Self-Care as a manager

As a manager and leader, you and your self-care are the most important things to be focussing on. Get this part wrong and everything will break. And yet from observing many managers and my own personal experiences, this becomes the last thing managers focus in on.

It seems strange to think that as pressure, demands or needs across the team rise we actually stop focussing on us. We think that the best thing to be doing as a manager is not think about us and focus on the team. This would be true in a work setting but not when it comes to our physical and mental health. In those areas we must put ourselves first.

When you travel on an airplane and they run through the safety briefing, they always mention that should oxygen masks drop, put yours on first before helping other people. The same principle applies to you as a manager, you are no good to your team if you aren’t taking care of yourself.

By not focussing on you initially then:

• You won’t be able to make good decisions

• You’ll be bringing those thoughts to the workplace and team

• The team will notice this and pick up bad habits

• Disengaged team and difficult to motivate

I am a big believer in bringing your true self to work, but when you are a manager this changes. You need to start thinking about the big picture and your team. Does being disorganised and not in the right state of mind really bring out the best in the team?

Challenges

I have experienced first hand the challenges of not being in the right space of mind and the impact this has within your team. At one point I struggled with burnout but carried working through it, I assumed having had a new born baby with a lot of sleep deprivation, this was the culprit. It wasn’t until everything broke that I realised I was burnt out from many years of delivering without stopping, always onto the next project or goal to continue progressing.

The biggest impact was having a high performing team that shifted to a low performing team. What I saw was:

• High attrition

• Low engagement scores

• Missed deadlines

• Poor team dynamics

This wasn’t great results for the person leading the people function…

What I saw was that by stopping with my own self-care and (trying) to focus on others, by doing what I thought was expected of. I was actually doing more damage to the team and myself.

Tips for self-care

To help you navigate this yourself, you need to make sure that you know you. Understand your breaking points, where and what things de-energise you.

Knowing this will be really helpful, to go with that think about the following aspects to consider too:

• Blocking time in your calendar for you time; be really clear with everyone and set the boundaries well

• Do things that energise you (this could be going for a walk, reading a book etc)

• Get time with friends or family, worth bringing them on the journey of helping or supporting when stress levels are highest.

• Go for a coffee; escaping the office or desk is proven to help with clearing your mind but also helping with problem solving tasks.

• Get help if you need it, in today’s world there is a perception that asking for help is a negative / failure thing. This is not, demonstrating that you need help or guidance somewhere shows a desire to learn.

• Get regular times to do a self check-in. This could be writing a journal or in an app. Assess your stress levels, how are they? Where do you need additional support and guidance?

• When things are becoming a little too much get professional help. Seek out a coach, mentor or counsellor that can help you navigate as well as ensure that you don’t shift to burnout.

• Get active. Moving releases endorphins into your body which gives you a positive feeling and a motivational boost.

• Make sure you are getting enough sleep. Today we seem to focus heavily on working as much as possible with limited amount of sleep. Yet lack of sleep is the biggest killer in the world. If you want more insights on sleep worth spending some time reading this book: Why we sleep

The most important part of self-care is ensuring you are personally tracking this, spending time understanding you as an individual will help you long term with the managing and leading teams. Too many people overlook this part of the role as a manager and spend too much time on their team or managing upwards.

To be the most effective manager you need to be investing in you, that starts with looking at your own self-care.

Action for this week

For this week maybe try one of the following:

• Journaling

• Getting some exercise, even a walk will do you wonders

• Setting boundaries

Until next week

If you have enjoyed this newsletter on self care you may well enjoy the following free items:

1. Free Mini-course: First Time Manager Guide

2. Come and join a Manager Training Bootcamp