Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) legislation clearly outlines our legal responsibilities to ensure the health and safety of all employees. Importantly, this includes a duty to eliminate or manage risks to both physical and psychological health.
Recognition of the importance of wellness and psychological health and safety has increased markedly in recent years, as evidenced by the Downey-Swinburne Report and the spotlight on mental health that resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The creation of Victorian Workplace Manslaughter laws in 2020 that extend to cover negligent practices and policies in relation to psychological injury also reflects this recognition. Understanding what this looks like and what to do about it remains a complex issue.
So, how do you create working environment that builds psychological safety? It’s up to leadership to make a difference, to understand their own impact and how far the shadow they cast reaches.
In other words, what they say and how they act matters and has a direct result on the wellness of their people. If they’re reacting and having communications that aren’t thoughtful, careful and supportive, then that’s going to have a negative flow-on impact on how others in the industry are feeling.
On the flipside, if they’re pausing to regulate emotion, filtering what they say and being thoughtful, careful and supportive in how they say it, the flow-on impact to others will be a positive one that promotes wellness within the organisation.
According to the HBR Article: Why Compassion is a Better Managerial Tactic than Toughness:
Responding with anger or frustration erodes loyalty
Angry responses also inhibit creativity by increasing stress levels in the recipient
Environments based in fear, anxiety and lack of trust makes people experience a threat response and shut down
More compassionate responses will get you more powerful results
Compassion and curiosity increase loyalty and trust in others
Positive relationships at work have a greater influence on employee loyalty than salary
Others who witness a leader’s positive behaviour may also be more loyal
Neuroimaging research confirms that our brains respond more positively towards leaders who show empathy
When we feel safe, our brain’s stress response is lower.
Through their Integrated Approach, Lysander witnessed many leaders recognise the significant impact they can have on other people and their wellbeing simply through the way they communicate with them – the quality conversations they have and how they build relationships. Some of these insights included:
I realised that I’d been working in a toxic industry and that there was a better way that I could be a part of it if I stop and communicate with my colleagues.
Reminded me to take the time to stop and have a conversation with another employee and the positive impacts it can have.
Following the ‘Leading Through Change’ sessions, when prompted to think of a behavioural step that would role model a focus on wellness & embed a wellness mindset, one person reflected on the importance of building stronger relationships and connections within their team, especially following the pandemic which reduced interpersonal interactions.
How can we hope to get engagement when we don’t have a relationship?
Being aware of ourselves and how we’re feeling, being careful in the way we’re communicating messages and reacting to situations is key. This means equipping leaders with the skills to:
Manage their own emotions. Emotional Intelligence is key to building self-awareness of how they’re feeling and self-management strategies in how they react to others
Recognise the significant impact they can have on other people. This means developing their awareness of others and building out knowledge on how they can create a reward response rather than a threat response in their people
An understanding of how to cater to underlying innate needs (SCARF) we all share and address core issues that currently impact wellness, particularly around pressure, relationships and change:
In an industry already experiencing high levels of pressure, the way leaders communicate with their people can either add to this feeling or relieve it through recognition of the impact of fairness and autonomy
Every communication is an opportunity for leaders to foster positive relationships that promote engagement, performance and loyalty through compassion or to erode all of these things
In a world of constant change, constant communication is also needed. If leaders make time for these important conversations and support their people through changes affecting them, their feelings around certainty and status will in turn be much more positive.
Call To Action
Reflect on whether your people are reactive. Do you see this happening in the business, and if so how can you raise awareness around the importance of considered communication?
While this is important at all levels of the organisation, as we’ve seen through the ideas of leadership shadow and role modelling, the greatest impact can be achieved by starting at the top.
It may be necessary to do some work with your leaders to ensure they’re developing the emotionally intelligent behaviours needed to cast a positive shadow.
Helping leaders recognise and shape their shadow – the impact they have on others – is a key element of the Integrated Approach and gives leaders the skills needed to communicate in positive ways, in turn creating positive relationships and positively influencing wellness in their people and across the organisation.
“A compassionate attitude can greatly reduce the distress people feel in difficult situations and become a profound personal resource in times of stress.”
Taking it Further
Visit the Critical Nature of Role Modelling page to explore more on how to positive influence others through leadership.
View The Integrated Approach to explore how Lysander build emotional intelligence and leadership development into the Integrated Approach.