Too often, employer employee wellness strategies are based only on perks and programs. While these actions have value, and demonstrate an employer contribution towards wellness, they fall short when the workplace culture is unhealthy. Employees thrive in cultures that are well.
Culture is created through behaviour. Leader behaviours have a significant impact on culture so much so that we know from Gallup’s research that 70% of employee engagement can be attributed to one’s experience with their manager. Going to an onsite yoga class at lunch time quickly loses its impact when an employee goes to a meeting after lunch that is led by a manager who dominates the discussion and tells everyone what to do.
Employee wellness is fostered through leadership behaviours that:
- Involves team members in decisions that affect them.
- Takes time to listen, understand and consider team member opinions.
- Identifies support for managing workloads.
- Links individual work to team’s goals
Does the manager have a style of telling? Is the manager unresponsive and aloof? Perhaps the manager is overly appeasing? In any of these styles, the above-described behaviours don’t occur, and employees become frustrated, disconnected, and unengaged.
However, a management style that pays attention to relationships, while still staying focused on the work that needs to be done, are the managers that will be best able to create a team culture where team members are challenged, involved, and thriving.
These leaders are respectful and candid. In their day-to-day discussion, you will see them:
- Seek out others’ views before they give their own.
- Ask good questions that prompt reflection, insight, and ownership.
- Take time to give, and discuss, candid and respectful feedback.
- Create clarity on what needs to be done and why.
In so doing, these leaders create healthy team cultures. This isn’t easy work. In the words of Harvard professor Clayton Christensen, “If done well, management is among the most noble of professions”. To help leaders be successful in this work, organizations are well served to invest in management development. If they do, they’ll find that one of the returns on this investment is that employee wellness will be supported.
