Legacy Leaders and Your Team’s Mental Health

Every leader faces a variety of issues with their people. Some of these issues are small and rather insignificant while others can disrupt the work of the organization. If a team member is physically ill, most leaders want them to take the time they need to get well. But, when mental illness crops up, too many leaders either ignore the problem or worse, some will tell their team member to buck it up, get over it, or leave those problems at home. Why is this the case? Why do so many managers of people understand the need to take care of physical illness but take a much different approach to mental illness.

Today’s desire to ignore mental illness has its roots humanity’s past. At times mental illness was thought to be devil possession. At other times it was thought to be an imbalance in the “vital humours.” More recently it has been thought to be the result of trauma. Today we know that mental illness has many causes but the stigma associated with possession or living a bad life continue to keep most of us from seeing mental illness for what it really is; an illness.

As with our physical health, mental health is not a one dimensional phenomenon. There are many possibilities for mental health and each of these exist on a continuum from excellent health down to the most serious of problems. If we think of perfect mental health as being a 100 on a scale 1 to 100, all of us will find ourselves somewhere in between. None of us is perfect and, hopefully, none of us is at the 1 level either. So each of us, being imperfect, can begin to better empathize with someone on the mental health continuum down in the 30 or 40 range. If, as a leader, I am at an 80 for depression and one of myteam members is at a 40, I can realize, not being perfect myself, that my team member needs help. I, as the leader, have the responsibility to help my team members get the help they need, whether that’s for a physical or mental health issue.

When one member of my team is not up to speed, my whole team can suffer. This is true for both physical and mental ailments. As a Legacy Leader, I care about my people and I want to know when something is wrong. I will never know if there are any problems if I am not open to hearing everything that is happening to my people. Some leaders don’t want to hear all that messiness but if we aren’t aware of the health status of our team we run the very real risk of failure. Too often success can be stymied by people who just aren’t up for the challenge. One or two team members struggling with mental health issues can derail your efforts. Legacy Leaders understand that we all have issues and sometimes we can work through them but many times we can’t. When we can’t, as an organization with a Legacy Culture, we must make our space a safe space for anyone who needs help, to seek help. No stigmatization, just support and caring.

Our society has not been a good place for people with mental health issues and for that I say shame on us. We can change that one organization at a time. If leaders simply started caring about their people first, a huge corner would be turned. Without people, no organization can exist. The health of the people will determine the health of the organization. If you want a healthy organization, you must have healthy people. So, the most important task of any Legacy Leader is to take care of your people.