Workplace Strategies | Workplace Mental Health Institute

Mental Health Expert Warns: 8 types of manager you could avoid for a mentally healthy workplace

08-11-2019

Bad bosses are to blame for rise in workplace mental health issues

A recent study commissioned by global staffing business, Robert Half, showed that half of workers surveyed quit due to a bad boss. The survey results seem to support the theory that people leave managers, not companies.

Mental Health Expert and the CEO of the Workplace Mental Health Institute, Peter Diaz has warned that bad bosses are contributing to a rise in mental health issues in the workplace. We already know that workplaces are increasingly under more pressure due to the state of the global economy and the level of digital disruption happening across all industries. These pressures are being felt by many people as employees are being asked to do more with less time. At a time when employees need to be further supported given the challenging economic environment, it seems many businesses and managers haven’t got the memo.

Peter Diaz says there are eight types of bad managers you could avoid for a mentally healthy workplace.

1. Rude and Insulting Managers

This type of manager seems to find joy in making others feel less powerful or special. They openly criticise you in front of others and even raise their voice from time to time. Whether they do it on purpose or do it without even realising, this type of behaviour is incredibly destructive. You can let them know how their actions affect you however often this behaviour is attached to narcissistic personalities and those who feel threatened by others. Giving them feedback is unlikely to change their behaviour.

2. Ungrateful and Inflexible Managers

Many managers struggle with the concept of thanks and making their staff feel valued. Even worse, not only do they fail to make you feel appreciated, they also fail to be flexible. As most millennials will tell you, flexibility in the workplace is very important. In fact, it has been identified by this generation as one of the most important elements of the ideal workplace. Staff need the ability to blend their busy lives with work, whether it be family, kids, illness, study, causes – managers need to be considerate and flexible and find a way to meet staff in the middle.

Learn more about Workplace Mental Health Strategies…

3. Disorganised and Last Minute Managers

This type of manager typically makes their inaction your emergency. I think we have all worked with someone like this and can vouch from personal experience that this type of manager is dangerous and soul destroying. Helping them to better manage themselves and their responsibilities is not your job.

4. Unapproachable and Arrogant Managers

This type of manager is difficult to work with. Often staff will avoid dealing directly with this type of manager because they find them so intimidating. Often when these managers do engage, they are always right and tend to gloat about it. This is a personality and style issue. You can can do your research and work out how to crack their ‘self-loved’ veneer – but it can be a challenging task.

5. Managers Pick and Play with Favourites

Unfortunately, these types of managers are everywhere. They overtly pick favourites and these people seem to get away with blue murder including not doing their job. They also tend to be the ones put up for promotion and other opportunities. Other staff often end up carrying the load which burns people out and leaves them feeling undervalued, underpaid and exploited. You can try to pamper the boss with praise and sell your soul to get into their good books – but if you are a person with a moral compass this usually isn’t the best option.

6. Micromanager

This type of manager will give you things to do and then tell you how to do it and check every aspect of your progress. Most capable staff will only put up with this behaviour for a short period of time before leaving or exploding. The key is to build confidence and trust fast while establishing mechanisms to keep your manager constantly updated. This tends to add so much work to an already busy load that most people move on to other roles to get away from the micromanagement.

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

SUBSCRIBE

7. Too Busy and Unavailable Managers

We are all busy in the year 2019 – but the people we should be most available for, are our staff. If it means that managers have to get to work earlier, or lock in staff time that can not be double booked, then this is what must happen. Managers who find themselves too busy for their staff are not managers, they are simply absent colleagues. Staff need engagement with their manager, they need to be able to access their manager to discuss and resolve issues and seek guidance on work related matters.

8. Distressed and Overwhelmed Managers

Bosses are human too. When they are distressed and overwhelmed, they can become a risk to the mental health of their team. Self care is very important for bosses too. Here you can encourage your boss to care for themselves. Do things they enjoy and have regular small breaks throughout the day to improve productivity.

Bad managers can cause mental health issues in their workplace, and through bad management they can also worsen issues staff may be experiencing. If we can better equip businesses and managers to understand and deal with mental health issues in the workplace, we can save lives – many lives. Importantly we can also help managers to be better managers.

