GeneralLeadership and Development Matters when a Resilient Workplace Matters

Resilient organizations are more adaptive, agile and can sustain their competitive advantage over time. They are better positioned to overcome disruptions and challenges, as well as helping employees manage their wellbeing and emotional stress. Yet many organizations don’t have the learning and development in place to build and reinforce a resilient workplace culture.

Paula Allen, global leader of research and client insights at TELUS Health, has said that every resilient culture is built on the three key pillars of mental health, leadership and respect. To build a resilient culture and achieve organizational goals, teams and leaders need to build critical skills and competencies. They are most often trained on aspects of leadership and respect yet lack the skills to address mental health. And though one in four managers said they experienced employee mental health concerns in a TELUS Health Index survey of managers conducted earlier this year, very few are trained on how to manage this challenge.

Particularly during this age of a mental health crisis, creating and maintaining a mentally healthy workplace doesn’t happen by itself. Organizations are taking steps to focus on the mental health and wellbeing of employees and leaders, beginning with providing continuous, confidential, and coordinated mental health tools and support. But what an employer perceives as accessibility by adding mental health services to a benefits platform is only effective if people feel comfortable with the idea of getting help, know it is available, and find it is easy to use. Much of that awareness and comfort comes from frequent, respectful communication.

Much is written about the prevalence of mental health issues these days, showing that building a resilient workplace requires the leadership skills to recognize and address mental health concerns among colleagues. It needs to interpret the term “burnout” as a symptom, not a poor worker.

Leaders, including line managers, can be taught the steps to support employees without worrying that they lack the skills of a professional psychologist. Yet they are not often shown the tools, taught the policies, and trained on how to support workers who may be experiencing stress, depression, anxiety and more. Meanwhile, many employees are concerned about confidentiality and do not feel comfortable bringing up any weakness or negative emotions. This challenge can be met by better educating the managers to help their employees. The managers’ role can be proactive, not invasive, by checking in, listening carefully and repeatedly informing all employees of the mental health benefits available to them. They should know when to contact HR or what to recommend when an employee does approach them with a problem. They need to communicate a workplace culture of support that helps all employees become personally resilient. Resilient organizations use workplace learning strategically, like including training for managers and frequent teaching of how to make the most of employee benefits. Effective workplace learning is not a series of “one-and-done” events; rather, it is an ongoing strategic effort to create behavior change, drive employee engagement, and achieve organizational goals. That applies to mental health management as much as any other aspect of work.

Allen’s context regarding respect is treated like an umbrella term covering many workplace behaviors that connect to mental health. This is particularly true when promoting an inclusive culture that welcomes diversity, because research shows employees who feel marginalized are most likely to struggle with mental health.

While under emotional strain, people are also least likely to have the wherewithal to dive into the details and possibilities of the organization’s complex benefits package. When a learning curriculum includes support for mental wellbeing, it puts the concept of resiliency at the heart of the organization and drives behavior change among managers and workers. In a recent TELUS Mental Health Index survey, higher workplace culture scores were associated with lower turnover – and employers who received low culture scores saw four times the number of workers who were thinking about leaving their jobs. In addition to better talent retention, high culture scores were associated with better employee mental health and higher work productivity. To develop that type of resilient workplace, organizational learning and training that incorporates some “soft skills” around mental health support may reap “hard line” benefits of a resilient talent base, as the TELUS Health research found that one third of managers experienced increased turnover in the last year.

The availability of employee wellness education that supports mental health is often more accessible than most HR and L&D leaders expect. If not already available as part of a purchased Leadership curriculum, L&D functions can often find sessions and guides through mental health benefits providers. The challenge is to incorporate this training into any manager and culture-oriented lessons, making it part of the norm in reinforcing organizational resilience.

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