Promote Mental Health on Your Team
| As a manager, you have the ability to promote a positive culture of mental health on your team. Here are three evidence-based strategies you can use to support your team members on a regular basis. * Encourage acts of kindness. Acts of kindness toward others can improve mental health because they take people’s minds off of their own problems. Lead by example: Express gratitude to people for their specific contributions, ask them what you can do to improve their experience at work, and help them pursue career-development goals. If your team sees that you value kindness, they’ll feel more inclined to extend kindness to their coworkers. * Promote physical exercise. The simple activity of walking in nature has been shown to decrease rumination and neural activity associated with mental illness. Exercise that involves others, such as team sports and group fitness classes, can also be especially helpful by adding an element of positive social engagement. Encourage your team to take breaks throughout the day to get moving in whatever way works best for them. * Make work meaningful. Focus your team’s attention on how their work serves a greater good, not just how it benefits them personally. When people are driven by a purpose outside of themselves, they become more mentally resilient to stressful life events and more motivated to engage in activities and relationships that promote good mental health. |
| This tip is adapted from “3 Ways to Build an Organizational Culture That Supports Mental Health,” by Clay Routledge |