Peter Diaz and Emi Golding have written and released a book to provide organizations and managers with practical assistance on dealing with mental health in the workplace. Their much anticipated book is called: Mental Wealth: An Essential Guide to Workplace Mental Health and Wellbeing. This latest workplace mental health book provides important guidance for all organizations, leaders and managers on mental health in the workplace and how to build resilient and meaningful cultures and processes that enable organizations to support and appropriately manage those with mental health issues.

It is more important than ever that every business, organization and manager across the country is positioned to deal with mental health issues and understand the warning signs. We all need to step up and ensure we are taking care of people. The only thing that gets us through hard times is people. We need to help people and support them to cope and to be resilient.

The Workplace Mental Health Institute is the leading peak body for research, advice and training relating to workplace mental health.

The book is available for purchase from a number of different outlets like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Powell’s, Indigo, IndieBound and many other bookstores worldwide and online.

Please visit https://thementalwealthguide.com for more info on this book.

Author: Peter Diaz

Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organizations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

Products or People? Systems or Staff?

05-07-2018

Will you invest in your product or your people?

If your budget would only allow you to invest in one area of your business this quarter, would you invest in developing your products or your people? Would you enhance your systems or your staff?

Providing coaching to personnel from their direct manager could be an investment that continues to pay returns. The Sales Executive Council conducted research into the impact of coaching effectiveness within organizations¹. The global study, including more than 3000 participants identified findings which include:

Read more on workplace wellbeing and culture….

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

SUBSCRIBE

Developing the coaching abilities of sales team managers is an effective way of boosting sales performance of mid-range achievers by up to 19%.
Retention of high performing sales people is increased when they consider their manager to be an effective coach. Below average ‘intention to stay’ was recorded for sales people whose managers were rated in the bottom third in terms of coaching effectiveness.
Neither ‘Experience as a Manager’ nor ‘Experience in Sales’ had an impact on ratings of managers’ coaching effectiveness.
Sales teams receiving less than 2 hours of coaching per month achieved 90% of their sales goals, compared to teams receiving 3 or more hours of coaching per month and achieving 107% of their sales targets².
Research into the retention of training information showed that training alone resulted in a 13% retention of training information at a 30-day reassessment of knowledge, whilst those who had ongoing coaching were able to retain 88% of the information².

Unfortunately, despite considerable benefit to the sales team when managers provide effective coaching to team members, this is the area that consistently scored lowest on a Manager Skill Index examining 10 manager abilities³.

Which begs the question: will you invest in your product or your people? Still not sure? OK, one final statistic: Research has shown that organizations achieve a 1700% ROI when investing in training their managers to be internal coaches⁴.

October 2005, Teleconference Series, Building a World Class Coaching Program: Upgrading Rep Ability to Engage Customers with Solutions Hypotheses.
“Executive Coaching as a Transfer of Training Tool”, Public Personnel Management, Winter 1997
“Why Do Salespeople Fail?” Industrial Distribution, 1 March 1996; Sales Executive Council Research Solutions
Rock, D & Donde, R. (2008) “Driving organizational change with internal coaching programs: Part One.” Industrial and Commercial Training, 40, pp 10-18.

Author: Alison Skate

Alison Skate is a Workplace Mental Health Specialist for Workplace Mental Health Institute. She began her career as a psychologist in the Australian Army more than twenty years ago. Alison is a leadership coach and workshop facilitator.

My Main Peeve About Workplace Mental Health and what Steve Wozniak (co founder of Apple) told me about it

09-05-2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKUstLO-Ytk

I’m a pretty positive guy. I actively practice positivity and this builds resilience. But today, just today, I have to share one of my peeves, if that’s ok. Most people I meet intellectually know and agree that mental health at work is important and vital to get good results. But the thing that frustrates me and annoys me the most, my main peeve about workplace mental health, is that I have to ‘convince’ people to actually take action and do something about it. REALLY? Can you believe it? If people truly understood and believed that taking care of your employees is important, and will give you better business results, then why don’t they do anything about it? Even the research clearly shows that every dollar spent in mental health and wellbeing has an average of 230% return on investment! (and we get a much higher ROI than that!)

