September 13, 2024 • 12 mins
How can a leader truly balance supporting their team's mental well-being while also expecting individuals to take responsibility for their own mental health? Join us on this episode as we tackle this challenging question. You'll gain clarity on the fine line between providing necessary accommodations and taking on too much personal responsibility, all while ensuring your leadership fosters a positive, supportive work environment.
Do you know the boundaries of your responsibility?
If you want to understand the reality of working with mental illness in the workplace, you should join us for a listen!
To have your questions answered on the show, submit your story here: https://allthrive.ca/share-your-story
Leadership Ripples with Leah Fink is live every week at 12:00pm MST. Please join us to get answers to your leadership questions! https://www.linkedin.com/in/leah-fink-all-thrive/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Every action you take as a leader has a ripple effect
, starting with your team, goingout to the organization and
even out into people's personallives.
Here we offer you the chance tolearn from real-life stories of
leadership so you can gain adeeper understanding and level
up your own skills Fromcommunication to culture, to
power and equity, to feedback,to resolving conflict and more.
(00:23):
Join us and make sure you'recreating the ripples you want.
Welcome to Leadership Rippleswith Leah Fink.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello and welcome to Leadership Ripples with Leah
Fink.
Today we're talking aboutsomething that can be quite
complicated, and that is thebalance of how much you're
responsible for supporting yourstaff's mental well-being and
their responsibility to beingmentally healthy.
Ap shares their situation.
(00:51):
I have a staff member on myteam who is dealing with some
mental health issues.
She has quite bad anxiety thatoften affects her ability to
work.
I've made severalaccommodations for her, to the
point I think the other staffare seeing it as favoritism.
I'm starting to get frustrated,as I don't think she's putting
in effort to do better andexpects me to do everything.
(01:11):
You talk about theresponsibility of leaders to
create a mentally healthyworkplace, but I think she
should be taking on some of theresponsibility for her own
health.
What can I ask her to do?
So this is a great question, ap, and thank you so much for
sharing it.
And, like I said, this is acomplicated topic.
This doesn't always have aperfect answer, so we're going
(01:34):
to dive into some ideas ofmental health in the workplace
and some concepts of leadershipto give you a bit of a framework
of how you might think aboutthis.
First, we've got to really lookat some of this language when we
talk about mental health,because we both use mental
health to speak about generallybeing mentally well and we also
use it to refer to mentalillness or mental disorders.
(01:56):
So for the purpose of thisconversation, we're going to
make sure that we're separatingthose two things, as it really
does help when you look at howyou're going to address them.
Let's talk about mental illnessbriefly, and you might already
know this, but let's give abrief intro so we're all on the
same page.
So mental illness or mentaldisorders are medically
diagnosed and hopefully they'realso being supported by a
(02:18):
professional, and the mostcommon mental illnesses in North
America are mood and anxietydisorders.
You might also know mooddisorders as depression or
that's what people tend to callit, and with that we really need
to make sure that we'redistinguishing what makes a
disorder, because people in yourlife might talk about anxiety
and depression in different ways, because those are words that
(02:39):
we use to describe thisexperience or how we're feeling.
So I could say I'm feelinganxious when I have something
that's really stressful in mylife, or I could say I feel
depressed when I'm really sadabout something that is
different than being diagnosedwith a medical disorder.
In North America, we use theDSM-5 that's created by the
American Psychiatric Associationas a way of distinguishing this
(03:02):
as being a long-term challenge,not just a short-term feeling
or short-term experience, andsomething that affects your
day-to-day life in this ongoingway.
And of course, this applies toa whole host of other disorders
as well.
Those two are the most commonand they do have.
The language that I feel isused most outside of the term of
diagnosis, plus anxiety is whatAP mentioned in her story.
(03:24):
So for AP and for everyone elsewho has staff who speak about a
mental disorder, there's somebasic things to be aware of.
Now, of course, this can beslightly different depending on
where you live, where you are inthe world, and I will say I am
not a legal professional, soplease take this as a rough
guideline and ensure that you'rechecking in with your own
organization, with your ownlegal, with your own.
