Resilience and Well-being in Workplace Leadership

Lucy Brogden emphasizes the importance of resilience and well-being for leaders, advocating for proactive support and resourcefulness in the workplace.

### Building Resilient Workplaces: Strategies for Leaders
* 🌱 "The well-being of the people is to be the **highest law**." This philosophy should inform professional work and guide **decision-making in the workplace**.
* 🌡 Encapsulating well-being along a continuum from **well to unwell** helps individuals and organizations understand **where they are and how they can improve**.
* 🌏 Mapping the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to well-being provides a framework for considering the factors that contribute to **individual and community well-being**.
* 🧠 Psychological resilience, the ability to **bounce back from challenges**, can be enhanced by leveraging **internal and external resources**.
* 🏢 Good job and work design is crucial for creating mentally healthy workplaces and supporting **individual resilience**.
* 💼 "Work is fundamental to **well-being and good mental health**." Organizations play a key role in **promoting and maintaining the well-being of their employees**.
* 👥 As leaders, it's important to care for oneself and others, and to **proactively reach out to those who may be struggling**.

hi, my name is Lucy Brogden. I'm a proud alumni of the University of New South Wales with a Bachelor of Commerce. But I think my role here today is really talking about resilience for leaders in the context of well-being. And I do that with a Masters of Organizational Psychology, but also experience as a Mental Health Commissioner and Chair of the Mental Health Commission for about eight years. And Chair of the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance. Today, I'm on corporate boards and not-for-profit boards, really focused on the care sector and the well-being sector. I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands where I am today, the Eora Nation at the University of New South Wales. And also acknowledge that you are all on many different lands across this country. And in the context of the topic that we have before us, resilience and well-being and resourcefulness, acknowledge particularly the deep understanding that our Nations people have when it comes to social and emotional well-being. The image on the slide is developed by Pat Dudon.

Professor Pat Dudgeon from Western Australia and colleagues to really try and capture what social and emotional well-being is all about. And it's focused on connections to ancestry, country, culture, community, and law. And I truly believe that when we look at this and understand it, there's so much for us in mainstream Australia to learn from the first nation's people when it comes to our well-being. So today I want to talk a little bit about the background to the notion of resilience in the context of well-being and look at that from an organizational perspective and an individual perspective much later in my own working life than I realized or I'm proud to admit. I realized that as much as we need knowledge, skills, and abilities to do our job, it's really important that we find a philosophy to inform our professional work. And I came across a philosophy or an a state when I was doing my Master's research on mood disorder in lawyers and looking at things like the Justinian principles.

going way back in history and Cicero said this: Salus populi suprema lex esto - the well-being of the people is to be the highest law. And that became my North Star, or you might say my Southern Cross. And I put that at the top page of all the work that I do. And I do that saying: Is the work that I'm doing protecting, promoting, enhancing the well-being of people? Is it benign? Could I be doing harm? And I think asking ourselves that question in our professional settings, particularly, really helps us make good decisions about the people that we are there to look after and lead. I think it's helpful to encapsulate well-being along a continuum: well, coping, struggling, to unwell. When we're well, we know we've got the resources, we know that little setbacks, disagreements with people, etc., we can get through those. And we just bounce along. When we're coping, we might know that, you know, that fight really did upset us, that disappointment has hurt us, but we've got a little plan: make a cup of coffee, go

for a walk, and then we're feeling better. When we're struggling, we might need that a little bit more help. We might need help from others to really see a path forward into the future, to lift ourselves out of that funk that we find ourselves in. But sadly, when we're particularly unwell, we probably need a lot more help from others. And so we look at that Continuum. One of the things I'd like to talk about in the context of the well-being Continuum is that we really have an opportunity to keep ourselves down at that more positive end. That we can be coping, we can avoid the hospitalization, the Intensive medical model that we can see in the Continuum change the focus from inevitable to preventable. Make good choices about our lifestyle, eat well, sleep well, get exercise, have good social supports, and the trajectory can look very different. So I challenge you to change your focus and think about being preventable and treatable and people making a full recovery. How do we conceive of that?

Lancer commission produced a really groovy little chart that I will be sharing with you today. And it looks at the sustainable development goals and maps them to a concept of well-being. Most of us in business are familiar with the SDGs and how they work to our business, but have we thought about them in the context of well-being? And here we see them mapped. And they're mapped to look at both proximal and distal factors. And I would argue that they can be looked at in terms of community thinking, organizational thinking, and even individual thinking. We know that we need to feel safe and secure to feel good. We know that we need good accommodation. We know that we need equity. We know that we need a whole raft of issues covered by the SDGs for our own individual well-being. And so this little map really helps us to think through what it is that we're doing in our industry and work that might play into the well-being of our people, but also the well-being of the community. Wouldn't be a psychology.

