As a leader, you can\u2019t control the pandemic, but you can control many things within your (newly virtual) walls, and\u00a0mental health cannot be left behind.<\/p>\n
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Article by <\/strong>Kelly Greenwood,\u00a0founder and CEO of Mind Share Partners<\/a><\/p>\n As the founder and CEO of a workplace mental health nonprofit and someone who manages generalized anxiety disorder, I\u2019m already very attuned to the mental health of my team\u2014but these are extraordinary times.<\/p>\n On Friday, March 13, when school closures had been announced where I live in San Francisco, I attempted to reassure my distributed team via email about the implications of the pandemic (screenshot below). I shared that I\u2019d gone back and forth between moments of calm and crisis. I also noted that the responses within our organization are very much on a spectrum, as is all mental health. They can also go back and forth on that spectrum from day to day and even hour to hour.<\/p>\n All of your team members, regardless of preexisting mental health conditions, will face a certain amount of anxiety in this climate. It\u2019s more important than ever to lead with mental health in mind as we face an unprecedented crisis with the novel coronavirus.\u00a0Leaders are the culture setters<\/a>\u00a0within organizations\u2014an even more critical role in our new virtual workforce. It\u2019s on us to help pave the way for our teams. These are five ways to start (more resources to come\u00a0here<\/a>):<\/p>\n Coronavirus aside, 2020 has been tough. My mental health has been tenuous at best.\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0intentionally made my team aware of this to be\u00a0transparent and to normalize it. My dad passed away unexpectedly in January from heart-related issues and my mom has understandably been grieving deeply\u2014across the country, no less. Managing both of these things, work, as well as the needs and feelings of my two small children has caused periodic anxiety spikes. Coming\u00a0back from the verge\u00a0of an anxiety spiral is a tribute to years of practicing hard-won cognitive behavioral skills, my psychologist, and my psychiatrist.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important for leaders to show that they\u2019re human. Being vulnerable doesn\u2019t make you a weaker leader, but a much stronger, braver and authentic one. In this age of coronavirus, normalizing a universally felt anxiety is more important than ever. Take this even farther by sharing how you\u2019re managing your own mental health and communicating your company\u2019s mental health benefits and resources.<\/p>\n As a leader, you can\u2019t control the coronavirus, but you can control many things within your (newly virtual) walls. Uncertainty often results in anxiety, so reassure your employees where you can and lead with your values. In my email, I shared with my team members that I\u2019m committed to their physical and mental health in these unbelievable times and will do whatever I can to help.<\/p>\n Communicating policies and ideally adjusting these as needed is critical right now. This includes conveying job security to the extent possible as well as explaining sick leave, leave for caregivers, PTO\/other paid leave and more. I let our contractors know that we will continue to pay them normally, even if they are sick or unable to work their typical hours. Be generous as much as possible. Your team is relying on you and will remember your actions.<\/p>\n Remove some of your employees\u2019 stressors and try to personalize the solutions, recognizing that everyone has different circumstances and needs. Your team members may not be comfortable sharing their respective challenges, but rest assured that they are all worried about something. Be proactive in providing a menu of options and express your willingness to co-create others. This could include working fewer or odd hours if childcare, caregiving or sickness is an issue, instituting boundaries for those tempted to work all the time at home, and suggesting ways to combat social isolation. Prioritize the work that has to happen versus what can slide during this time.<\/p>\n It is equally important to normalize this new flexibility. Be sure to give visibility into how you\u2019ve adapted your own behavior. In my email, I wrote that\u00a0\u201cI fully expect that my kids will inevitably pop in and out of meetings as both of their schools have now closed\u2014please know that it is completely OK for yours to do the same!\u201d More recently, I shared that my husband and I are splitting childcare evenly, so we’re each working half-time during business hours and also working evenings as we \u201cshelter-in-place.\u201d Reiterate that these adjustments will take time for everyone as we navigate this new normal, so be patient and understanding.<\/p>\n It\u2019s imperative to make space for reflection as well as to listen and lead with empathy. I began our last all-hands meeting by asking how everyone was doing and feeling. I encouraged all questions, concerns and comments (there or privately), spelling out that no question is too big, small or embarrassing. As a distributed team, all our meetings have always been over video. It creates better rapport and connection than a conference call, which are critical to protect our mental health during this time of social distancing.<\/p>\n In encouraging these candid conversations in groups or individually, I\u2019ve been able to better help my team members. One example is when one of my contractors called me upset, saying that she had a doctor\u2019s referral to get tested for COVID-19 and had to miss our all-hands to do so. My immediate reaction was one of compassion, unequivocally communicating that her health came first. If we don\u2019t know what\u2019s happening, we can\u2019t provide solutions.<\/p>\n While gratitude and a service-orientation may seem hard to manifest at the moment, they are both evidence-based approaches to bolstering mental health. Be grateful for what you have, including your team\u2014particularly the resilience and close relationships that you\u2019ll have on the other side of this pandemic. They will strengthen your organization for the long-term.<\/p>\n Be of service not only to your team members, but also to those in the community facing extra hardships, including low-income populations, undocumented workers, the elderly and sick, single parents, health care workers on the front lines and many others. Their mental health is even more at risk and they may face layoffs, evictions as well as lack of food, childcare and healthcare.<\/p>\n Now more than ever, mental health at work matters. Be well and take care of each other.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a leader, you can\u2019t control the pandemic, but you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":28504,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,1337],"tags":[3382,99,1385,3177,620,3419,260,3418],"class_list":["post-25419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-management-leadership","category-primezone","tag-covid19","tag-ceo","tag-ceo-northam","tag-coronavirus","tag-forbes","tag-kelly-greenwood","tag-mental-health","tag-mind-share-partners"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25419"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28506,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25419\/revisions\/28506"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/servidor-mxigen1.com\/ceona-antiguo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Be vulnerable about your own mental health<\/strong><\/h1>\n
Be reassuring and values-based<\/strong><\/h1>\n
Be flexible<\/strong><\/h1>\n
Be available and compassionate<\/strong><\/h1>\n
Be grateful and of service<\/strong><\/h1>\n