Read other interviews by Peter Diaz…

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

SUBSCRIBE

Yet people are slow to act, while their profits are silently drained out of the businesses, and employees are quietly (or not so quietly) burning out. I recently interviewed STEVE WOZNIAK, Apple co-founder with Steve Jobs, and asked him what he thought about this. He confirms it – investing in wellbeing and mental health of your employees is a no-brainer. In the interview, he shares a little about his experience with and thoughts on mental health and psychology, both at Apple, and when he returned to Uni later on (under a false name)! What I love about Steve Wozniak is that he is such a great, down-to-Earth guy. He has family here in Australia, so hopefully, I’ll be able to catch up again on his next visit! This interview is interesting both from a mental health angle and also a human angle. Have a look.

Author: Peter Diaz

Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organizations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

3 Ways To Break The Stigma Around Mental Health At Work

07-09-2017

Mental health issues are a common problem facing Australians, and the related statistics are telling:

Currently, about 450 million people around the world are living with some kind of mental disorder.
According to the World Health Organisation, about 25% of the global population will experience a mental disorder at least once in their lifetime.
In Australia alone, about 1 out of every 5 of us will experience mental ill-health every year.
Mental health problems hold the dubious honor of being the third leading cause of disability within the Australian labour force.
It’s been estimated that Australian businesses lose more than $6.5 billion every year by not providing early intervention and treatment for their employees who are experiencing mental health issues.
However, despite evidence showing just how common this condition is, it’s been estimated that up to two thirds of people with a known mental health condition choose not to seek professional help.

Why is this so?

Access to care, language barriers, and a dearth of quality resources are a few reasons why, but perhaps the most insidious reason is stigma.

Mental Health Stigma Exists — and it Doesn’t Necessarily Stop at the Workplace

Stigma has a powerful influence in the world of mental health issues. Society at large often views people living with mental disorders as unstable, dangerous, or even violent. People with mental health challenges are often believed to be incapable of leading productive and fulfilling lives—indeed, sufferers themselves may even believe this. Research doesn’t tend to support these assumptions, but media and cultural expectations often bolster them, anyway.

These assumptions—real or imagined—can discourage people living with mental ill-health to seek much needed treatment. Their condition may make them feel ashamed, weak, and alone, which of course only compounds their mental health issue and propagates a vicious feed-forward cycle of stress, isolation, and illness.

Read more on mental illness and recovery…

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

SUBSCRIBE

Mental Health Issues on the Job

If we agree that stigma about mental health is virtually ubiquitous, then it becomes clear how this same stigma can exist in the workplace, too. Specifically, both employers and employees may assume a mental health problem will render a person less productive, less organized, and less able to focus on their tasks at hand. Of course, in some cases this can actually hold true, especially if an individual hasn’t sought treatment for their underlying disorder.

Many workplace team members living with a mental health issue choose to hide their issues. They often fear for their job security or are afraid to risk “losing face” in front of their bosses, colleagues, and customers. On their end, employers may not have the tools and tactics to talk to their employees about their suffering. Indeed, an employer may not even be aware that one of his or her team members is suffering from a mental health issue in the first place (unlike a broken ankle or other physical ailment, mental health conditions are often “invisible” and difficult to recognise).

Are you a psychologically safe manager? Take the self assessment to find out.

It’s worth pausing here to reflect on something: mental health problems are common problems. It’s unfortunate that so many people grappling with anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and other issues believe that they have to face their challenges alone. Fortunately, leaders in business organizations are in a unique position to change the way their individual companies approach and accommodate mental health, which can have a profoundly positive impact on the issue of mental health as a whole.

3 Ways to Reduce Stigma Associated with Workplace Mental Health Issues

A workplace culture that stigmatises against workplace mental health issues can be detrimental to both individuals within a company and to the company as a whole. Breaking through this stigma can be extremely difficult. Here are 3 ways to get started:

Educate at all levels.

From senior executives to entry-level team members, everyone in your company can benefit from learning more about mental health. Consider sending out company-wide memos, holding in-services, inviting guest speakers, or even running annual events such as “Mental Health Month” as a way to disseminate information and reduce the fear, stigma, and mystery surrounding mental health.

