Wellbeing Wednesday: The spaces in between

We often place wellbeing in the heads of employees alone, but workplace wellbeing is found in many places, including in the interconnections between employees and their managers.

In fact, wellbeing more often exists in the spaces in between people, the same space that is frequently overlooked because it’s often simpler to focus on individuals instead of relationships.

Yet, when employees feel they are seen and validated for who they are, when they feel heard and as though their voices and ideas matter, productivity, creativity, and cooperation rise. It shouldn’t be a surprise to know that the physical health and life satisfaction of employees also increase.

Like all relationships, the influence goes two ways. Managers who give the gift of ‘mattering’ also gain. Their team members become more confident, loyal, and empowered; turnover also decreases. The job satisfaction of managers grows as they spend less time dealing with interpersonal issues and resentment. Pressure is removed as they don’t need to have all of the answers as team members feel safe enough to contribute with honest and useful feedback. Employees who feel seen and heard are also more likely to pay it back to their managers through respectful engagement of their own.

Several studies in the past years have estimated that managers influence nearly 70% of employee engagement and wellbeing; in fact, that influence is just as much as a long-term partner, and more than a psychologist or doctor has. In short, what managers do, how they say things, how approachable they are and whether they care, are instrumental not only to employee wellbeing but the health and productivity of any organisation.

There are several things that managers can do to help their teams feel seen, heard, and like they matter. Here are three you can try.

Hold 1 to 1 meetings

Most managers are doing these, but many are not or without enough frequency that they still feel awkward. These weekly meetings take as little as 10 minutes and are designed to build rapport, prevent issues from escalating, offer timely feedback rather than an annual performance review, increase safety to disclose concerns and help managers stay on top of developments – good and bad – in the lives of their employees.

Several studies in the past years have estimated that managers influence nearly 70% of employee engagement

By asking questions like:  “What’s one thing I could do to improve your experience here, and how are things going in life more generally?” managers can really understand their people.

Over time, 1 to 1 meetings become easier and managers get better at knowing what their people are good at, what they need help with, and how best to nurture their growth. While they take time, they are wise investments as they prevent larger, more costly, and time-consuming attention later.

Revisit CVs

It should go without saying that organisations know why they hire people, but it is also true that many employee’s skills, interests, or experience go unused for no other reason than we’ve forgotten what impressed us in the first place. If we returned to those CV’s and asked employees themselves what they did best in their prior roles, we might just find that Bill indeed has sales experience which could be useful today, and Anne was in a prior IT role with the very skills we now outsource.

Not only that, but both are also looking to take on additional challenges with minimal stretch. It might even be the case that another department could use these skills, or you might know of a new project coming in the next few months, which can now be filled. These conversations help employees consider their own possibilities. They may come back with great ideas.

Offer help

Hierarchies are such that employees are considered to work for their managers, but managers can just as easily offer assistance to their employees. In your weekly 1 to 1 meetings, ask your team members what their biggest challenge is that day and week and what you could do to concretely assist them with it. Such kindnesses show empathy, increase approachability, and invite respect. It also sets a good tone, expectation and model for how other team members can help one another as well. Best of all, it helps everyone go home on time – including managers – and not feel like they are alone in their work experience!

Showing people they matter and are valued is simpler than it looks. By incorporating these small actions among the many that managers already do, they can ensure that relationships maintain their integrity and the wellbeing of all people is strengthened. More importantly, managers can fulfil their role as stewards of their team’s wellbeing and promote their own at the same time.

Dr Louise Lambert PhD (main picture) is the Director of Happiness Programming & Policy at HappinessMatters based in the United Arab Emirates. She is a researcher in positive psychology and conducts training in the development of high-quality connections for managers, as well as employee training in positive psychology for a better quality of life.

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