There’s a new challenge facing employers – and this one is more insidious. As a result of the whirlwind events of the past few years, employers are now facing a tsunami of employees struggling with mental health. As a leader within your practice, getting out in front of this brain health pandemic is crucial for your business.
In this episode, Jesse catches up with Michelle E. Dickinson – a passionate mental health advocate, a TED speaker, and a published author of a memoir entitled Breaking Into My Life.
Burnout, anxiety and depression will have a major impact on your business. As a leader you need to be present with your own brain hygiene and create an environment where your employees feel safe within the right environment to discuss their own self care.
Michelle explains how creating this space is easier than most leaders think and why too many over-complicate the process.
Having said that, any safe space also needs boundaries for you and your team and Michelle explains why normalising the conversation around a lack of joy is crucial for anyone’s health and well-being.
Creating the best environment around brain health will allow your team to be present more often which will only help productivity.
The first step is to not assume everyone is equipped to deal with mental health in the workplace so let’s start by removing some of the pre-existing biases and lean in to this conversation with Michelle E Dickinson.
In this episode we discuss:
- [2:43] – After more than 2 years of upheaval and uncertainty, the affects and impact on your teams wellbeing should not be underestimated. Michelle explains the important stats around the scope and scale of the issues we are all facing.
- [5:37 ] – The inability for our people to connect the way they were used to connecting, added to the pressure to perform have shifted and the result is that people are working longer. It’s important for us to support and encourage, while also looking after ourselves.
- [7:37] – Being vulnerable with your team has great power to humanise mental health and help to create conversations.
- [15:25] – When you are dealing with someone with a mental health challenge, ensuring you have your own firm boundaries in place, is vitally important.
- [17:58] – Understanding someone with a mental health issue can be as simple as understanding their level of joy.
- [20:17] – As employers in a dental practice environment, the question to understand is, “how much care, is too much care”? When is too much support invasive, and when is not enough support neglectful?
- [25:24] – We’re in ‘Health Care’ … so it goes without saying that we want to look after our team. However it’s important to remember the commercial outcomes and upside, and how that manifests through our people.
- [29:33] – Leadership in a modern dental practice can be enhanced by your level of compassion with your team. And that comes from leaning into your own wellbeing and mental health.
- [33:09] – Sometimes your people simply need to be ‘heard’. So listen, talk from your heart, and have human compassion and your business culture will thrive.
- [36:36] – Interview ends.