(03:45):
First of all, staff do not haveto disclose any issues to you
and you cannot directly askabout them, aside from a couple
specific fields that mighteither ask you about it during
the application process or havea psychological evaluation, but
that is something that you wouldchoose to go into that field,
(04:05):
knowing that.
So it's a conscious choice.
And, that being said, ifsomeone does disclose a mental
health issue to you, you're thenobligated to accommodate them
to the point of undue hardship.
So that means you have to putin real effort to accommodate
them, you have to keep itconfidential and you can't
discriminate against them forhaving that mental illness.
(04:26):
Now, even if someone doesn'tdisclose anything to you and you
notice someone who seems to bestruggling, you also need to
check in with them.
You need to inquire if theyneed any help, if they need any
accommodations.
And this is a discussion youshould be starting, based on the
issues you're seeing at workand a curiosity about how you
can support them to better dotheir work.
(04:48):
So there is, even legally, afair amount of onus on employers
, on leaders, to support someonewho is mentally struggling,
whether they have a diagnosis ornot.
And if it does become a knowndiagnosis, that means the
employee might be more legallyprotected as well, whereas
another employee who maybespeaks about how they're
struggling but doesn't disclosea diagnosis, might not or might
(05:11):
see a different consequence fora poor performance.
So, ap, you have someone who'sspeaking to you about how
they're struggling I don't knowwhether or not, they have a
diagnosis but I am glad to hearthat you've been engaging in
these conversations with thisperson about how you can support
them.
That is the most important step, regardless of their actual
situation, and definitelyresponsibility everyone should
(05:33):
be taking on.
If you're a leader trying tohelp people on your team and I
want to say hopefully you alsohave had support from your
leadership, from HR, to navigatethis situation it's helpful to
have that larger support teambecause that can open up the
realm of accommodation to thingsbeyond maybe what you can
provide on your team.
And if you felt like you'rereally on your own in trying to
(05:54):
support that person or what youoffered is not able to support
them, please ensure that you'rereaching out to some other
resources to do that as well.
Sometimes as well, no matter thesituation, no matter the person
and this could be at any levelon any type of interaction when
you ask how you can supportsomeone they might not know and
(06:17):
this can, of course, add to thetrickiness of this situation
they might just know what's notworking or what is stressing
them, and it may take them sometime, it may take some trial and
error to get to that, so it maytake you, as their leader, some
patience, of course, to gothrough this process.
You might need to experiment,to do lots of check-ins with
them and make sure that you canfind something that's working.
And also, during this wholeprocess, if you haven't already
(06:39):
connected them, if yourworkplace hasn't already
connected them, really look atsome of those outside resources
and make sure they're aware ofthose, and so there should be.
Hopefully, your organizationhas some sort of benefits plan.
Maybe they have an employeefamily assistance plan.
There's a variety of governmentresources.
There's local resources, onlineresources that could be so
(07:00):
helpful to this person if theyhaven't accessed them yet.
And this is really where I'mgoing to say staff should
ideally be responsible for somepart of how they're showing up.
That is, that they are seekingout resources and support so
they can function optimally,that they're engaging with these
accommodations, that you'reproviding for them and they're
showing up.
That is, that they are seekingout resources and support so
they can function optimally,that they're engaging with these
accommodations, that you'reproviding for them and they're
offering that feedback.
They're having thatconversation about what is
(07:21):
working.
I also want to recognize that,if they are experiencing some
extreme mental disorder orthey're really at a challenging
point in their life.
This can be very hard for themto do and, of course, that's
going to feel like there's moreof a burden on you.
So that, all being said, let'sswitch tracks for a moment and
talk about what this means thento create a mentally healthy
(07:41):
workplace, because I want tomake sure it doesn't feel like
you have to take on the role ofsome sort of mental health
provider who is treatingwhatever mental disorder your
staff may be dealing with.
That is going to generallypromote well-being for your
(08:03):
staff, lessen stress, and that'snot just for this person but
for the whole team.
