Leader Self Care

In our Transformational Leadership course, we reference an idea called the “Conservation of Resources Perspective.” This references the fact that Leadership can be difficult and at times so exhausting, both cognitively and emotionally; burned-out leaders actually will resign from their positions, a hugely problematic solution for both the leader and the organization. How does this happen? At least a couple of ideas can be explored.

The difficulty of new habit formation is the first challenge facing leaders who want to utilize more effective behaviors with their teams. This can be mentally challenging for someone who, rife with new ideas from a leadership training course, wants to implement them as soon as possible.  First, the organization may not support the new practices. I’ve heard on occasions too numerous to count, “I wanted to be a better leader; however, my boss just doesn’t support any changes I attempt to make,” or, “this [newly learned idea] just isn’t supported in our culture.” This can be ameliorated to some extent by taking the changes slowly and celebrating the small wins these new behaviors will generate. This allows the changes to be accepted more readily, even by individuals and organizations traditionally resistant to change. When they see the benefits, it’s difficult not to “get on board.”

The second is that the human brain doesn’t like change. A leader, excited with new ideas, will discover (especially during stressful events) he/she will resort to the old behaviors even though these may be less effective. It is simply easier and less resource intensive for our brains to do what they always have done. Our all too human brains rebel at our attempts to change them all at once. Both in our classes and corporate training sessions, we emphasize the importance of selecting only one or two habits to address. The plan should be as specific as possible and project beneficial outcomes. After these new habits become established, another one or two can be tackled. On some occasions, we notify the leaders of our corporate training participants regarding topics covered and ways to reinforce learning on the job. These two strategies help ensure a transfer of knowledge to the workplace in the form of better habits and prevent a leader from becoming overwhelmed.

The next challenge comes with team members who may be especially difficult. Research suggests these individuals should be a very small percentage of one’s team. If leaders discover most team members require repeated coaching and counseling, they should look to their own behaviors as exacerbating the problems.  That being said, most leaders can recall {without effort) at least one of their employees who took the majority of their time, whom they thought about after work, and who was responsible for middle-of-the-night ruminations. While leaders should carefully examine the performance of this individual and take every step possible to assure fairness and equity, some employees should not be members of particular teams. In some studies, these employees are referred to as “bad apples,” and it appears they do in fact “spoil the barrel,” in this case lowering productivity and morale in significant ways.

What is a leader to do?

First of all, self-care is exceptionally important. Leaders should take breaks and model work-life balance: no emails, text messages, or phone calls at inappropriate times, and work with employees to establish clear goals and expectations that are congruent with team members living a full life outside work. There was a time (hopefully, it has passed) when leaders felt it necessary to model workaholic behaviors and expected their team members to also do this. Research tells us this is one of the worst ways to engender engagement and creativity. Everyone is looking to the leader for guidance, direction, and action. Leaders who take their work seriously AND their personal lives seriously are modeling effective behaviors. Also, they are preventing themselves from possible burnout and allowing the creative juices to continue to flow.

In our classes, most of which are comprised of rising professionals, I have noted many students who reference self-care in their discussions of meditation, exercise, vacations, and humor, all of which can lead to better workplace outcomes.

Suzette Plaisance Bryan, PhD, SPHR, GPHR, SHRM-SCP
Director OBCC Leadership Center