What constitutes healthy leadership?

"My boss is making me sick!" Perhaps we have all heard this or similar phrases from friends and acquaintances or uttered them ourselves at the beginning of our careers. There is a lot of truth behind it, because the way we are managed has a direct impact on our employees' health, willingness to perform and motivation. The mental and physical health of an employee is one of the most important assets in the professional world. In this article, you will find some tips and inspiration on how you can maintain this through healthy leadership.

Healthy leadership: what does it mean?

There are numerous studies on how healthy leadership affects the mental and physical health of employees. The most important characteristics of a healthy leadership style and good managers include 

• Management and technical skills
• High social competence
• Own job satisfaction
• Motivation
• Focus on team relationships

If you want to live healthy leadership, take a bird's eye view of your team. Among other things, how are the individual team members doing? How are the relationships between them? What about the individual satisfaction of all employees? With a healthy management style, managers are able to recognize the individual potential of individual team members and develop it. In addition, they also focus on the social needs of all team members and ensure that the work-life balance is successful.

How to develop a healthy management style in your company

Phases of high performance and relaxation should always be balanced in a company. Have you just had an intensive final spurt in the last project phase? Then there should be a balance afterwards, perhaps in the form of a bar camp. As a leader, you bear great responsibility for the health of your employees. If you pay attention to the following 5 pillars of healthy leadership, then you are on the right path to healthy company management.

1. Positive self-leadership
   As a leader, you are the beacon for your team that everyone follows. You should therefore set a good example and exemplify a positive attitude towards life. A positive image of people is also important. This also includes integrating sufficient breaks, healthy eating and exercise into your daily routine.
   
2. Honest interest
   Employees want to be noticed. By showing genuine interest in their professional and personal needs, you show your appreciation. Take your time when an employee wants to talk to you and switch off your smartphone during the conversation. Encourage your employees to actively share their wishes, needs and requirements with you.
   
3. Unleash potential
   The great responsibility of recognizing the potential of your employees and ensuring that they can be developed lies on your shoulders. Often, employees themselves do not even realize what they are capable of. You are a potential unlocker and potential developer for your team.
   
4. Information & communication
   Consult your team and involve them in all important decisions. Nothing feels worse for employees than being left out of the loop. This leads to demotivation.
   
5. Appreciation
   The topic of appreciation is basically above all other pillars and is the basic prerequisite for healthy leadership. Give your employees regular appreciative feedback. Make them aware of how important their performance is for the big picture. Those who feel that they are an important part of something feel motivated, driven and valued.

Healthy leadership does not happen by itself. With the above-mentioned pillars of healthy leadership, you can shape the social and emotional factors in the workplace in such a way that a healthy and pleasant working environment is created.