You're kind of creating thisspace and so the day-to-day, the
immediate, they're not seeingmaybe some of those symptoms,
and so you want to make surethat your whole staff team can
do their best work.
In general, this goes beyondthis one person.
So you're looking at some ofthe factors in the workplace
that might be impacting yourteam, both positively and
negatively, and if you want toknow a little bit more about
(08:25):
those factors, a couple episodesago we talked about the factors
that are inherent in a mentallyhealthy workplace, so
definitely go check that out andunderstand more about that side
.
So these are really the piecesthat we're responsible for.
We need to explore challengesthat our staff are having
individually, making sure thateveryone has some accommodations
(08:46):
and real understanding abouthow they can do their best work,
about those individual needsthat they might have.
We're focused in general oncreating this mentally healthy
environment where everyone canthrive, and when you think about
all of that, that's a lot ofresponsibility.
Leaders who are doing a greatjob leading, who are not just
trying to ignore these problems,have a lot of responsibility
(09:07):
and it can be quite draining.
And that leads us to this veryimportant piece of taking care
of yourself.
Something that's really hard,that a lot of people experience
challenge with, is when you'retrying to support someone who's
having some sort of challengewith their mental health in
their life.
It is incredibly draining andchallenging for you.
You might feel powerless inwhat you can actually do to help
(09:29):
this person.
Is it truly helping them?
You may feel some sense offault or responsibility that you
are actually not responsiblefor.
You are not responsiblenecessarily for this person's
mental illness and sometimes wecan take a lot of that on
emotionally and that's notnecessarily helpful.
That's not supportive ofyourself or that person.
Your responsibility as theirleader is supporting this
(09:52):
environment that they're in.
And, of course, you can alsofeel trapped in this situation
of you're trying to supportsomeone with different needs
while supporting the rest ofyour team and having to work
potentially with this differingoutcome.
There can be this emotionalburden, of course, but there's
also a professional burden oftenIf there's a reality that this
employee is not optimallyfunctioning in the way that you
(10:14):
hope all your team members arein the way that their job roles
say they are supposed tocontribute, you might not have
to be doing extra work tosupport that.
Your team might feel likethey're taking on extra work to
support that.
It's a really hard situationand absolutely everyone in that
situation from the person who'sdealing with that mental
challenge to everyone on yourteam and yourself.
(10:35):
I feel so much empathy for youas you work through this and
that's why I'm reiteratingreally make sure that, if this
is a possibility at all, if it'ssafe for you at all, reach out
to your leaders and thosesupports in your organization,
obviously also trying to getsupport for yourself in your
personal life, maybe alsoprofessional support, so you are
able to handle this the bestyou can.
(10:56):
I've got to say someorganizations do have really
amazing support set up that ifyou share this, they'll come in
with all sorts of ways that theycan help you in this employee
and really sadly, there are aton of organizations that not
only will not support but mighteven discriminate, act
definitely immorally, maybeillegally, because they don't
(11:16):
want to deal with this problem,and that puts you obviously in a
tough place of what you want todo with that and that's a much
bigger answer and discussionthan this show is.
So do your best to supportyourself and your team, reach
out for those resources and Ihope this was helpful to you, ap
for some ideas about thisframework of mental illness in
(11:38):
the workplace versus mentallyhealthy environments and really,
if you take one thing, justabout that piece of how you can
get support for yourself so youare able to handle this the best
.
I am very much looking forwardto our discussion after this, as
I also want to be one of yoursupports and as a reminder, if
you have a story that you wantto share with the show, like AP
(11:58):
did, I would love to hear it.
You can find the link for thatin the description below and
then you can look forward to asession with me after, so we can
make sure your question isanswered and give you some extra
resources to work with.
This show is available inpodcast form if you prefer to
listen that way.
That comes out on Fridaymornings and the link for that
is also in the description.
I want to thank you so much forlistening and learning with me.
(12:22):
This is such a big, complicatedtopic that is becoming more and
more alive in our world, and sotaking this time to really
understand it in the terms ofyour leadership is so important.
So thank you for being here and, as we close, remember to ask
yourself what kind of ripplesare you going to create this
week?
