Healthy leadership: The workplace trait that relieves stress
Healthy leadership is becoming increasingly important
Against the background of the demographic development in our country and the expected challenges for occupational psychologists and occupational physicians, healthy management is becoming more and more important.
Management styles have both positive and negative effects on the health of employees. How healthy the employees are influences performance and productivity and ultimately the competitiveness of a company. In addition, health reduces costs due to absenteeism.
Healthy and less healthy leadership
The psychologist Gregersen states in a recently published article that 2 statements can be made with certainty:
- Maintaining leadership acts as a resource or stressor on the health of employees.
- Social support from superiors increases resilience in difficult and stressful working conditions.
- Opportunities for co-determination and participation also increase resilience.
- Appreciative communication and recognition also lead to greater resilience.
- Certain leadership styles have a health-promoting effect while others are detrimental.
Employee-oriented management styles have a positive effect on health. Some studies even show that a balance between employee- and task-oriented leadership results in the lowest levels of stress and burnout.
Impairing leadership styles primarily increase psychological (improper) burdens (stress).
The reason for a lack of healthy leadership is probably the confusion between management and leadership
In day-to-day work, a closer look reveals in many companies that management activities far outweigh leadership activities.
Ergonomic findings show that employee orientation or a good balance between both levels brings the best results in terms of employee health. The connections even go so far that managers take their sick leave with them when they take on a new position.
What should you pay attention to? What should you avoid if you want to promote a healthy leadership style: