Breaking The Mental Health Crisis Cycle: Enabling Self-Care Through Power Skills

Understanding the distinct roles of coaching and mentoring

A UKG study found that a person's direct supervisor has a profound impact on their mental health, second only to that of a life partner. Furthermore, nearly a third of workers go to therapy to cope with toxic bosses. While bad managers can perpetuate challenging work environments, they can also be a part of the solution, especially when armed with the skills necessary to see fellow employees as humans and not just numbers. Effective leadership skills like emotional intelligence and empathy can help combat a growing mental health and unhappiness crisis. Organizations can empower their leaders with a learning program built to fill interpersonal and power skill gaps to support talent while also helping organizations achieve their goals.

In conjunction with learning, coaching can support this initiative. While coaching has been available since the 70s, it hasn’t been a democratized offering within organizations. However, a shift is taking place as organizations increasingly recognize the powerful benefits it provides to talent professionally and personally. The International Coaching Foundation found that over 70% of people who received coaching saw an improvement in work performance, relationship, and communication skills – the very skills that differentiate a bad manager from a great manager.

By understanding why talent leaves, fostering a culture of learning, and providing coaching, leaders are taking steps towards retaining their talent and keeping them happy and engaged. But what are the warning signs, and how do leaders build or improve their programs? Let’s dig in.

There’s clearly a problem, and it’s affecting workers worldwide. According to a recent report, 88% of workers feel burnt out by work, and 20% think of quitting their jobs daily. Managers aren’t immune to stress either. Findings from a Gallup survey show that only one in four managers believe they have a healthy work-life balance. The causes for these feelings vary, but managers may be ill-equipped to talk to team members and create a workplace culture of compassion, empathy, and communication, proliferating a psychologically unsafe work environment. Thus, the cycle continues. It’s up to leaders to emphasize the importance of power skills to enable managers, leaders, and talent to understand one another better.

Skillsoft's recent Women in Tech report found that women were most likely to leave a job due foremost to bad managers, followed by a lack of learning and development. It’s true: most people don’t leave bad jobs; they leave bad managers. By providing learning and development opportunities centered around power skill development, talent can be well-equipped to take on challenges and support a workplace that prioritizes mental health and self-care.

In a recent Monster Future of Work report, 63% of respondents shared that they’re more inclined to recruit individuals versed in power skills such as teamwork, time management, and leadership. This isn’t overly surprising given The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) findings that 8 of the 10 skills required to work in 2030 are power skills. One such power skill, emotional intelligence, is an essential competency that strong managers possess. Studies indicate that talent versed in emotional intelligence often excel in their roles. This skill helps us understand our feelings and the feelings of those around us. A Gallup poll highlighted that talent with managers with high emotional intelligence is four times more likely to stay in their positions. Leaders with strong power skills effectively steer through change, resolve conflicts, and improve team dynamics, helping keep folks in their seats, happy and engaged.

It's clear: Skill gaps of any kind present serious obstacles for the business and its talent. To close these gaps and ensure leaders retain talent and keep them engaged, leaders must ensure a strong learning and development program. Whether they’re just starting or have a process in place, leaders should first assess knowledge gaps and existing competencies and specify the skills necessary to help close the skill gap. Given the tough labor market, upskilling, and reskilling the current workforce helps not only fill gaps but also builds engagement and retention amongst talent. 

Building objectives, targets, and timelines for skill development within the organization is paramount to ensure the skills gained support specific goals. These initiatives are implemented by empowering talent with access to training modules, workshops, and resources, like coaching, that seamlessly integrate into day-to-day programs. Finally, employee feedback is collected, progress is tracked, and the impact of the skills obtained against previous goals is measured. By embracing a cycle of improvement, leaders help create a culture of learning that evolves with the needs of both the industry and the workforce, fostering organizational success and professional development.

For far too long, coaching has been seen as an exclusive solution that is saved only for heads of organizations and members of the C-suite. But coaching is universal and can support each member of the organization top-down (and bottom-up.) It won’t happen overnight and requires leaders to enable a culture of coaching, democratizing something seen as exclusive to be inclusive of all. When a company dedicates resources to workforce coaching, talent (and managers) struggling with toxic workplaces and self-care issues can better understand and be empowered with the tools to nurture skills that help meet challenges head-on. Coaches help to challenge established thought patterns, break down barriers, expand outlooks, and equip individuals with the tools to tackle whatever obstacles lie ahead. Ultimately, coaching leads to true behavior change.

To successfully democratize coaching in an organization, it's crucial to develop a strategic plan that defines objectives and assesses current leadership capabilities to identify skill gaps. Next, a robust coaching framework should be established, offering a consistent and structured approach that helps set goals and track, evaluate, and measure progress. The influx of generative AI (GenAI) solutions and tools is also making it easier for leaders to make coaching more accessible. Picture this: Leaders empower their workforce with access to coaching one-on-one or in group settings to make impactful behavior changes. However, it doesn’t stop there; following each session, employees are given access to GenAI tools to continue that important work, continuing their coaching with virtual assistants, for example, to ensure progress isn’t held up.

The true value of a coaching culture is realized through its integration into the organization, promoting an environment that not only nurtures individual growth but also improves performance and caters to innovation. By regularly evaluating the program's outcomes, seeking feedback from stakeholders, and refining the approach based on data-driven insights, an organization can sustain a dynamic culture of development that motivates and engages its workforce, ensuring both personal and organizational success.

Prioritizing skills development, particularly by focusing on power skills through learning development and coaching, equips the workforce not only with the necessary tools, including GenAI, to stay competitive but also with the resilience to navigate mental health challenges in the workplace. These power skills, such as emotional intelligence, stress management, and effective communication, are crucial for leaders and employees alike to handle complex and unpredictable situations with empathy and understanding. Investing in learning is an investment in employees' well-being.

Leena Rinne is the Global Head of Coaching at Skillsoft.