How’s your health treating you?

REST assured, this blog will not be all about how we should all be clean living health gurus (I’m definitely a trier rather than a perfect role model when it comes to my own health!). Instead I am going to ask you to think intentionally while you read it, about how you promote, orientate, and integrate considerations of health as a leader - both for yourself and those you work with. I’m also going to share some simple ideas on what can help you and your team get more rest and recovery, and build your health and theirs at the same time to lead to better outcomes all round.

Whilst going from one extreme to another with health is and can be commonplace these days - and leave us not knowing what diet or exercise plan to try next! - looking after our health and wellbeing with balance certainly tops the list when it comes to being an evidence-based positive leader. Not through any fad wellbeing initiatives, but through quality management, leadership, and taking away stressors - like overly long meetings, complicated processes, and inconsiderate behaviour (see resources for a great research-informed article on this in the Guardian recently).

If you look at any research on emotional regulation, psychological flexibility, building resilience or managing our wellbeing - all factors that contribute to a resilient leader who can manage their team with strength and sustainably over a number of years - then considering your own health, and that of others, should ideally top your list of leadership “to dos”. So let me share some of the small things you can do for yourself, or for your team or organisation in this regard to be a Positive Leader with health on your mind and agenda.

In my research and work, building on great work of other researchers, we have identified three layers of intentionally considering health that lead to positive outcomes for individual leaders and their teams.

This is having:

• Step 1 - a “promotion” mindset when it comes to health

• Step 2 - an “orientation” approach towards health for self and others, and,

• Step 3 -  an “integration” strategy in the way you consider health strategically and across all stakeholders - not just those immediately in the picture.

A recent report from Deloitte highlighted that the C-Suite of organisations can underestimate employee wellbeing by as much as 25%, compared to employees themselves. And that around 1 in 3 employees AND C-Suite members are constantly struggling with poor mental health and fatigue. With January 2024 reporting almost double the amount of sickness and absence on previous years, the trend is set to continue. Yet, no matter how busy and important our roles, we CAN take action to improve this. Read on to find out how can you apply these three levels of health in your leadership to promote better outcomes for all.

How can you be a more healthy leader?

Step 1 “promotion”

Talk about and share how you have noticed your health mattering to you, what you do about it, and why others’ health - in your team, family, organisation - should matter to them. No need to get preachy, but “I walk/ cycle to work/ at the weekends because it helps me feel energised…. What do you try?” might be a small way to start.

Step 2 “orientation”

Help you and your team orientate towards working in a way that helps bring health to the agenda. “This meeting, we are going to do a walking meeting/ let’s stand up every couple of minutes/ let’s go outside in the fresh air to get coffee,” or “you worked late all of last week, I need you to start later this week and do something for yourself in the mornings to balance that load out.”

Step 3 “integration”

Help your team to consider the impact that their desire to reach a particular deadline may have on another team, or a stakeholder, “that’s great that we might be able to get this promotional deal into the supermarket for July, but what is the impact of that on the product development team, or the customer with the other promotions we have in the pipeline?”

As always, there is a lot more to this than we can fit on the page, so please do get in touch for more strategic suggestions.