Do you imagine they look sad or miserable, perhaps they constantly have their head in their hands, perhaps you imagine it’s someone who take a lot of time off sick. Could it be tears and crying, complaining to work colleagues, coming in late, lots of doctors appointments? Perhaps missed deadlines, quality and quantity of work dropping off, looking tired? Someone who has recently suffered loss, or divorce, home problems, has poor physical health, or has financial issues?
The truth is that it could be all or none of the above. People, from the top boss down to the minimum wage workers would all benefit in looking after their head health, there are clearly people who have more urgent needs than others but this is not always obvious. Someone who is really struggling and about to fall off the head health cliff, suddenly hit the burnout brick wall could also be the person that appears like they are swanning around without a care or being at the pinnacle of their career. People are excellent at hiding head health issues and being oblivious to our own needs.
So now we know that it’s pretty much impossible to identify people just by looking at them, we also know that head health issues can creep upon anyone, then you also know that everyone would benefit from paying attention to their head health. what do we do with this information?
People who appear confident, motivated, ambitious, capable, extrovert, great communicator, go getter, positive, sociable, it could be the smart suit, the crisp white shirt, the perfect smile, the flash car, the bonus’s, the action and adventure holidays, the high flyer, the superhuman, the perfect family. It might look like the person on the desk next to you who talks a good game, or posts on social media about their wonderful life, it might be someone who turns up everyday and appears to be very happy with their life, whilst completing their job, keeping their head down and getting on with it. Perhaps you notice in the canteen or around the kettle the murmurings of dissatisfaction from employees. From CEO’s to carers, teachers, developers, nurses, stockbrokers, doctors, lawyers, recruiters, estate agents, managers, salespeople, marketers, accountants, and all in between, each industry, job and level comes with its own set of stresses and pressures, as well as all those people bring in from outside of work.
Why do people need head health support?
• Pressure to perform, to keep up appearances and attitudes
• Pressure to succeed and not only be a winner but be seen as a winner, not just once, but every month, every day, every meeting, every interaction
• Keeping up performance and appearances can be tiring, exhausting, emotionally demanding, and draining
• Pressure to be the motivator, to be the life and soul, to hit the targets time after time, to not have any down time, to have a guillotine hanging over your head, to be expected to perform and win constantly, to not make mistakes, not drop a ball,
• Pressure to keep the job to pay for the car, the house, and all the bills
• Pressure from family or peers to get promoted or pass exams
• Pressure to not make mistakes
• Pressure to communicate when you don’t wat to talk
• Pressure to agree to ideas you don’t agree with
• Pressure to stay because there is no other jobs or companies out there
• Issues at home, financial, family, relationship
• Lack of support to talk and work through issues with, to help solve problems
What are the implications of not looking after head health?
• Burnout
• Loss of job
• Low self esteem, loss of confidence, demotivated, unhappy
• Miss out on promotions
• Missed targets, missed bonuses, bills mount up, overwhelmed with financial stress
• Poor work quality
• Poor work quantity
• High turnover of staff
• Big recruitment costs
• Poor reputation in the jobs market
• Productivity reduces
- Loss of sleep and loss of ability to cope
• Employee Relationships breakdown
• Homelife suffers
• Company culture suffers
• Teamwork reduces, loss of cohesion
• Deadlines not met
• Negative impact on bottom line
- Increase in stress and anxiety
What are the benefits of looking after head health?
• Perform at your peak for longer
• Achieve more in a shorter time
• Better ability to focus and concentrate: less mistakes and more right first time
• Better decision making ability
• Improve quality and quantity of work
• Increased productivity
• Increased feelings of happiness and well being at work
• Increase the ability to make stress work for you
• Better sleep and all the wonderful related benefits
• More motivated, more confidence
• Better internal working relationships
• Improved external relationships
• Improved homelife
• Increased success, hit targets, hit bonus’s and climb that ladder
• Increased employee satisfaction
• Increased staff retention
• Improved bottom line performance
• Reduced stress and anxiety
Every person feels pressure and some are better at handling it than others, but every person would benefit from having some head health time. With budgets and workloads only increasing we are always looking at ways to get more out of our work force. Looking after your people and their ability to perform should be of utmost priority.
With our working lives only extending it is crucial that we support our head health, that we enjoy our work and that we cope with the stresses that come with the jobs so that your life is enriched by work, and our work benefits from this.
Head Health means that whatever you choose to focus on has purpose and benefits you and the business. Head health gives your company a huge boost over others, it is the secret weapon in staff retention, employee relations, improving culture, increasing productivity and employee well being.
By partnering with a business such as “my exceptional” your business can pre-empt and prevent many mental health issues escalating, reducing this £1300 average cost of mental health per employee right down, and increase employee input
My exceptional can offer everything from 121 coaching sessions, individual therapy sessions, group relaxation, mindfulness workshops, stress, sleep workshops, resilience training, as well as being able to call upon a team of other therapists and counsellors if you wish to broaden the offering in the future. The therapy and coaching is solution focussed with the aim to enable and empower employees to take control and own the tools to succeed and enjoy work whilst achieving the personal and business goals.
Want to know more? Take action and let’s talk through your business and how I can support you to do the best for your people whilst getting the best from your people.
Jess Schlupp-Taylor, 07943394147
jess@myexceptional.co.uk
www.bebetter.org.uk