Ensure everyone on your team has access to help.

Work with your HR team or consultants to raise awareness about policies and programs designed to support both physical and mental health. Use discretion and show that you respect your employees’ privacy.

Make your anti-discrimination policies clear.

As a manager, it’s in your best interest to show your employees that they will not be discriminated against due to a mental health issue. Lead by example. Show that by acknowledging and seeking help for a health issue, a person can become an even more valuable employee at your company, rather than a liability.

To your mental health,

Did you download our Mental Health Awareness Posters? DOWNLOAD HERE

Author: Peter Diaz

Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organizations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

Mental Health and Productivity. Why Managers Need Mental Health Courses

15-08-2017

Workplace Mental health is an issue of grave concern. In fact, it is one of the leading causes of absenteeism from work. Mental health problems at work can cause immense suffering to those experiencing them, and those around them. As such, there is an overwhelming need for managers, business owners and employees to address the issue of mental health at work. Managers particularly should play a significant role in promoting mental health among employees. However, it is essential that managers receive the right support to assist them to handle this task efficiently. If we are to empower supervisors and staff to make a positive impact on mental health it will involve giving them the proper training from industry experts and professionals through mental health courses.

Read more on workplace mental health strategies…

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

SUBSCRIBE

A course on mental health would create awareness and understanding among managers, as well as teach them important lessons such as how to categorise common mental health disorders. Besides learning how to classify the signs and symptoms of mental suffering, they would also be counseled on practical strategies that can support members of their organization.

The major benefits of taking a mental health course include:

Gaining the ability to understand and appreciate the stigma surrounding mental health at work.
Giving employees the confidence to handle clients or workmates suffering from mental health conditions in a humane manner.
Awarding employees and business owners the opportunity to understand the legal requirements surrounding workplace mental health care.
Teaching people techniques and strategies for managing employees with mental conditions.
Improving one’s understanding of stress and how it impacts morale at work.
Reflecting on our own attitude towards mental health problems. If the attitude is a negative one, then we can take measures to change and improve.
Allowing participants to learn possible interventions for workplace mental illnesses.

Did you check our Mental Health Courses?

The outcome of a good mental health training course should be to help management and their employees create a work environment where personal resilience is enhanced, and the comfort and safety of all employees are protected. This will enable the workforce to respond effectively to the challenges that arise while working, which in turn will enhance their confidence, allowing them to produce their very best.

Organisations often lose out on the expertise of capable workers due to mismanagement. Knowing what to do and how to manage the mental health of teams can be tricky. For most people suffering from mental health conditions, their last resort is often, sadly, a choice between a decline of their mental health or abandoning their jobs. Employers have a duty of care to their employees and investing in a course in mental health is the best way to secure the mental health of a workforce. The training should be practical and applicable so that the psychological safety and wellbeing of the whole organization and its employees is enhanced. Good workplace mental health is good business and at the Workplace Mental Health Institute we want to help.

Author: Peter Diaz

Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organizations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

Workplace loyalty is dead. Or is it?

13-07-2017

Looking around at today’s organization and it would seem as though employee loyalty to their organization and organizations’ loyalty to their employees is dead. For many of today’s workforce, the greener grass at the other company or new position is too tempting to pass up. In fact, a recent study by LinkedIn showed that Millennials, those who reach adulthood in the 20th century, will work for nearly twice as many companies in the first five years of their career than their parents did. What’s more, today the average person will have twelve to fifteen jobs in their lifetime. Is this the nail in the coffin for loyalty?

Did you check our Mental Health Courses?

A look at history

In the not-so-distant past, loyalty in the workplace meant remaining at the same company throughout a person’s career. During much of the 20th century, employees would work their entire career for one or two employers and in return, the organization would give their employees the unspoken promise of lifetime employment and a pension retirement. With the popularity of unionisation throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s, collective bargaining agreements and the promise of steady raises and consistent employment held employees to their companies during uncertain economic times where double digit inflation was the norm. However, as the grip of unions began to loosen in the 1990’s in favor of human resource departments and individual performance reviews, employee loyalty began to loosen as well. With the advent of the internet and the expansion of a global economy, suddenly labor costs could be cut dramatically by hiring a less expensive workforce in another country and a company’s loyalty to their workers at home was cast aside in favor of global expansion and rising profits.

