Health horizons

How leaders can build more resilient teams

Many organisations now recognise the importance of investing in workplace mental health. But there’s still a gap between how leaders view their team's mental health, and how employees experience it.

Unfortunately, leaders often underestimate the extent of their teams' struggles – while 68% percent of employees report burn out, only 55% of leaders notice it¹⁰.

Increased awareness of team mental health, coupled with reduced stigma about speaking up can build more resilient, productive teams.

Why employee mental health isn’t always visible

The gap between what leaders notice and what employees experience isn’t usually due to careless and inconsiderate leaders. More often, employee mental health isn’t always fully visible to leaders due to:

Masking. Research has shown that employees often prefer to ‘push through’ and give the illusion that everything is fine, especially when the work environment is pressured and competitives¹.
Presenteeism. Leaders can miss underlying issues when employees continue to show up despite mental health struggles. Presenteeism has increased post pandemic² and is costly to UK employers – because people present as fine whilst underperforming³.
Unpredictable symptoms. Mental health issues don’t always present the same and can fluctuate over time⁴. This can make it understandably hard for leaders to recognise, especially if they lack relevant training or awareness⁴.
External pressures can be missed. Leaders are not always aware of additional pressures facing employees. For example, mental health issues can be worsened by issues at home, such as caring responsibilities and family concerns³.

When mental health issues aren’t visible to leaders, problems are more likely to escalate before help is offered. This can increase the risk of burn out and prolonged absence.

The good news is that leaders can play a key role in initiating the types of conversations that will have a positive effect on breaking the stigma and encouraging honesty.

Why stigma stops people speaking up

Despite increased awareness of the importance of talking about mental health, in the workplace, fear of stigma still acts as a barrier to employees speaking out. As many as 45 % of employees feel unable to discuss mental health issues with their managers⁵.

While some progress has been made, a Mind UK report highlights that stigma towards mental health issues is strongly embedded within workplace culture and can be worsened during periods of high workload or pressure⁶.

Reasons employees don’t speak up includes the following.

Fear of negative career impacts

High performers often feel the need to hide symptoms such as anxiety or low mood as they think it makes them appear more reliable⁷.

While some fear of negative outcomes may be unjustified, around 35 % of UK employees have reported either discrimination or stigma due to sharing their poor mental health⁵.

Previous negative experiences in other jobs may deter employees speaking up in other work environments.

Organisational culture

The organisational culture leaders create has a big impact on the willingness of employees to speak up about their mental health struggles⁶.

For example, when mental health is treated as something that should be dealt with privately, it can make speaking up feel unacceptable⁸.

Similarly, how individual managers react to employee challenges such as poor performance, absence from work, and signs of pressure can influence whether employees feel comfortable attributing those issues to mental health struggles.⁶

Issues contributing to an unhealthy organisational culture include⁹:

Lack of clear policies about mental health issues
Poor leader role modelling (openness, proactivity about optimising wellbeing)
Manager overwork and stress preventing capacity to deal with employee issues

What leaders can do to build resilient teams

You don’t need to become an expert in diagnosing and managing mental health issues. You can provide valuable, and meaningful support as a leader by making a few small changes.

Role model openness

A good place to start is role modelling openness6. If you as a leader are comfortable acknowledging pressures and stress, it can help to give your employees permission to do the same. This doesn’t mean you need to overshare – but the act of being open normalises these types of discussions and can get the conversation started⁹.

Create psychological safety

When people feel appreciated by their managers, and find their work environment supportive, they are much more likely to disclose issues⁸.

Ensure that your employees feel they can speak honestly without fearing negative outcomes. This might involve approaches such as:

Empathising with disclosures⁶
Maintaining confidentiality⁵
Avoiding actions that can be perceived as punishments – such as reduced opportunities or making assumptions⁶

Be proactive about mental wellbeing

Normalising mental health optimisation proactively can prevent issues from occurring. This means, instead of responding reactively when employees are in mental health crises, absent from work or experiencing poor performance, reinforce the importance of good mental health habits generally.

This can include actions such as:

Sharing relevant mental health guides or policies⁹
Encouraging wellbeing discussions during 1-2-1's and reviews⁵
Team brainstorming about good mental health strategies⁶
Encouraging habits such as exercising, taking breaks, eating and sleeping well^5,9

Talking about these topics more often can also reduce the stigma that prevents people speaking up.

And remember, you can always signpost your employees to the wide range of support and professional help available - you don’t have to have all the answers and solutions to your team's mental health.

But starting honest conversations has a significant impact on closing the gap between employee experience and leader awareness, which can prevent mental health issues from being missed, reduce the risk of escalation and greatly increase employee wellbeing.

References