Healthy Leaders

Tools and resources to support you as Leaders and Managers at the University with a Wellbeing perspective.

Mental Wellbeing

The below 20min e-learn resources by Beyond Blue assists managers address a common workplace scenario. Using a ‘choose a pathway’ approach, managers are prompted to help an employee dealing with a mental health condition to the benefit of the employee and the business.

Managing Mental Health Risks at Work - Training for Managers 

What would you do? Approaching an employee you're concerned about

Mental Health Toolkit for Supervisors

The mental health toolkit for supervisors can be found on the Supervisor Toolkit webpage.

The aim of this toolkit is to provide supervisors with some practical guidance on how to support a staff member who may need assistance with coping at work.

Emotional Safety

Harvard Business School, Professor Amy Edmondson, has shown that emotional safety is a critical factor in a workplace. When we feel emotionally safe at work we are working in an environment where we feel secure enough to share our thoughts and ideas freely. Feeling emotionally safe means employees are able to speak up and communicate openly without fear or negative reactions to the point of view.

Emotional safety goes hand in hand with a growth mindset and is demonstrated in a workplace through the value of cohesiveness and collaboration leading to employees feeling supported and valued.

So how can we foster a culture which creates emotional safety? First we all need to:

• Make it ok to make a mistake and own up to it. It is important not to think less of a colleague if they make a mistake
• Thank your staff for their work contributions to assist in them feeling valued.
• Celebrate individualism - we are all different and those differences add value in the workplace.
• Take time to know your colleagues and be supportive of each other. Showing vulnerability with your team can assist in building trust.
• Take time to show compassion and caring. Check in on them especially when things just don't quite seem right. Remember to take the time to ask RUOK?
• Recognise when someone has done well. It might be that they completed their project or graduated from a course. Recognising and celebrating good news and achievements helps to build trust and positive feelings amongst staff.
• Always look for ways to provide positive feedback. So often we become wrapped up in looking for problems or issues that we forget to acknowledge achievements. Offering positive feedback is a way to recognise the contributions of staff.

We all have a role to play in building emotional safety across all of our workplaces.