Effective leadership training must go beyond technical skills, incorporating soft skills like listening and empathy – Daniel Shore explains why these are key to building resilient, supportive teams
Mental health was once considered a taboo topic, rarely discussed in the workplace. While this stigma still exists in some organisations, attitudes towards mental health have changed. Many employers have, to varying degrees, started to recognise the importance of providing a supportive and collaborative environment that prioritises the wellbeing of their employees.
Senior leaders must be provided with more tools and training to address both their own and others’ mental health-related needs
The impact of mental health on productivity cannot be understated. According to AXA UK, £2.1tn was lost in 2023 due to employees’ mental health issues. Beginning four years ago, when Covid radically transformed our ways of working, the nature of work has been shifting at an accelerated pace, leaving workers and managers to try to keep up with the additional pressure of not only completing tasks but also figuring out how to work in virtual and hybrid settings.
Hybrid working: Navigating the new normal
Hybrid models, where employees split time between the office and home, quickly became a common arrangement. This has added convenience (e.g., reduced commuting) but also introduced confusion and added effort required to maintain work-life balance. Now, as employees finally begin to understand how to navigate these arrangements, return-to-office mandates are increasing, adding further uncertainty and insecurity around work expectations.
The absence of evidence-based guidance and best practices that keep up with the changing world of work often leaves employees and their managers navigating this relatively new landscape without the proper skills and tools to address challenges. This has led to new sources of stress, fatigue and burnout.
Virtual work: A different way of working together
Virtual work, whether fully remote or part of a hybrid model, is not simply about doing the same work online that was done in person. It is a different way of working altogether, which means extra effort is required from employers and leaders to meet the needs of their workers and adapt work environments to foster growth and motivation. Taking on this responsibility begins with an understanding by, and then training of, senior management so that they are informed and equipped to create a supportive work environment for their employees – and themselves.
The role of senior management
Findings from a 2023 survey of cybersecurity professionals (an ever-evolving industry heavily reliant on virtual and hybrid working arrangements) by MultiTeam Solutions revealed that while 81% of professionals believe senior management at least somewhat understands their stress, only 23% believe that senior management actively works to reduce it. Nearly 50% of respondents said that senior management, despite knowing about the stress they are experiencing, adds to it, which likely perpetuates feelings of burnout.
Shared responsibility for mental health
It’s important to remember that senior executives are equally susceptible to work pressures and experiencing poor mental health. Rather than viewing mental health as a challenge solely for the wider organisation, senior leaders need to recognise that mental health affects people at all levels, including themselves. They too will need support, particularly in high-stress situations. In turn, they will also benefit from organisational initiatives related to mental wellbeing.
Collaborating on solutions across all levels of organisations is truly needed, representing a shift beyond top-down approaches where senior management dictates how mental health is addressed in the workplace. This shift involves empathy and contributions from every part of an organisation, acknowledging that everyone – from senior management to frontline employees – is both susceptible to mental health challenges and collectively responsible for addressing them.
Support and training
Being part of the solution means heeding warnings from research such as the aforementioned studies, following expert advice and best practices, allocating resources, assessing and measuring the state of individual and organisational wellbeing, and investing in training that is human-centred. As visible figures within an organisation, senior leaders coming forward to openly discuss mental health in the office can have a positive impact on morale, encouraging open and transparent dialogues in the workplace.
Senior leaders must be provided with more tools and training to address both their own and others’ mental health-related needs. In order to build momentum in creating this type of shift, training around soft skills such as authentic listening, conflict navigation, and empathic communication needs to be prioritised alongside technical skills and strategic operations.
Supporting this shift also requires an investment from the organisation and a commitment from the most senior leaders to move some of their short-term focus on the business to a long-term focus on directly supporting employees at all levels. This can create a healthier workplace with less pressure and fewer demands. Improved mental health and wellbeing will increase employee retention and bring many positive effects to an organisation through a more humane approach to the employee experience.
Daniel Shore is Co-founder and Social-behavioural Scientist at MultiTeam Solutions
