Healing: Self care for leaders and their teams

By Anna Eliatamby and Grazia Lomonte

When we lead others, it can be easy to forget to care for ourselves. To truly flourish and grow as an effective leader and trailblazer, it is vital to take time to look after your own mental health and wellbeing.

Authors Anna Eliatamby and Grazia Lomonte look at the vital role self-care plays in leadership and how looking after yourself will also have a positive impact on your workforce. When self-care is made a high priority within an organisation, morale and productivity rises and sickness rates fall.

Healing: Self-care for leaders and their teams examines the importance of healthy leadership and decency within an organisation. The book guides the reader to explore their own behaviours and how they manage their own stress and wellbeing. It also includes reflections and activities designed to encourage self-exploration and periods of contemplation.

Readers are encouraged to look at those aspects of their own lives and characters which are unresolved so they can heal and move forward, becoming a positive role model for their teams.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anna Eliatamby
• Release date: Apr 8, 2024
• ISBN: 9781804430668

Anna Eliatamby

I worked in the public, humanitarian and private sector in leadership, well-being and psychology. For over 30 years. I have learned that each organisation strives for decency but there are always toxic elements. These drain people’s energy, motivation and decency. The best way to ensure decency in leadership and organisations is to work collaboratively in the workplace. We then free ourselves to be our best, looking after our self care and well-being. And we must tackle and address the negativity and toxicity. We need to pause and reflect on the greater purpose of working to leave a good enough legacy for the next generation. Isn’t that our obligation? I have learned, over the years, that I am fallible and will make mistakes and errors. That sometimes, I err on the negative side. So I am a work in progress, as we all are. I hope you enjoy the books. Many have praised them, for which I am grateful. “Brilliant” Five stars. Anthony Manning “These books are great. They’re packed full of interesting and pertinent ideas - and exercises to help us explore how the topic in question plays out in our own thinking and behaviour. “Decency” might at first sound like an old-fashioned concept - but it is all the more vital in our complex, fast-paced and ever-changing world of work. It’s the least we can expect of ourselves and each other, if the vital relationships upon which organisations’ endeavours succeed, or fail, are to thrive. It’s also what we should expect from our leaders (in all fields), who should aspire to be role models of truly people-centred behaviour, rather than primarily focused on goals and targets.” David Love. Thank you

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Copyright © 2024 Healthy Leadership CIC

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ISBN: 978-1-80443-065-1 (Paperback)

ISBN: 978-1-80443-066-8 (Ebook)

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Getting Ready to Explore

SECTION 1: LEARNING ABOUT YOUR QUALITIES AND BEHAVIOURS

1. Leadership Qualities and Behaviours

2. Managing Stress, Well-Being, and Coping

3. Cherishing and Refining My Leadership

SECTION 2: LEARNING ABOUT AND LIVING WITH THE UNDERLYING AND UNRESOLVED

Introduction

Above And Below The Surface

Rebuilding Your Frame of Reference

SECTION 3: WELL-BEING FOR YOUR TEAM

Introduction

Factors That Impact Well-Being

References

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We owe a debt of gratitude to many people, colleagues, family, and friends.

Greg Parston, who shares his own story, is a vibrant guide and mentor. He was and is instrumental in leading and introducing many global and national initiatives for a better life for many. Greg’s support and guidance have shaped Anna’s thinking, creativity, and career. He has guided those of us who are lucky to know Greg to do our best for the greater good.

Ambassador William Lacy Swing, former Director General of IOM (UN Migration Agency), was an exceptional and consummate leader. He gently guided all of us who were privileged to work with him. He naturally encouraged us to work with dignity and respect for the people we served. He was a man of integrity, without exception.

Brittany White was extremely helpful in gathering research on stress and well-being. She is very creative and skilled. Thanks to Alison Smith of Blue Daze Designs for the artwork and to Robin Philips (Shilka Publishing) for his help and support.

And, to all our teachers, guides, and mentors: thank you.

INTRODUCTION

Our ambition propels us into leadership. We adopt and assume key characteristics and behaviours to lead. Some of these choices are based on our history, personality, and experience of other people’s leadership.

Our leadership behaviours and personality are, we assume, fully formed and functional. But we often forget to look after ourselves as we power through our trailblazer roles. We focus on the helpful parts of our personality and ignore the unresolved aspects that can hold us back. We forget to give ourselves space and time to appreciate our personality and resolve the often-ignored parts of ourselves, and, therefore, heal.

For us to grow and flourish as leaders so that we lead inclusively and healthily, we need to pause and look at our own well-being and self-care. Unmanaged stress, both temporary and long-term, can have a harmful impact on our ability to function and lead. And there are so many pressures and uncertainties for leaders and others in the world today.

It is vital that we look after our own mental health and well-being. This will free us to be the best leader we can be.

When we take care of ourselves and ensure the same for our staff and teams, we experience increased productivity, higher morale, and well-being. Some of this can depend on how much personnel think we are looking after ourselves and how well we lead. People are more likely to look after themselves at work if they see leaders manage their self-care and lead healthily without resorting to toxicity.

Focussing on internal and intrinsic factors as individuals, leaders, and team members has a greater impact on well-being than concentrating on external factors. Internal factors include personal growth and relationships, and extrinsic ones comprise fame and wealth, etc.

Our book is based on our definition of healthy leadership and healthy organisations where everybody strives for decency. Healthiness is an essential ingredient for decency. Without it, we are likely to be unsuccessful.

The words healthy and healthiness refer to physical and, sometimes, mental health and well-being. These facets are important components for overall healthiness, and we suggest that there are others. These include synergy between purpose, values, and how we live and work; the impact of material resources and the environment; being willing to be open and listen to the incoming future; and how we live and cope with the shadow side.

To promote overall health, we need to coordinate these factors with compassion and respect. Collective responsibility for promoting the helpful and addressing the unhelpful should be present.

The term golden represents helpful qualities like kindness, integrity, compassion, and purposeful work. The shadow includes dishonesty, bullying, and harassment. They are interlinked and can reflect each other’s opposites.

Leadership is an individual and collective function that has many intentions. This includes an aim to serve human beings and/or something else. Some people operationalize leadership ethically and positively to serve others. Others will have another focus, such as a profit motive, alongside wanting to be ethical.

Healthy leadership involves serving others ethically and respectfully, even in the face of negativity. A healthy leader remains flexible and open to sensing the incoming future.