It’s increasingly recognised as a given that investing in managers’ wellbeing is investing in the future of a business (as explored in this feature on how to support line manager better).
However, what can Health & Wellbeing do about the unavoidable reality that line managers today have so many different responsibilities that they often feel overwhelmed, and in this state it can be harder to support others effectively? (In this feature, we explore the possible reasons behind why line managers, according to research, are seemingly struggling to support employee wellbeing.)
As we discussed in this article, the first essential steps are using data to organise the right line manager training, setting up measurement frameworks and using the right language to describe your goals and solutions.
But, once training is in place, what can Health and Wellbeing professionals do to make sure the learnings actually stick?
Here are some ideas…
1. Make sure managers understand what resources are available
In particular, ensure they know which Mental Health experts they can signpost to, so they don’t feel the pressure to be a Health and Wellbeing expert themselves (which is a common fear).
Deborah Wilson, Country Manager UK and ROI, Lyra Health, says: “an area where many employers struggle is empowering their managers through the EAP; helping line managers understand what services it can offer, how it can benefit them but, more importantly, how it benefits their employees who might be looking to them.”
This issue of ensuring line managers know what resources are available, and where to signpost people, has become even more pronounced in the age of digital media and information overload.
“15 years ago we didn’t have such a huge amount of information but now we have information coming from everywhere, all the time,” says Rachel Lewis, Managing Partner at Affinity Health at Work.
“Often employer wellbeing portals are massive with loads of benefits but no one knows where to start, or how to find the right ones. Line managers are vital here. They are the gatekeepers and can recognise what is happening with their team members and what they need.”
2. Ensure line managers know they can use the EAP to support themselves to support their team
Wilson continues: “line managers can call in to an EAP and speak to a counsellor straight off the bat and just say ‘I’m faced with this situation and I don’t really know what questions to ask or what to say’.”
This is an effective, quick way to get personalised, expert information and ensure that anything a line manager does say is sensitive and well thought through.
“And who better to speak to than a counsellor who’s going to be empathetic and do this day in day out? It’s like having a subject matter expert on hand to coach you through it and support you, considering you as an individual and giving you that personalised care yourself.”
3. Power of role play
Even before a line manager gets in a situation where he or she may benefit from calling the EAP to get coached through a situation, encourage them to role play scenarios before the event happens.
“One of the best things managers can do is call the EAP with a scenario and go through the process, to understand it,” says Wilson.
“We always encourage that. Employers should ask managers to do this as part of their onboarding because it brings the process to life and managers will face a lot of different scenarios during their career from loss to child related issues.”
The big advantage of doing it in a role play situation is that the manager will not be in fight or flight mode (as would often be the case in a highly charged situation with a direct report) so would be able to think, process and absorb the information better.
“It can be difficult to talk about these topics in the heat of a situation,” adds Wilson.
4. Don’t treat training like a ‘one and done’
We talk a lot here about how Health and Wellbeing cannot be a ‘one and done’. But many employers are struggling with how to keep the training, learnings and behaviour visible – hence the rise of the phrase ‘Visible Wellbeing Leadership’.
One way Kamwell suggests in its training that is essential to do this is to focus on supporting line managers to “lead with energy”, as energy is contagious. Put high energy out there, you’ll get high energy back. The opposite is also true.
Kamwell’s third module looks at supporting line managers by learning about sleep, rest and resilience, all of which will help sustain energy.
5. Train line managers earlier
One of the reasons that line managers often feel out of their depth (apart from the growing number of different tasks landing on their desk, not just Wellbeing) is that, often, they haven’t had training in people management before they get promoted.
Some companies are trying to address this in order to increase the quality of line managers and to help them hit the ground running in their new roles. This means identifying potential top people-managing talent early on, and nurturing them towards a management role.
6. Focus on building the team, not just the individual
As this article on resilience concludes, the consistent message from all contributors has been that resilience can’t happen in isolation. It happens as part of a wider community. That means that whilst it’s important to have processes for supporting individuals – whether that be through line manager training or an employee with career plans and feedback – ultimately one of the most powerful things you can do is consider the team as a collective.
“This is what we’re doing at Osborne Clarke; focusing on creating strong, thriving, resilient teams,” says Jo Forbes, Health, Safety & Wellbeing Strategy Manager, Osborne Clarke.