Read more on workplace mental health and wellbeing…

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

SUBSCRIBE

Redefining Loyalty

While it is tempting to assume that in today’s economy, it is impossible for organizations to show loyalty to their employees, it perhaps is more important to redefine what loyalty looks like in the 21st century. Where our parents and grandparents showed loyalty to their company by doing their job tirelessly for 30 or 40 years, today’s worker is more likely to look for ways to use their individual talents on behalf of the organization. Whether they are looking for innovative ways to solve a problem, creating effective work teams or helping employees reach their own career potential, today’s workers are driven by a need to see how their work relates to the organizational objectives as a whole. Managers who use performance reviews to discuss how an individual’s goals relate to the overall organizational mission will be rewarded with loyalty to that objective. Such loyalty is arguably more productive in today’s fast-paced business environment and contributes to a strong workplace culture.

Loyalty can also be defined as compensating employees fairly for the work they are completing. Too many companies rely on their organizational mission for their compensation strategy, arguing that contributing to their purpose should be enough to combat unfair wages. In reality, organizations who compensate their employees fairly and who have clearly defined objectives for bonuses and raises are more likely to retain their employees.

While it is nice to talk about organization-wide strategies for both garnering and showing loyalty, applying these principles on a team level may be even more important. While more than 30% of Fortune 500 chief executives have lasted less than three years over the course of the last two decades, research from the Gallup organization shows that employee engagement, a common indicator of productivity, has declined across industries over the last decade. Since top-down initiatives cannot function if senior leadership is in constant fluctuation, the lot falls to mid-level managers to foster team loyalty:

Identify and reiterate the team’s purpose. Align the team’s short and long-term goals with organizational strategy that will help team members see how their success contributes to the business as a whole.
Encourage open discussion without blame or shame. Creating an environment where ideas, opinions, successes and failures can be shared without fear of negative repercussions fosters a sense of loyalty amongst a team’s members.
Ask more questions than you answer. Casting a wide net throughout the team for feedback and input allows everyone to express their feelings and work toward a consensus.
Openly praise success. Both individual and team-based success should be frequently praised in public when objectives are achieved.

While it is unlikely a person will end their career with the same company they began it with, loyalty to a team or organization is not dead. Instead, it has a new face that is reflective of a fast-paced, changing economy.

Author: Peter Diaz

Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organizations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

5 Traits of Confident Leaders in Uncertain Times

26-04-2017

Trump is in the White House, the iPhone 8 isn’t far away (iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max have been released recently), and now we hear robots are planning to take our jobs. Uncertain times indeed.

These days change is inevitable and guaranteed. So how do we take back some semblance of control over our lives and our careers?

The key to it, I think, is confidence.

While confidence is often defined by a self-assurance in one’s own abilities, uncertain times often work to diminish a leader’s confidence in their organization, in their employees, and in themselves. So how does one keep their confidence when faced with uncertainty?

1. Confident leaders perceive failure as the beginning, not the end.

Paralysed by fear of uncertainty, many leaders find themselves in endless cycles of the decision making process. These leaders tend to view failure as the end – the end of their success, the end of the company, or perhaps even the end of their career. Confident leaders tend to view failure as a learning opportunity, a part of the discovery process. They do not take unnecessary risks, but rather rely on sound decision making processes to take calculated risks that will springboard them into their next success.

Read more on leadership strategies and wellbeing…

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

SUBSCRIBE

2. Confident leaders rely on the expertise of others.

We all know of one manager who confused confidence with expertise, eschewing the advice of those that surrounded them. Chances are, their leadership tenure met an untimely demise. Truly confident leaders treat their role in organizations the way a conductor of an orchestra treats his musicians. Understanding that they are not a professional musician in every instrument in an orchestra, conductors provide strategic direction based on the knowledge of how the instruments work together to create the best overall sound. Likewise, confident leaders know they are not experts on every tool, mechanism, process, or skill, but provide strategic direction on how each expert can work together for the overall outcome.

