Canadian HR Reporter

www.hrreporter.com 11 is correct, but they're doing it in an unknown context because the strain is a lot higher. That kind of responsi- bility is similar to what we've seen with parents… because they're also concerned about the wellbeing of their children and taking actions towards that and trying to mitigate that is similar with senior leaders in the whole workforce." Coaching, self-care To help mitigate this stress on leaders, coaching and training is one of the better new ideas that is being employed, according to Hirji. "Many organizations provide leader- ship coaching, which is like a personal trainer for leaders. I have seen some organizations [provide] personal coaching around work-life and helping people address concerns, make choices, helping them stay on track, keeping them motivated, recognizing successes and shifting some of their resources into that space — and they're having some success with it." What would help many leaders, says Sollors, is educating them about new ideas on what makes a successful leader support the workforce, as cited by 62 per cent of leaders. "What's happening as well is people want to be given the work. However, the leader might hang onto it because they want to meet expectations, [so] that's also causing more stress for leaders... [whether it's] an unwillingness to dele- gate or 'I feel bad about my team, they have already have a lot of work, I don't want to give them more work,'" says Sollors. "A lot of leaders are afraid to give extra work to their employees because they don't want them to stress out." "Even the smallest things in communi- cation through Zoom and Zoom fatigue and missing a whole bunch of body language — that can also have a huge impact on the leader. 'Are they are they engaged? Are they doing other work? Are they really present?'" he says. The added decision-making and the complexity of the decision-making add to the level of worry, which mirrors what caregivers have been going through, says Allen. "They're very concerned about the wellbeing of their people and the feeling that they need to support their people in the COVID world. "There needs to be some sort of training around even having empa- thetic conversations: 'How do I have a conversation with my employee [and] get to know them a bit better, under- stand what their struggles are?' Even a certain element of self-compassion is really important, by taking it easy on ourselves, looking at what are those things that I really demand about who I am, having that self-awareness? How is that helping me during these times? How is it hindering me during these times? A lot of leaders like to be driven and like to control things but if all of a sudden, that's not there anymore, you just don't have the same means of doing, it can be very stressful because you're losing a piece of you that you relied on in the past." And looking after themselves is also critical, according to Allen, especially in light of the finding that 55 per cent believed they would face a negative stigma around their own careers if anybody discovered they had mental health problems. "Self-care is important for these "A lot of leaders are afraid to give extra work to their employees because they don't want them to stress out." Glen Sollors, Kwela Leadership leaders as well because it's hard for them to support anybody else without actually supporting their own mental wellbeing… a lot of these senior leaders don't necessarily feel the permission to take care of themselves in the way that they're supporting others. They feel that the rules are a little bit different for them, they feel that they will be subject to greater stigma, none of which is necessarily true, but it is their percep- tion and it does shape behaviour," says Allen. CHRR

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