The Stressbusters: Empowering Managers to Outwit Stress and Anxiety

Ginni Lisk

As we write this, the team behind Culture Correspondence are in Las Vegas attending Unleash America, an HR Technology conference all about the future of work.

At the event, we’re hosting a roundtable discussion (outputs of which will form an upcoming issue of the newsletter - keep your eyes peeled) all about the ‘new Employee Value Proposition’.

We propose that a host of new norms are being established at work, on the basis of a driving need for employees to have two things;

More choice
A greater voice

…And we think that’s a very good thing!

As we continue our series all about wellbeing at work (inspired by 2023’s Stress Awareness Month) we wanted to take some time to reflect on the ways more choice and a stronger employee voice are potentially going to impact one of the most important pinch points in organisations today when it comes to productivity and overall success; the senior management team.

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Progressive Principles for All

In today's fast-paced work environment, stress and anxiety are becoming increasingly common. And, employees are taking the power back. They will no longer tolerate a workplace that produces a constant, chronic state of stress in their lives. Employees want to put their health first, and will be disenfranchised if they find themselves working for a company whose culture doesn’t feel like it’s doing the same; putting its People and their health first.

Traditional HR often focuses on reactive measures. One HBR article (from a good few years ago) refers to HR being preoccupied with ‘administrivia’ and - as we’ve talked about in the past HR teams need to try and reframe their role from firefighter, to enabler across everything they do to influence the employee lifecycle.

It's time for a progressive shift in HR practices to empower managers to better support their direct reports in dealing with stress and anxiety at work.

Whether managing people for the first time, or an experienced manager who enjoys having a chunk of an organisation reporting into them, there are skills that managers need to continually develop, and this is therefore an ongoing conversation; managers need to be supported and enabled to implement their learning, in ways that we believe better serve the changing needs of the modern day workplace.

Let's explore the foundational philosophies that should inspire the management of the future and outline easy-to-implement steps for businesses to move in the right direction.

1. Defining What ‘Good’ Looks Like

‍Putting the wellbeing and holistic health of employees at the forefront of HR practices is essential. This starts by defining the relationship the company expects line managers to build with their direct reports and codifying this; embedding the systemic approach your company expects managers to be inspired by and working from - what they need to at all times keep in mind to ensure this people-first approach is embedded. We want quality of line management to be a real and tangible part of the modern day Employee Value Proposition. We need managers that understand their role in achieving that transformational goal.

2. Emotional Intelligence

‍Managers need to develop their emotional intelligence to foster empathy, their active listening, and to ensure effective communication. These skills allow managers to better understand and support their direct reports, and to do all the things great managers do - coach and stretch people along career paths that are mutually beneficial, provide regular, helpful feedback and (with candour and kindness) manage underperformance effectively. Communication gaps drive all sorts of problems and in the modern context, it’s simply no longer good enough to let an elephant in the room loom large or to expect people to assume that ‘no news is good news’. Uncertainty drives anxiety, and line managers need to be supported with a constant, confident stance on the company, its direction and its goals.

3. You Can’t See Someone’s Health

‍The future of work must consider the importance of physical, mental, and emotional well-being in a holistic sense and on an ongoing basis. Managers must understand that someone’s health (the core driver of how they ‘turn up’ at work) cannot be seen or observed superficially. On that basis, instead of making judgement calls about how and why individuals are performing the way they are, managers need to take a step back and learn to apply a wholly judgement-free approach; this humility-inspired mindset runs against traditional management that tends to instead apply arbitrary, ‘top-down’ approaches that focus on grading and ranking employees… One thing is for sure, that annual performance appraisal has got to go!

4. Continuous Community Learning

‍Senior managers need their own support and one of the best sources is the opportunity to speak regularly with their peer group. Encourage managers to (while of course protecting confidentiality) discuss their styles, approaches and methodologies for getting the best out of people and crucially, make those sessions a clearly signposted part of your culture…

…Direct reports are always happier in the knowledge that managers are calibrating; that they’re not receiving a form of line management that is demonstrably different - or worse - than that of a colleague in a different team or department might be experiencing.

