A guide for leaders how to look after your own wellbeing, as well as the wellbeing of your teams

Next Steps Consulting

“Your first and foremost job as a leader is to take charge of your own energy and then help orchestrate the energy of those around you” - Peter Drucker

In these uncertain, worrying and challenging times, it is more important than ever to look after your own wellbeing and to do all your can as a leader and an organisation to look after the wellbeing of your teams.

Next Steps Consulting understand the pressures that you will be under as leaders and have put together the following guidance to help you navigate through the next couple of weeks to support your own wellbeing and the wellbeing of your teams.

Looking after your Own Wellbeing as Leaders

The below suggestions may seem obvious but it is more important now than ever before to look after your own health and wellbeing to allow you to be focus on your role as a leader through these challenging times,

• Look after your own mental health - being a leader can be incredibly lonely and the additional pressure during the current climate can have a negative impact on your mental health. Recognise the early warning signs that show your mental health may be suffering and put in place that can help. This could be reaching out for professional help, talking through and opening up to friends, family or fellow leaders, practising mindfulness and look after your physical health which will in turn support your mental health, some ideas on this are shown below.
• Rest - make sure you are getting enough rest and sleep, as leaders it will feel currently as though you need to be working every hour of the day to get on top of business continuity plans, realigning priorities and re-budgeting and forecasting. However you need to ensure you are taking some time away from work else you will become less and less productive. Set boundaries for when you can finish working and spend time with those closest to you where possible.
• Keep active - whilst some opportunities to be physically active will be restricted, think about taking a walk a lunchtime if you can or do some home workouts, there are lots of free workouts on You Tube that you can do - make it even more fun by getting your family involved in a daily workout.
• Self Care - take some time for yourself every day to do something that you enjoy, that makes you happy or that gives your mind, body and soul some attention. Some ideas for self care can be reading a book, doing some arts and craft, having a bath, check in with a friend or family member, write down things you are grateful for and practising meditation
• Unplug - being connected 24/7 can be over whelming and can certainly cause anxiety and uncertainly at this currently point of time with constant messaging and news relating to the challenges the country and world is facing. Unplug yourself even for a small amount of time every day and don’t use any electronic items for at least 30 minutes before you go to sleep.
• Eat well and stay hydrated - this goes without saying, having a health diet boosts our immune system, supports our mental health and makes us feel more energetic. Likewise keep drinking lots of water which also supports our immune system, flushes out unwanted toxins and aids the lymphatic system.
• Don’t forget to make use of all the wellbeing programmes and initiatives that are available through your organisation which are there to support everyone.

Key Areas of Consideration as Leaders • Communication will be absolutely key during these times to update teams and to outline the steps that the organisation is taking to keep everyone safe which should be the primary concern at this point in time.

Everyone needs guidance during this period so ensure you are speaking with your teams as often as possible. Think about different ways of communicating, can you do a short video for example instead of sending an email, this will make people feel more connected to the leadership team.

• Regular contact with colleagues - as well as communications with your teams, don’t forget to also keep in regular contact with fellow leaders and colleagues. This will ensure you can share concerns and learnings as well as being a support network. This will also ensure that as a senior team you are aligned on all areas relating to the organisation.
• Be human and flexible - no one has had to lead under these circumstances before and we won’t get everything right and guidance is changing every day. However you can be human and listen to the worries and concerns of your team and be as flexible as possible during this team to allow employees to be able to manage other areas of their life alongside work.
• Support your line managers - line managers will be under a lot of additional pressure at this time and will be experience a completely new way of managing if their teams are working from home. Consider what training and support can be given to managers for managing a remote workforce, building resilience, working under pressure and supporting employee mental health.
• Gratitude - your teams are essential in getting through these difficult times, regular thank yous of those within your teams for their hard work, for taking on extra work and for supporting others will go a long way.
• Networking - no one knows what the next day has in store at the moment and every day will throw up different challenges, speak to those within your network, ask for their help and support and how they are approaching things. Look at what webinars are taking place on relevant topics, join groups on LinkedIn and ask for guidance from others, identify local business networks who may be providing resources and support.
• There is a wealth of free resources to refer to for guidance, these include Acas, CIPD, NHS and Public Health England, ensure you take guidance from reputable sources.

Looking after the Wellbeing of your Teams

• Communicate with your teams that may be working from home regularly and find our from your teams their preferences for communications and use these not your preferences. Use video conferencing where possible for team meetings which is so much more engaging than just using email. Consider technologies such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom. Consider having a team weekly coffee catch up where you don’t discuss work but just check in on everyone on a personal level.
• Check in with everyone from your team as often as you can and give everyone an equal amount of time, make sure you don’t exclude individuals as this will only enhance feelings of isolation at this current point in time.
• Have individual discussions with team members about flexibility, for working parents the closure of schools is going to cause disruption and many will not have support structures in place due to social distancing. Be creative and empathetic through these conversations and support flexible working patterns wherever this might be possible.
• Regularly communicate the wellbeing support that you have as an organisation to all team members, this could be details of employee assistance programmes or counselling services, intranet sites with guidance and information or contact details of occupational health.
• Be proactive in supporting a positive mental health culture, there is a wealth of free resources that can be passed not teams through Mind, Mental Health First Aid England, Mental Health at Work and the Mental Health Foundation.
• Think about what wellbeing campaigns you can still run remotely and how you can still engage the team in thinking about their wellbeing. Get creative by asking for suggestions from team members on how they are supporting their wellbeing, get people to suggest new recipes they are trying, have a virtual step challenge, share online fitness classes and wellbeing podcasts and articles.
• For those that are not able to work from home, look at where extra control measure can be put in place to safeguard employees, re-look at risk assessments and talk to them about what else you can do to support them.
• Don’t forget those that may be off on long term sick unrelated to Covid-19, these individuals still need to be communicated with and supported and updated with how their return to work may look based on your organisational working practises at this point in time.
• Trust your teams who will be working from home and spend time building this trust through regular communications.
• Increase consultation with team re decisions and get regular feedback from your teams, if your teams feel they are being listened too they will be more engaged.
• Try to build some fun into these challenging times and use this as an opportunity to get to know your teams a bit better for example ask to meet partners, children, pets at the start of videos calls, get the team to share their tips for how to entertain children, games they are playing if self isolating, books that people are reading etc.
• Say thank you - these are difficult times and by ensuring your teams feel valued and cared for you will get the best out of your teams, say a big thank you at the end of every week and see how else you may be able to recognise those that are embracing new ways of working.