Speaker 1 (12:43):
We hope you enjoyed the episode.
Make sure to subscribe, commentand connect with Leah at
meetleahca.
Every action you take as a leader has a ripple effect
, starting with your team, goingout to the organization and
even out into people's personallives.
Here we offer you the chance tolearn from real-life stories of
leadership so you can gain adeeper understanding and level
up your own skills Fromcommunication to culture, to
power and equity, to feedback,to resolving conflict and more.
(00:23):
Join us and make sure you'recreating the ripples you want.
Welcome to Leadership Rippleswith Leah Fink.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello and welcome to Leadership Ripples with Leah
Fink.
Today we're talking aboutsomething that can be quite
complicated, and that is thebalance of how much you're
responsible for supporting yourstaff's mental well-being and
their responsibility to beingmentally healthy.
Ap shares their situation.
(00:51):
I have a staff member on myteam who is dealing with some
mental health issues.
She has quite bad anxiety thatoften affects her ability to
work.
I've made severalaccommodations for her, to the
point I think the other staffare seeing it as favoritism.
I'm starting to get frustrated,as I don't think she's putting
in effort to do better andexpects me to do everything.
(01:11):
You talk about theresponsibility of leaders to
create a mentally healthyworkplace, but I think she
should be taking on some of theresponsibility for her own
health.
What can I ask her to do?
So this is a great question, ap, and thank you so much for
sharing it.
And, like I said, this is acomplicated topic.
This doesn't always have aperfect answer, so we're going
(01:34):
to dive into some ideas ofmental health in the workplace
and some concepts of leadershipto give you a bit of a framework
of how you might think aboutthis.
First, we've got to really lookat some of this language when we
talk about mental health,because we both use mental
health to speak about generallybeing mentally well and we also
use it to refer to mentalillness or mental disorders.
(01:56):
So for the purpose of thisconversation, we're going to
make sure that we're separatingthose two things, as it really
does help when you look at howyou're going to address them.
Let's talk about mental illnessbriefly, and you might already
know this, but let's give abrief intro so we're all on the
same page.
So mental illness or mentaldisorders are medically
diagnosed and hopefully they'realso being supported by a
(02:18):
professional, and the mostcommon mental illnesses in North
America are mood and anxietydisorders.
You might also know mooddisorders as depression or
that's what people tend to callit, and with that we really need
to make sure that we'redistinguishing what makes a
disorder, because people in yourlife might talk about anxiety
and depression in different ways, because those are words that
(02:39):
we use to describe thisexperience or how we're feeling.
So I could say I'm feelinganxious when I have something
that's really stressful in mylife, or I could say I feel
depressed when I'm really sadabout something that is
different than being diagnosedwith a medical disorder.
In North America, we use theDSM-5 that's created by the
American Psychiatric Associationas a way of distinguishing this
(03:02):
as being a long-term challenge,not just a short-term feeling
or short-term experience, andsomething that affects your
day-to-day life in this ongoingway.
And of course, this applies toa whole host of other disorders
as well.
Those two are the most commonand they do have.
The language that I feel isused most outside of the term of
diagnosis, plus anxiety is whatAP mentioned in her story.
(03:24):
So for AP and for everyone elsewho has staff who speak about a
mental disorder, there's somebasic things to be aware of.
Now, of course, this can beslightly different depending on
where you live, where you are inthe world, and I will say I am
not a legal professional, soplease take this as a rough
guideline and ensure that you'rechecking in with your own
organization, with your ownlegal, with your own.
(03:45):
First of all, staff do not haveto disclose any issues to you
and you cannot directly askabout them, aside from a couple
specific fields that mighteither ask you about it during
the application process or havea psychological evaluation, but
that is something that you wouldchoose to go into that field,
(04:05):
knowing that.
So it's a conscious choice.
And, that being said, ifsomeone does disclose a mental
health issue to you, you're thenobligated to accommodate them
to the point of undue hardship.
So that means you have to putin real effort to accommodate
them, you have to keep itconfidential and you can't
discriminate against them forhaving that mental illness.