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Reckoning with Reality

As a distinctly commercially minded People professional, the role Ginni (who writes Culture Correspondence each week) has played in businesses has enabled her with a front-row seat to the metamorphosis of the workplace over the past few years.

The pandemic has disrupted our traditional understanding of management and has forced us to reckon with the need for a more flexible, individualised, and employee-centric approach. That internal reckoning is in a total state of flux and right now, feels pretty chaotic. The cumulative outcome of that chaos is a dissonance for employees that, when left to bubble away on the stove, over time equates to a properly pernicious and seriously significant degree of People & Culture debt.

“I’ve seen the results of getting the reckoning right; inclusive, transparent and generally people-first businesses do better. Ones that profess to all the right stuff, but have founding, CSuite and/or Senior Management Teams that can’t work through the reckoning effectively and who refuse to let go of the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approaches of the past, create a uniquely weird tension within their culture. We need to push through this transitionary period as quickly as we can. I summarised this in our “Your Employer Brand is a Waste of Time” hot take in a previous issue of Culture Correspondence - saying one thing and creating a mis-matched experience isn’t going to wash, anymore. It’s just not good enough.” (Ginni Lisk)

In the new era of increased choice and greater employee voice, it's time for HR professionals to reevaluate and reimagine their roles as catalysts for positive change and critically to get out the way - to be designers of productised internal people experience and to be commercially savvy org designers; to be the CEO’s of the future who can build businesses from day one, on the basis of sustainable business operations. Profit and growth at all costs - particularly at human cost - are hopefully days we can say goodbye to as a result. So too, are the days of People functions acting to administer, command and control.

None of that can be achieved without managerial buy-in.

Here are the core themes that we believe managers must wholly and genuinely buy into to be effective, and how we can achieve genuine employee wellbeing as a result.

1. Individualisation‍

Recognise that each employee's needs, goals, and challenges are unique. Managers need to be free and enabled to customise development plans, work schedules, and support systems to accommodate a diverse range of employees. This extends to role-modelling the right behaviour, too. Managers also have individualised needs and they should be able to set the tone by prioritising those needs. This means taking breaks, and working hard to normalise talking about what kind of stress we’re experiencing - remember, short, peaks of stress hormones focus us and channel our performance in the moment, but long term chronic stress is debilitating. Managers need to understand stress responses and flight, fight or freeze moments as they apply to themselves first, if they’re going to be able to help their teams with theirs.

2. Flexibility & Choice

‍By embracing flexible work arrangements, and giving employees the autonomy to choose when, where, and how they work, we’re really doing one thing: demonstrating that we trust people. Line managers need to default to trust (and, if that trust is broken, respond appropriately) and recognise that while this is instantly and distinctly culturally refreshing - it is also fundamentally different to what’s gone before. Managers need to be committed to going on whatever journey they need to. And they can - neuroplasticity is a thing! We can all break bad habits if we want to.

3. Greater Employee Voice

‍Foster a culture where employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts, ideas, and concerns. Encourage open dialogue, facilitate town hall meetings, and provide platforms for employees to voice their opinions. And then do something in response! If you're doing an engagement survey, really dig deep to question its purpose - is this about a commitment to action for your people, or about getting a nice % eNPS into a board pack? Your line managers will intuitively know which is happening, and will lean in more or less depending on that reality.

The future of work is here, and it's our chance to rise from the ashes and create a workplace where employees feel heard, valued, and empowered. As People practitioners, we have the power to transform our organisations and make a lasting, positive impact on the lives of countless employees; but we can’t do it alone. Let's embrace the challenge, seize the opportunity, and lead the way towards a better, brighter future, bringing our managers with us for the ride.

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Word From The Street

Ginni’s favourite quote of the week from the HR Community

In the context of the three core foundations for effective management (individualisation, flexibility & choice, greater employee voice) we enjoyed being reminded of this fact from Adam Grant;

Your work does not define your worth - Adam Grant

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