We are in the midst of a Mental Health Tsunami. The whole world is has been through so much and continues to go through so much, as a result of the pandemic.
What are you, as a leader (at home or at work), doing to support both yourself and your team/family?
As you know, in my book, The Powerhouse In You, I talk about the Four Rooms (your Mentally, Emotionally, Physically, and Spiritually Fit Rooms) that really are the road map to help your team, to help you, to be more resilient.
Let’s enter into your first room, your Mentally Fit Room, where we find that whole umbrella of the Mental Health Tsunami. In my book, I call them The Three A’s:
- Awareness
- Acceptance
- Action
The first A is for AWARENESS. This means having an awareness, having a conversation with your team to say “It is tough for all of us. If you are experiencing brain fog, having a hard time with your focus and attention making you all over the place, if your “squirrels” have grown several families, if you are having difficulty sleeping, those are signs that there are problems there but I want you to know you are not alone”.
The second A is ACCEPTANCE. What does that mean? It means that you need to be kinder to yourself. You need to ask yourself what can you say to yourself or what actions can you take to be able to allow your mind to quiet itself.
The third A is for ACTION. Here are a couple of actions that I think will be helpful:
1 – As a leader is it critical that you show the importance of taking an actual mental health break. It is easy to say it to your team but it is much more effective when you model it for them. If they see you taking a break for a cup of tea or a glass of water they are more likely to give themselves permission to do the same. As a leader, you need to make sure that you are really fostering that downtime.
2 – Start incorporating a few minutes at the start of every team meeting where everyone can pause and take a few deep breaths and just allow themselves to get grounded. It is a simple thing but it adds up and compounds over time to be big things.
From a mental health perspective, I deal with a lot of leaders who are saying they don’t know how they are going to get through this because there are so many people off work or heading towards sick leave or short term disability.
What you need to be doing is having more conversations and talking about how as a team you can:
- Support each other
- Help with the mentally fit room
- Foster that sense of resilience that is in you and in your team
My hunch is that they will share with you some pretty cool ideas. I’d love to hear what they come up with. Feel free to share it in the comments below.
BE more kind to yourself.
BE more compassionate.
Be more forgiving.
Be more loving.
Remember, you are a Powerhouse.
Let’s connect on LinkedIn so you never have to worry about missing out on any fantastic resources!
PS – My new video is live on YouTube. Check it out to hear more about what you can do in your Mentally Fit Room to help your team. While you are there, if you like what you hear, hit that big red SUBSCRIBE button so you don’t miss any of my videos.