(04:26):
Now, even if someone doesn'tdisclose anything to you and you
notice someone who seems to bestruggling, you also need to
check in with them.
You need to inquire if theyneed any help, if they need any
accommodations.
And this is a discussion youshould be starting, based on the
issues you're seeing at workand a curiosity about how you
can support them to better dotheir work.
(04:48):
So there is, even legally, afair amount of onus on employers
, on leaders, to support someonewho is mentally struggling,
whether they have a diagnosis ornot.
And if it does become a knowndiagnosis, that means the
employee might be more legallyprotected as well, whereas
another employee who maybespeaks about how they're
struggling but doesn't disclosea diagnosis, might not or might
(05:11):
see a different consequence fora poor performance.
So, ap, you have someone who'sspeaking to you about how
they're struggling I don't knowwhether or not, they have a
diagnosis but I am glad to hearthat you've been engaging in
these conversations with thisperson about how you can support
them.
That is the most important step, regardless of their actual
situation, and definitelyresponsibility everyone should
(05:33):
be taking on.
If you're a leader trying tohelp people on your team and I
want to say hopefully you alsohave had support from your
leadership, from HR, to navigatethis situation it's helpful to
have that larger support teambecause that can open up the
realm of accommodation to thingsbeyond maybe what you can
provide on your team.
And if you felt like you'rereally on your own in trying to
(05:54):
support that person or what youoffered is not able to support
them, please ensure that you'rereaching out to some other
resources to do that as well.
Sometimes as well, no matter thesituation, no matter the person
and this could be at any levelon any type of interaction when
you ask how you can supportsomeone they might not know and
(06:17):
this can, of course, add to thetrickiness of this situation
they might just know what's notworking or what is stressing
them, and it may take them sometime, it may take some trial and
error to get to that, so it maytake you, as their leader, some
patience, of course, to gothrough this process.
You might need to experiment,to do lots of check-ins with
them and make sure that you canfind something that's working.
And also, during this wholeprocess, if you haven't already
(06:39):
connected them, if yourworkplace hasn't already
connected them, really look atsome of those outside resources
and make sure they're aware ofthose, and so there should be.
Hopefully, your organizationhas some sort of benefits plan.
Maybe they have an employeefamily assistance plan.
There's a variety of governmentresources.
There's local resources, onlineresources that could be so
(07:00):
helpful to this person if theyhaven't accessed them yet.
And this is really where I'mgoing to say staff should
ideally be responsible for somepart of how they're showing up.
That is, that they are seekingout resources and support so
they can function optimally,that they're engaging with these
accommodations, that you'reproviding for them and they're
showing up.
That is, that they are seekingout resources and support so
they can function optimally,that they're engaging with these
accommodations, that you'reproviding for them and they're
offering that feedback.
They're having thatconversation about what is
(07:21):
working.
I also want to recognize that,if they are experiencing some
extreme mental disorder orthey're really at a challenging
point in their life.
This can be very hard for themto do and, of course, that's
going to feel like there's moreof a burden on you.
So that, all being said, let'sswitch tracks for a moment and
talk about what this means thento create a mentally healthy
(07:41):
workplace, because I want tomake sure it doesn't feel like
you have to take on the role ofsome sort of mental health
provider who is treatingwhatever mental disorder your
staff may be dealing with.
That is going to generallypromote well-being for your
(08:03):
staff, lessen stress, and that'snot just for this person but
for the whole team.
You're kind of creating thisspace and so the day-to-day, the
immediate, they're not seeingmaybe some of those symptoms,
and so you want to make surethat your whole staff team can
do their best work.
In general, this goes beyondthis one person.
So you're looking at some ofthe factors in the workplace
that might be impacting yourteam, both positively and
negatively, and if you want toknow a little bit more about
(08:25):
those factors, a couple episodesago we talked about the factors
that are inherent in a mentallyhealthy workplace, so
definitely go check that out andunderstand more about that side
.
So these are really the piecesthat we're responsible for.
We need to explore challengesthat our staff are having
individually, making sure thateveryone has some accommodations
(08:46):
and real understanding abouthow they can do their best work,
about those individual needsthat they might have.
