psychological wellbeing Archives - Leadership, emotional intelligence, high performance teamwork and executive coaching in Ireland.

If you really want fairness, inclusion and diversity check your worldview.

Anyone interested in or studying the economic environment of today’s organizations knows that future performance requires innovation and the attraction of the best talent, which requires inclusion and diversity as part of the mix. Different thinking is key to challenging old ways of doing things, and coming up with new ideas, and so it is key to agility and innovation. Fairness and equity in decision making is also well known as a huge contributor to the essential trust in an organization needed for innovation and agility to thrive.

It is interesting then that even well-meaning managers and leaders can still skew their thinking when it comes to the decisions they make about hiring and promoting, giving opportunity to and working with, those who are different from them. For example a leader choosing a team to work with them on a new and interesting project, often chooses the team based on who they are comfortable working with, who they have worked with before and people whose expertise they trust. But this is often based on poor information.

Looking under the covers, one finds often that these leaders or managers can be unknowingly unfair to those who are different from them. By different I mean gender, culture, background, or even education. What can be shocking is when we discover that we use stereotypes regularly to make decisions like these. What can also be surprising is that we have a number of other biases of which we are unaware. So in decision-making we are unaware of all the facts, we are not seeing clearly, and our decisions are subject to our (unknown) worldview and our previous experience.

Because of our basic ingroup-outgroup cognitive behaviours we tend to see those in our own group (class, education, gender) as better than they are and those in an outgroup as less than they are. Stereotypes apply too, when for example we think one ethnic group or gender are less suitable, committed or less hard working than they could be. We are often not aware that this is how we think and need to understand that in life we have been categorizing and grouping things, people and events into groups and assigning characteristics to them as a survival mechanism. Our experiences are subjective (ours alone) and so too experiences – so in fact experience can sometimes be a disadvantage.

Tony DeMello once said that “Once you name a tree as a tree you never see a tree again.” What you see from then on is your image of the first tree and you forget that each tree is different and unique. This mechanism frames and underpins how we see the world. Self-awareness is key to getting to grips with this. When you see what you are doing as part of your thought process you can make better decisions. If you become aware of it your decisions become better and fairer. Check your worldview folks.

Aidan Higgins BE MBA MSc (Psych) is the founder of ADEO Consulting Ltd and a Leadership, Emotional Intelligence and Teamwork specialist and Coach, who has worked with leaders and teams at all levels of the private and public sectors. He has over 30 years experience working in various capacities with individuals, teams and organisations of all sizes. He is the author of LeadFromYou – We need aware, authentic and emotionally intelligent leaders. – now available in Paperback and Kindle on Amazon and in audiobook form via Audible and iTunes.

Psychological Wellbeing, the biggest problem in the 2023 workplace?

Psychological wellbeing is a big topic right now with a lot of content being generated about the need for positive cultures, leadership, and meeting the needs for job satisfaction.

What doesn’t seem to be getting into the conversation is the damage that was done to psychological wellbeing by the covid pandemic to those returning to the workplace.

The impact of the covid pandemic on many has been highly stressful to the point that it has had an extreme effect on the mental health of many and not only in healthcare. The descriptions from so many studies describing ongoing stressors and anxiety and the decline in mental health are harrowing, particularly given that some studies were done only half-way through the pandemic and the pressure stayed on for another year at least. Depression, anxiety and PTSD are recorded in many studies with one review describing people “living within a milieu of stress, anxiety, and fear.”

One non-healthcare study from the UK reported several direct effects on mental health resulting from grief and bereavement or from the loss of social interactions and relationships due to social distancing and restrictions. Another non-healthcare study from the United States found that 64% had experienced moderate to high exposure to adverse experiences during the pandemic and were more likely to report depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. Other recent studies of some general populations are showing very high levels of poor wellbeing, and some are showing around 30% suffering from depression. These scores are higher, on average in the youngest age groups but still very significant in all the others.

I have written before that those organisations too pressured to get back to work, too focused on spreadsheets rather than their people will be much slower to get back to full performance, losing talented people along the way. What is not clear yet is the long-term impact and what interventions may be necessary for full recovery. Certainly, there are some potential start points from the interventions for psychological wellbeing and PTSD that have been used in the past.

Compared to this problem, the impact of changing to more hybrid work may be inconsequential.

Taking time and using some resources to ensure your people are ok will also help them understand they can trust you and your organisation. Richard Branson has said look after your people and your people will look after your customers. Take care of your people folks its good for business but more importantly its the right thing to do.

Tread softly.