3. Confident leaders own their mistakes.

In a day and age where many people try to take ownership for success while sidestep the blame for their mistakes, confident leaders take responsibility for both. Rather than relying on blame for self-preservation, these leaders instead take responsibility when they are wrong, learn from their mistakes, and move on to greater success. Miraculously, this singular characteristic also inspires subordinates to do the same, creating a culture where fear of failure no longer limits productivity and innovation.

4. Confident leaders communicate purpose.

It is easy to get caught up in the chaos of uncertain times. However, those who lead with confidence also understand and effectively communicate their organization’s purpose. Part of a healthy psychological reward system, the concept of altruism – behaving for the betterment of others – has been shown to increase job satisfaction and increase workplace cooperation. Confident leaders understand, sometimes intuitively, how their employees’ efforts contribute to the strategic vision of the company at large. Taking this knowledge a step further, they are able to clearly and effectively communicate how the company’s overarching vision translates into action plans at a departmental level. Once their people buy into the purpose, altruism takes over, improving productivity and overall job satisfaction throughout the department.

5. Confident leaders are honest and consistent.

It is tempting to sidestep direct questions about the future of an organization. Yet truly confident leaders understand that honesty breeds trust and a sense of safety at work. Knowing your boss will give you an honest, direct answer to your question without dancing around the issues gives employees confidence in their leaders. However, honesty must be matched with consistency. If a leader is honest with one group, but betrays that honesty with another, the perception of favouritism arises and employees are left with feelings of uncertainty about their status with their boss. Truly confident leaders are not only honest, but are honest in every situation, every time.

Many people equate confidence with arrogance. While arrogance is wrapped up in ego tied with a ribbon of insecurity, true confidence understands and embraces is fallibility. It sees mistakes as inevitable and failures as learning experiences. It acknowledges the expertise of others and revels in consistent honesty. Perhaps most importantly, confidence does not waver in uncertainty. Those who are truly confident leaders see the chaos of competitive economic times as a way to energise a lagging team and rally them to a common purpose. Uncertainty truly separates the average leaders from the great ones who seem to effortlessly turn uncertainty into opportunity.

Author: Peter Diaz

Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organizations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

The 4 Simple Strategies Top Performers Use To Neutralise Setbacks & Stay Confident

20-02-2017

Wouldn’t it be nice if everything you touched turned to gold and just worked? And everyone loved it? BUT, guess what? That leadership development strategy you’ve been working on for the past three months? The CEO didn’t like it. Your carefully constructed and painstakingly recruited project team? About to be decimated due to budget cuts. And that multi-million-dollar business deal you were sure you’d nailed? Fell through at the last second because someone changed their mind…In the business world, you don’t always get what you want, right?—even if you’re the boss. (if you don’t believe me, just ask your boss). In fact, you can often feel like you’re caught in the middle between helping your company advance and pressures that are beyond your control. That’s when setbacks happen.

The Psychological Impact of Setbacks

When you’re a relatively inexperienced leader or if you suffer from anxiety, these types of setbacks can be demoralizing and humiliating—especially because so many people are aware of them. Sometimes, you might even feel like you’re a failure in the eyes of your own team. And that can compound your negative emotions and anxiety even further.

Setbacks produce a form of psychological pain that can warp our perceptions. As a result, we feel less capable of achieving specific goals, plus, we perceive those goals as much more challenging to attain. What’s more, we believe that whether we succeed or fail isn’t within our control.

It should be clear that when you fall prey to these kinds of misperceptions, they negatively impact your ability to do your job and most likely affect your quality of life.

Read more on workplace wellbeing strategies…

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

SUBSCRIBE

Foster Resilience to Turn Setbacks into Stepping Stones

Of course, setbacks are part of life and business. Successful people haven’t gotten to where they are without failures and disappointments, but what sets successful people apart is their resilience—in other words, their ability to bounce back from failure, maintain good workplace mental health, and keep moving forward in a constructive manner.

