Well, lots really. Our work-selves are not distinct from ourselves, therefore, mental wellbeing issues have the potential to impact our performance at work in a number of ways.
The Mind website helpfully illustrates what having good mental wellbeing means. I have summarised it below, using its converse to describe the pitfalls for businesses:
- Having good relationships with others
- All successful businesses are built on effective business relationships/networks be it with client, manager, peer or direct report. Displaying trust, communicating clearly, knowing how to motivate and inspire, keeping emotions (anger, frustration, upset) in check, are all critical in maintaining them and can be ruinous if not.
- Working productively
- Businesses are busier than ever. Targets are higher, workforces leaner and employees are needed to work smarter, harder and with greater innovation.
- Adapt and manage in times of uncertainty
- Our workplaces are less and less stable and political and economical change mean we need to be more resilient to change.
- Feel engaged in the world around you
- In a work context I call it having a ‘moving forward mindset’. Feelings of detachment make us less able to work collaboratively within our teams. Training and development will have little effect as our ability to learn and create will be hindered.
- Feeling (relatively) confident in yourself
- Believing you are able to perform a task/do your job well is just as important as actually having the capability to that task. Without it comes uncertainty, prevarication and weak leadership. Issues of confidence – perfectionism, micro-management, over-confidence – are some of the most prevalent I work with.
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