
Allow for Autonomy
At SWAY, we teach teams the tools necessary to work asynchronously and remotely. Meaning, the work completed individually and away from each other is the most efficient. Teammates should be given ownership of their projects, demonstrating the trust you have in them.
This is a big adjustment for many managers who like to see what each worker is doing all day long. But building that trust relieves pressure and stress and promotes mental wellness. Those trusted employees will reward you with better ideas and better work in the long run.
Mental Wellness for Yourself
In the new World of Work, you can’t rely on a corporation or your manager to set the environment for you. You must take personal responsibility for your own mental wellness. Here are a few elements to consider and implement in your own life.
Learn to be Present
Instead of work/life balance, you bring your whole self into every area: building a career you love and swaying in and out of work and life. Part of mental wellness is recognizing the rituals and habits you need to build in order to be present at work and at home. You will probably need to turn off notifications, communicate your boundaries with your team, and be present in each element of your day.
Of course, that was nearly impossible during the pandemic: when you were asked to parent, build a home office, and work frantically during every nap time. But with a new normal in sight, you can implement the habits to thrive instead of survive.
Learn to Speak Up
Whether your manager implements weekly check-ins or not, learn to speak up and ask for clarity when you need it. Ask how much time a project should take, take the initiative by providing updates, and keep communication flowing to reciprocate the trust your manager is building. If you do have personal problems one day, set expectations with your team.
The more you speak up, the more you’ll see the culture on your team change.
Develop Outside Hobbies & Friendships
While we understand that work/life balance is impossible to achieve, developing personal hobbies and friendships does reap benefits in your work life. You’ll see yourself become more creative with work ideas, as well as improve your mental wellness by spending your free time intentionally.
Give the Understanding You Expect from Others
If you want understanding and empathy from others, you should give that same understanding. Your teammates also have personal lives and stressors that affect their daily communications. Before assuming someone is upset at you or not holding up their end of the project, practice compassion.
The Future of Work: Destigmatizing Mental Health, Building Mental Strength
The more managers and corporations value mental wellness, the more they’ll see improvements in efficiencies month after month. We’ll start valuing human intelligence higher than simply tasks performed: creating an environment where employees do the work that machines can’t automate.
Discussion questions for your next 1:1
At SWAY, we’re building a membership community for people to grow their personal and professional networks while discussing topics that matter in the new World of Work. Consider discussing these questions with your manager in your next 1:1 check-in. Then, tell us how it went in the comments and encourage each other as you prepare for the Future of Work:
How has your team prioritized mental wellness over the past year and a half?
When you prioritize mental wellness, do you see improvement in your work production?
What do you wish your team would do differently to promote mental wellness?