Sustaining the Leaders Who Sustain Us
4 min read.
Recognising the workforce's challenges has faced throughout 2020 and knowing the impact on your teams' mental health and well-being is critical.
A shining example of this evolved during an intensive virtual session with our team recently. Leaders paired up and asked to undergo a support conversation – with each other. This seems pretty straightforward for leaders. However, what became evident following the session was the immense power of what we had asked them to do. Many people talked of it being hugely transformational.
A recognition eventuated that while leaders are used to engaging in support conversations, rarely are they at the receiving end of one.
This powerful reminder helped them to acknowledge the stress and challenges they have experienced this year and, in fact, tapped into some significant emotional reactions. This brings to the surface two things- the need for us to own and consider the impact that circumstances have on us, so we are proactively putting strategies in place to have an outlet – this leaves us more robust and more equipped to stay supportive.
It reinforces that when we are feeling strong, we can better take a positive role in acknowledging and supporting others.
Collectively what we expect of our leaders is enormous. They will be the force to determine our ability to drive our business to a successful outcome. Ensuring appropriate mechanisms for their support is firmly in place will help distinguish the organisations that emerge from this and flourish.