Promoting mental wellbeing through the four key skills of project leadership

May marks Mental Health Awareness Month, raising awareness and promoting open conversations about our mental fitness. We all have responsibilities for ensuring the project teams we operate in promote an environment of well-being and that we continue to have these conversations not just in May.

Research by Stevenson & Farmer identified that 15% of UK workers have a mental health condition1. In 2021, APM research identified that three quarters of project managers experience stress at work. If you combine both of these statistics, it highlights a requirement for our project teams to focus on the wellbeing of individuals so we can continue to be high performing teams.

As leaders, how do we align our leadership with promoting an environment of well-being and mental fitness, alongside supporting any additional needs of colleagues.? Let's focus on the APM’s Four key skills for successful project leadership and how each can promote wellbeing:

Vision: Being in a supportive team provides a greater sense of purpose, ownership and accountability. Research found that Individuals who have a strong sense of purpose tend to have better mental health and overall well-being. Reflecting purpose in the vision is a simple foundation when starting the team.

Direction: The direction of travel for a successful environment is embedded within the direction you give. For example, maintaining working hours, no out of office hours replies and offering flexible working. As a leader committing to abiding by the working hours, setting an example in how you also prioritise wellbeing can make an impact – be the role model for your team.

Support: This is an individualised approach; how you decide to support your team at the holistic level as well as the personal level with employees. At both, communication, especially open communication and active listening, builds an environment of trust. With my team I started our team meetings with a ‘How do you feel on the mood scale’ question with 9 images of silly animals each demonstrating a different mood and no explanation of your mood was required in the room. The tone was set as light, but I used this to notice patterns in team members' mood and follow up with them privately. Not only did it become a staple of the meeting - animal requests were submitted - it provided an ulterior communication for supporting my team.

Feedback - The joy of feedback for wellbeing is that it's a two way. As project professionals we should be seeking feedback from individuals as well as the organisational structure for how we can better improve the environment we work in. The roll-out of wellbeing champions across organisations is a great example of structural feedback and influence into the operation of project teams.

May is just one month but mental health and mental wellbeing is an everyday responsibility.