How to champion and nurture modern leaders to help overcome burnout and stress
With mental health now a key priority for many organisations, it’s important that ways to prevent stress and burnout are given just as much focus as mental health support services. It's in the interests of HR and reward professionals to ensure the company values leaders who focus on connecting their people to purpose, accomplishment and each other.
What’s wrong with traditional leaders?
Traditional leadership, which focuses on control and authority, no longer has a place in today’s workplace as it increases mental health issues including burnout. Pre-pandemic, traditional leadership was found to increase burnout by 10%, however this figure is now likely to be significantly higher. Looking at the impact of Covid, our 2021 Global Culture Report found burnout has increased in organisations by approximately 15%, however those companies that went into the pandemic with thriving cultures faired much better than those that didn’t, with ‘non-thriving’ cultures having up to 81% more cases of burnout.
When the country was in the first lockdown in the UK, there was pessimism with the quality of leadership with 36% of UK workers admitting to having lost confidence in senior leaders, while 37% felt unsupported, vulnerable and isolated in their work situation. On top of this, 44% admitted to last having a positive experience with their leader more than 3 months’ ago.
Leaders are fundamental to the employee experience and so if employees don’t feel cared for, appreciated, connected to the company’s purpose and their colleagues, their health and wellbeing will suffer.
The need for modern leaders
When leaders connect their employees to purpose, accomplishment and each other, the organisation is 10 times’ more likely to have a thriving culture.
In practice, this means the need for more ‘modern leaders’ who lead with compassion and understanding. A modern leader knows how to make their people understand and connect with the ‘bigger picture’ and be a mentor, collaborator and recognition giver while getting to know their employees as individuals. And the benefits of doing this are huge.
When leaders connect their people to organisational purpose, employees are 49% less likely to burn out. Successfully building connections to accomplishment means they are 46% less likely to burn out and when leaders connect their people to one another, there is a 156% increase in odds that an employee will have a strong sense of wellbeing and are 47% less likely to burn out.
All of this indicates that leaders need to learn and practice the art of building connections.
How to nurture modern leaders for burnout prevention
It’s in the HR/reward professional’s interests to champion modern leadership at their organisation. With modern leaders reducing the chances of burnout and increasing employee health and happiness, mental health interventions are reduced.
So how can modern leaders be developed? Modern leaders develop in cultures that believe every employee is a leader. This belief requires every employee to take ownership of their work and sphere of influence. It allows every employee to develop leadership skills and not just the ‘chosen few’. The organisations most successful at developing modern leaders don’t consider leadership to be an exclusive club—they see and cultivate the potential in everyone.
The most effective modern leaders are from organisations that are inclusive by offering leadership development to all, and also provide abundant opportunities for development. Organisations that encourage employees to express leadership behaviours also have a higher concentration of modern leaders. And unsurprisingly, actions speak louder than words – organisations with senior leaders who model modern leadership practices have 226% greater odds of developing modern leaders.
Modern leadership must be championed
Our 2021 Global Culture Report research proves how impactful a good modern leader is when it comes to employee health and wellbeing. It’s therefore key for HR and reward professionals to work with organisational leaders to help champion and nurture the modern leaders of tomorrow.
The author is David Danzig, director from O.C. Tanner Europe.
This article is provided by O.C. Tanner Europe.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, O. C. Tanner
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