This involves, as Forbes says, listening to what team members say about their working environment and then “taking action to maintain the things people value and change the aspects causing them unnecessary stress. In this way, we can continually improve working life for our people”.
7. Develop sustainable work allocation processes and working practices
These are also focus areas for Osborne Clarke.
“We’re making sure our work allocation processes amongst our legal teams are fair so that people have equal opportunity to do the best work and that there is an even spread of work across the teams,” says Forbes.
The law firm is also looking at its ways of working, trying to build in best practice around common drains on people’s time like inefficient meetings and too many emails.
“It is so important that we make meetings and emails as efficient as possible so people have enough clear time in their working day to focus and progress their priority work. If they are able to do this more, it will not only lead to smarter performance but should reduce their stress levels too,” she says.
“So, for me, it’s about creating resilient and sustainable teams by first and foremost looking at the underlying causes of workplace stress and changing processes and working habits where needed. If the underlying causes are not addressed, ‘resilience training’ for individuals can only ever have limited impact.”
8. Create a peer to peer supportive network
Gary Acheson, Head of Learning & Development at Rapport Guest Services, believes that one of the “biggest benefits” from the line manager development programme he saw was “the network of peers and managers” created from the classroom learning.
Similarly, Jane Clifford, People Director, Brewers, says that creating a face to face network of line managers through training has been fundamental in supporting these managers to thrive, so they can support their teams.
As she explains in this article, following survey feedback that showed some managers were feeling lonely being in this management position, she organised for every one of the company’s 200 branch managers to meet face to face last year for training.
The way she’s done this is by arguing the case for creating some face to face training where line managers can come together and meet in person to forge supportive connections with each other.
Although this is at a greater expense than simply online training, many employers are finding the benefits of doing this for relationship building are very valuable.
In its work with Gatwick Airport, too, Affinity Health at Work gave managers access to a follow up programme of activities for six months after the initial two day training. This included group coaching sessions which also built on community, maintaining connections and sharing learnings.
9. Create content that supports line managers
“We’re lucky that we have a videographer in the business,” says Clifford.
She explains that even a short video of two employees talking to each other about mental health can make the idea of having a chat at work about these topics at work less intimidating and normalise it, making it easier for line managers trying to broach these topics with team members.
“It helps people feel like ‘oh look, there’s Michael and Gemma talking about it’ and imagining themselves talking about it,” says Clifford.
10. Don’t write any managers off
Lewis says that just because these skills don’t come naturally to all line managers, does not mean they can’t be taught. “It’s not that some managers can do them, and some can’t. Managers can be trained to show these behaviours,” she says.
In actual fact, training can have the most benefit for those managers who struggle most with people management. Lewis gives the example of working with Gatwick Airport. The programme created for their leadership was particularly effective for managers who were rated lower by their colleagues at the start.
11. Hold managers accountable
There’s much talk of wellbeing-related KPIs and managers being held accountable for their team’s wellbeing, but less employers actually doing this yet.
Professionals like Arti Kashyap-Aynsley, Global Head of Wellbeing and Inclusion at Ocado, believe this is a good idea:
“Ultimately it’s a part of their responsibilities as the manager and they are held to account on those principles at Ocado,” she says.
At Bowel Cancer UK, wellbeing questions are now formally built into a line manager’s one to one team discussions. It’s a requirement that the line manager now asks the employee ‘how is your wellbeing? How are you feeling?’.
“This opens up conversations so people feel more confident about sharing information,” says Kate Sarama, Head of HR, Bowel Cancer UK. “We find that if it’s on a form, it’s a bit easier because the line manager has almost got a script and the employee will know it’s coming.”
12. Empower your line managers to make necessary changes
If you make line managers accountable, but don’t empower them to be able to effect any change in their team’s jobs, then you will breed resentment and a sense of powerlessness amongst them.
Line managers should take responsibility for identifying any damaging pressures being put on an employee, then have some way to mitigate these pressures. For example, they should have some say in work and job design and be able to reduce the negative impact of certain environmental factors.
This can be a tricky balance to strike. As Sarama says, line managers at the charity are “empowered to a certain degree but if it concerns work that has been agreed for the year, and is in the schedule, then they would have to refer the matter up to the senior leadership team”.
So, it’s important there is a clear pathway in place for these situations. The worst thing a line manager can do is identify an issue and then do nothing, or be able to do nothing
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