We're focused in general oncreating this mentally healthy
environment where everyone canthrive, and when you think about
all of that, that's a lot ofresponsibility.
Leaders who are doing a greatjob leading, who are not just
trying to ignore these problems,have a lot of responsibility
(09:07):
and it can be quite draining.
And that leads us to this veryimportant piece of taking care
of yourself.
Something that's really hard,that a lot of people experience
challenge with, is when you'retrying to support someone who's
having some sort of challengewith their mental health in
their life.
It is incredibly draining andchallenging for you.
You might feel powerless inwhat you can actually do to help
(09:29):
this person.
Is it truly helping them?
You may feel some sense offault or responsibility that you
are actually not responsiblefor.
You are not responsiblenecessarily for this person's
mental illness and sometimes wecan take a lot of that on
emotionally and that's notnecessarily helpful.
That's not supportive ofyourself or that person.
Your responsibility as theirleader is supporting this
(09:52):
environment that they're in.
And, of course, you can alsofeel trapped in this situation
of you're trying to supportsomeone with different needs
while supporting the rest ofyour team and having to work
potentially with this differingoutcome.
There can be this emotionalburden, of course, but there's
also a professional burden oftenIf there's a reality that this
employee is not optimallyfunctioning in the way that you
(10:14):
hope all your team members arein the way that their job roles
say they are supposed tocontribute, you might not have
to be doing extra work tosupport that.
Your team might feel likethey're taking on extra work to
support that.
It's a really hard situationand absolutely everyone in that
situation from the person who'sdealing with that mental
challenge to everyone on yourteam and yourself.
(10:35):
I feel so much empathy for youas you work through this and
that's why I'm reiteratingreally make sure that, if this
is a possibility at all, if it'ssafe for you at all, reach out
to your leaders and thosesupports in your organization,
obviously also trying to getsupport for yourself in your
personal life, maybe alsoprofessional support, so you are
able to handle this the bestyou can.
(10:56):
I've got to say someorganizations do have really
amazing support set up that ifyou share this, they'll come in
with all sorts of ways that theycan help you in this employee
and really sadly, there are aton of organizations that not
only will not support but mighteven discriminate, act
definitely immorally, maybeillegally, because they don't
(11:16):
want to deal with this problem,and that puts you obviously in a
tough place of what you want todo with that and that's a much
bigger answer and discussionthan this show is.
So do your best to supportyourself and your team, reach
out for those resources and Ihope this was helpful to you, ap
for some ideas about thisframework of mental illness in
(11:38):
the workplace versus mentallyhealthy environments and really,
if you take one thing, justabout that piece of how you can
get support for yourself so youare able to handle this the best
.
I am very much looking forwardto our discussion after this, as
I also want to be one of yoursupports and as a reminder, if
you have a story that you wantto share with the show, like AP
(11:58):
did, I would love to hear it.
You can find the link for thatin the description below and
then you can look forward to asession with me after, so we can
make sure your question isanswered and give you some extra
resources to work with.
This show is available inpodcast form if you prefer to
listen that way.
That comes out on Fridaymornings and the link for that
is also in the description.
I want to thank you so much forlistening and learning with me.
(12:22):
This is such a big, complicatedtopic that is becoming more and
more alive in our world, and sotaking this time to really
understand it in the terms ofyour leadership is so important.
So thank you for being here and, as we close, remember to ask
yourself what kind of ripplesare you going to create this
week?
Speaker 1 (12:43):
We hope you enjoyed the episode.
Make sure to subscribe, commentand connect with Leah at
meetleahca.
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Cold Case Files: Miami
Joyce Sapp, 76; Bryan Herrera, 16; and Laurance Webb, 32—three Miami residents whose lives were stolen in brutal, unsolved homicides. Cold Case Files: Miami follows award‑winning radio host and City of Miami Police reserve officer Enrique Santos as he partners with the department’s Cold Case Homicide Unit, determined family members, and the advocates who spend their lives fighting for justice for the victims who can no longer fight for themselves.