The good news is that you can learn how to become more resilient—and heal that psychological pain that’s distorting your perception of your abilities. Here’s what you need to do:

Analyze the setback. Take a high-level look at the incident and objectively analyze what factors contributed to your failure. Was it really due to something you did or didn’t do? Or was it an external factor?
Learn from your failures. Once you’ve determined why something didn’t work out, brainstorm what you could have done differently to produce a better outcome. Knowing you’ve learnt something from the setback will help empower you to take positive action.
Manage your self-talk. You can’t let that voice of self-doubt influence your confidence or actions. Every time you hear yourself thinking negatively about yourself, stop, and instead, think something positive about your achievements and your ability to learn from past experiences.
Keep moving forward. Avoiding challenges isn’t going to do your career or your confidence any good. Every time you do overcome a challenge or meet your goals, it helps build your confidence and strengthen your resilience.

Bouncing back from a setback isn’t always easy. But with the points above in mind, you can become more resilient and better prepared to give every business opportunity your best effort.

Remember: realizing you’re only human is actually productive. It means you’re capable of learning, adapting, and moving forward after any disappointment or setback.

Author: Peter Diaz

Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organizations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

How do I lead authentically in a competitive culture?

20-02-2017

Most Leaders I’ve met, and I’ve met thousands of them, love the idea of being an authentic, ‘real’, leader. What about you? I love it but, and there’s a big ‘but’ here, I have to say that it’s not easy in the current competitive market. Despite the rise of informal, matrixed organizations, the majority of companies are still relatively traditional and have a hierarchical structure. And in these types of companies, it’s not uncommon to have a dog-eat-dog culture where everyone’s in competition with everyone… and one mistake can sideline you.

If you’re in a leadership position in an organization like this, you’ve probably learned to adopt a certain management style to get things done. Maybe you relentlessly pursue your objectives, regardless of employee burnouts. Maybe you run a tight ship and exercise a lot of control over your employees’ work to ensure you hit your numbers.

Or perhaps you play along with company politics—because if you don’t, you and your people will be disadvantaged.

Read more on workplace leadership and wellbeing…

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

SUBSCRIBE

However, if you’re new to the company or if your conscience prompts you to question certain actions, there might be a moment when you realize that this autocratic, even ruthless management style doesn’t sit well with you. In the long run, it could even become destructive to your workplace mental health. Eventually, you could find yourself asking whether you can develop an authentic leadership style—one that aligns with your inner values—without risking a loss of respect and power and eventually becoming a casualty of the culture.

Fortunately, it’s entirely possible, and realistic, to develop an authentic leadership style, regardless of what your company culture is. An authentic leadership style doesn’t automatically mean that you have to become “soft” and wishy-washy. What it does mean is that you develop a leadership style in which your character and values are the most important factors.

It’s critical, however, to keep in mind that those can’t be the only factors that determine your behavior and actions. You need to balance them against your experience, knowledge, and the best interests of your company. For example, even if it’s in your nature to be open, you can’t always be transparent in the workplace. There are times when it’s best to keep certain information under wraps because it could have a demoralizing impact on your employees. Or if you’re naturally cautious, there are going to be times when it’s not in your company’s best interest to hold off and instead, you’ll have to be decisive and take action.

It’s important to understand that becoming a more authentic leader isn’t going to happen overnight. It will take a lot of introspection, plus, you’ll have to become accustomed to using your own values as a touchstone instead of simply falling into old management habits. However, with time and practice, you can develop a leadership style that reflects who you are and what you believe in without sacrificing effectiveness.

Yet all things considered, it’s not in your control how your work environment will receive your change in management style. However, if you have to choose between being constantly stressed because your values conflict with your management style or having to find a new position where you can further develop your authentic leadership style, in the long run, the second option is probably better for your mental health and your overall wellness.

Author: Peter Diaz

Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organizations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

Am I Leading or Bullying?

16-12-2016

We know the script. Hard ass movie general breaks all the rules, saves world, emerges a hero. Visionary CEO fires people if they can’t describe the value they add to the company within the space of a lift ride, creates fanatical product following, investors rejoice. Political leader promises to ‘drain swamp’, lies repeatedly, maintains multiple conflicts of interest, but that’s OK because we need a guy who’s going to shake things up.

But what lies beneath the gloss and spin of these stories? Does the need to ‘make big change’ excuse treating people with less respect than they deserve? Is it in fact required?

