Help! We can help you to help!

Based on our experience of the past year’s many thousand client interactions leaders seem to have not only the permanent challenge to maintain the preconditions and atmosphere of good cooperation.   Besides additional major difficulties arise in the personal life of their colleagues due to overload of tension and emotional burdens, which make impact on work performance and workplace relationships.

Due to the slip of borders between worplace and personal spheres over each other as well as conflict of roles make emotional impulses shift easier inbetween these domains. Many of the last years’ personal solutions to the pandemic does not apply to the current situation. Overwhelming experience is that the reserves of the mental self-control closes to be exhausted. It creates further hesitation, that even with trust in the vaccination programs it is uncertain, in which time perspective we can expect to restart the life without hard constraints.

We do not face only the constrains, which limit the everyday life, but also the growing  risks in relation to ourselves, our families, friends, colleagues. In the atmosphere of accumulating frustrations there are increasing number of touchpoints both in the work and private life, where surpressed emotional tensions can burst out, like the electrostatic charge sparks over a physical touch.

The latent tensions increase impatience, which results in misunderstandings, conflicts, revenge, self-justification, in longer time perspective even the strengthening of negative stereotypes, blame gaming to shift away own responsibility and accusing others for mistakes. Unresolved problems can strike back with more drastic impacts later on.

Leaders often have the unconscious expectation towards themselves, that they have to be able to overcome each and every difficulty themselves, alone. Therefore many times they do not reach out for help, even when it was desperately needed. They can easily turn to be uncertain, when facing troubles in-between their colleagues loaded with emotions. Furthermore, when it comes to certain crisis situations, often the mental shifting is applied, that “a leader ought not to have such problems”. Either because for belittling or exaggerating… This compulsive reflex which avoids the request for help can easily stem from the unconscious feeling of shame and being afraid of the appearance of weakness.  

Being said either in a sarcastic or a polite manner, that “everybody should indeed have the own problems”, later on delayed interventions may evolve into painful consequences… Similarly, when a leader avoids to ask for help, because he/she is not ready to reflect being uncapable to provide their own help to their colleagues… One additional crucial factor is revealed by research, that on most of the cases, employees hide their personal problems and prefer not to share those not only with their superiors but not even with their most trusted colleagues [1]

[1] https://www.ipsos.com/en/mental-health-workplace-global-impact-study

The experience of Employee Assistance Programs show, that in each case where in critical employee situations a humane and professional support is available and can be easily accessed, the concerned persons are able to step forward with less harmful consequences and work out their own solutions.  “Bell’s initiatives to improve mental health awareness, training and benefits have reduced short-term disability claims related to mental health by 20%, and reduced relapse and recurrence by 50%.” [1]

When leaders, employees face problems loaded with emotions, which exceed their mental capacity of toleration, an Employee Assistance service like that of ICAS can provide valuable support to a sober self-assessment of own situation, and review how to build upon own resources and how to get other external trusted support

Especially, when leaders or employees get stuck, feel helpless, an external, educated and experienced support can effectively help, to make them feel they are not left alone with their problems. With the help of the service they can better understand, what happens inside them, they can get insight into their anxiety, realize, how they transmit their tensions and emotional impulses between the separate domains of their lives. Based on these insights they are better able to control and influence their own behaviors. In case of special difficulties effective help can be gained through life management as well as professional legal or financial advices.

During these critical times, there is a great deal at stake, when beyond ‘normal’ challenges and duties further overload arise both in leaders’ own lives as well as in the lives of their colleagues. Asking for help not only does not harm the dignity and competence of leadership, but even strengthens it in all aspects.

In cases of the Employer makes an Employee Assistance Program available, leaders can suggest and offer to their colleagues to turn to and use such a reliable and trustful service.  Based the research of Deloitte[2] investments into mental health support programs pay back considerably also in financial terms.

[1] https://letstalk.bell.ca/en/news/1213/bell-applauds-deloitte-report-on-benefits-of-workplace-mental-health-programs

[2] The ROI in workplace mental health programs: Good for people, good for business, https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/insights/topics/talent/workplace-mental-health-programs-worker-productivity.html