A strong leader recognises that every one of their people are different; they apply that in their interactions with them, and are respected for it. A bully, by contrast, intimidates, threatens and singles out employees. They are feared – not respected – and there is a big difference.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the former Manchester United manager who built the club into one of the true commercial juggernauts of our time over an unparalleled 26-year reign, and who has advised the likes of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair (and will be quoted more than once in this post) sums this up perfectly:

“You can’t aspire to be loved, because that isn’t going to happen, nor do you want people to be frightened of you. Stay somewhere in the middle and have them respect and trust and see you as fair.”

So, what makes a strong leader? How can he or she learn who their employees are, how to lead them, motivate them and keep them on course without sacrificing the three pillars of respect, trust and fairness?

Don't forget to subscribe to our monthly eMag - WorkLife

Expert insights and tips on how to build resilient and mentally healthy workplace cultures delivered straight to your inbox each month.

SUBSCRIBE

So, if that is a strong leader, what makes a bully?

Workplace bullying is verbal, physical, social or psychological abuse by anyone in the workplace on another team member. For a manager, this means while they can reprimand, demote or terminate a staff member’s employment, they cannot do anything that could be viewed as abuse. This includes:

Intimidation
Making a staff member feel less important and undervalued
Giving pointless tasks to staff that has nothing to do with their job or tasks that are impossible for the staff member to complete
Deliberately changing rostered hours or work schedule to make life difficult
Withholding information pertinent for a task to be completed properly
Forcing a staff member to be excluded from their team mates or taking part in activities that relates to their work
Playing mind games or other types of psychological harassment

Managers who do this are not strong leaders. They are bullies.

And finally, what makes a victim? A victim of workplace bullying is not always an easy spot. However, there are signs, that if noticed should set off alarm bells in the mind of their employer. These include:

If they are less active or successful at work
If they are less confident in themselves or their work
Feel scared, stressed, anxious or depressed
Their lives outside of work are affected by their work
Wanting to stay away from work
Feeling they can’t trust their employer or the people they work with
Have physical signs of stress like headaches, backaches and sleep problems

It is important to note that bullying does not always come from the leaders in the workplace, it can come from anywhere in the business. A strong leader recognises and acts upon this swiftly and accordingly, because a happy and harmonious workplace is a successful workplace.

Author: Peter Diaz

Peter Diaz is the CEO of Workplace Mental Health Institute. He’s an author and accredited mental health social worker with senior management experience. Having recovered from his own experience of bipolar depression, Peter is passionate about assisting organizations to address workplace mental health issues in a compassionate yet results-focussed way. He’s also a Dad, Husband, Trekkie and Thinker.

Connect with Peter Diaz on:

Tag Archives: Workplace Strategies

Bad bosses are to blame for rise in workplace mental health issues

1. Rude and Insulting Managers

2. Ungrateful and Inflexible Managers

3. Disorganised and Last Minute Managers

4. Unapproachable and Arrogant Managers

5. Managers Pick and Play with Favourites

6. Micromanager

7. Too Busy and Unavailable Managers

8. Distressed and Overwhelmed Managers

Will you invest in your product or your people?

Mental Health Stigma Exists — and it Doesn’t Necessarily Stop at the Workplace

Mental Health Issues on the Job

Are you a psychologically safe manager? Take the self assessment to find out.

3 Ways to Reduce Stigma Associated with Workplace Mental Health Issues

Educate at all levels.

Ensure everyone on your team has access to help.

Make your anti-discrimination policies clear.

Did you download our Mental Health Awareness Posters? DOWNLOAD HERE

Did you check our Mental Health Courses?

Did you check our Mental Health Courses?

A look at history

Redefining Loyalty

1. Confident leaders perceive failure as the beginning, not the end.

2. Confident leaders rely on the expertise of others.

3. Confident leaders own their mistakes.

4. Confident leaders communicate purpose.

5. Confident leaders are honest and consistent.

The Psychological Impact of Setbacks

Foster Resilience to Turn Setbacks into Stepping Stones

So, if that is a strong leader, what makes a bully?

Managers who do this are not strong leaders. They are bullies.

Log in