discussion if we didn't bring Freud into the equation, and he said love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness, and how true is that, and as much as we can talk love for a long time, we're here to talk a little bit more about work. This next chart came from the UK and the work of Carrie Cooper and others about 10-15 years ago where they tried to map the concept of mental health as mental capital. I think for people in business, this might be a frame that really resonates. Here on the chart, we're going to focus on adulthood and all the issues that play into us as adults in our journey that may impact our ability to perform at our best and support others. The next chart goes into that in a little bit more detail, and here we can see that there are a range of pressures that we face before we even get to work as adults. We're entering significant relationships or perhaps leaving significant relationships. We might be becoming parents for the first time. We might be supporting older

relatives. We might be that sandwich generation where we're managing the elderly and our kids. We might be experiencing chronic illness for the first time, a whole raft of pressures that have nothing to do with our professional careers and work, all piling on top of one another. And that doesn't mean they're bad, just means there's a cumulative impact. On top of that, we're in the workplace and we've got a whole stack of issues at work that are going to impact our capacity to be resilient and strong. So, we've got a number of lifestyle issues that we're dealing with as adults before we even go to work. And the reality is we spend the majority of our waking hours at work. Work can be an incredibly supportive place for us, and it can be a place where we can participate in recovery. We actually know as an asy that the number one protective factor for suicide prevention is to have a job. So, work is fundamental to well-being and good mental health, but it's good work that's good for you, not

just any work and good work will take into account the design of the work, the environment in which we work, the people we work with, the demands of the job, the resources that we have to do the job. All these things will make or break us in that workplace setting, and so it's important that as Leaders, we are thinking about how it is that we're expecting people to work. So let's look at the organizational level. The organization is so important. The Corporate Mental Health Alliance of Australia, of which I'm proud to be a board member, is really focused on bringing together companies across Australia that are committed to creating mentally healthy workplaces. And why is this so important? We know that 22% of Australians are likely to experience mental ill health in a 12-month period. So that means that every workplace in Australia will be touched by people that are maybe struggling or unwell at any given time. We know that since Co, we've seen a 39% increase in people taking more than four days off work.

attributing that to their mental ill health, and particularly importantly from a business perspective, without ignoring the human perspective, is that we know that mental ill health is costing our economy about $39 billion a year. If we think about the opportunity cost of that money, the hospitals we could build, the schools we could build, where we could be more productive, the opportunities are endless. And so it's really important for Australia, for companies and organizations, and for individuals, that we keep the human factor close but we address the opportunities to really provide better workplaces. And that's what we're going to talk about. The University of New South Wales and the Black Dog Institute did a really important piece of work for the National Mental Health Commission a number of years ago, really looking at what it is that workplaces need to address if we are going to create resilient workers and workplaces. And this still holds true today. When I first started speaking publicly on this topic, I used to say it was beyond yoga and fruit bowls, and here you can see that so the

University of New South Wales and Black Dog Institute's discussion paper or literature review highlighted six key areas that workplaces need to focus on. The ogre and fruit bowls don't pop up anywhere. What does pop up is strong job and work design, promoting help-seeking and early intervention, building resilience, organizational and individual supporting recovery, reducing stigma. A number of important issues, but today we're going to focus on the resilience question. I often say when discussing resilience that I don't like the idea of resilience training because often what we see in organizations is people being asked to do resilience training to overcome toxic or dysfunctional elements of their job or task. How about we invest in smarter job and work design? Now, I do put a caveat on that to say that for first responders and some key roles, you do need an element of an important element of individual resilience to cope with the incredibly distressing situations that you see. But generally speaking, let's start at job and work design first.

so resilience what are we talking about. If you go into Google Scholar and being here in an academic FR Paradigm, I thought I'd better start at Google Scholar rather than just Google. There's nearly five million articles and topics around the resilience question, but psychological resilience is a little bit different to the broader resilience definition. Resilience comes from a Latin word and basically means to come back to form. It emerged initially from mathematics and physics, things that I don't really understand about coming back to form when you stress various materials. Same sort of holds true in a psychological sense. How do we essentially bounce back? There's a really interesting little comment I found in the Harvard Business review that said that we generally don't realize how resilient we are till after the fact. And that's why I want to bring in the concept of resourcefulness in our discussion today. Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels, said everything old is new again. And so here we go on a history journey, but it's a journey that will bring us to

the present time, many organizations like to actually ask their employees what it is they think they need to be engaged and participate in the workplace. We've all done engagement surveys. Well, I just want to challenge that concept of why they're so ubiquitous. Elton Mayo was a great Australian polymath. He came from Adelaide and ended up at Harvard, and some of you may have heard of his work. He did the Hawthorne studies. And as another little interesting sidebar, those studies were carried out at Cicero in Illinois. And you may remember that I started with a quote from Cicero. So there's a neat little link there for the Nerds like myself. But in the Hawthorne studies that um Elton Mayo undertook, he asked employees in the factory what were the three things they really needed to be good workers. And they said they needed their health, something interesting to do, and connection to family. So I do ask myself quite often why a 100 years later we are still asking employees the exact same question.

and perhaps expecting a different answer when I suspect that the answer is exactly the same as it was a 100 years ago in Cicero, Illinois. Having said that, there is incredible complexity in the environments that we are operating in, and this little Network map really shows all the issues that leaders are trying to grapple with in the human capital space. The Me Too movement, Co-regulatory change, you know, when I started talking about these issues, we had very little regulation and now today it's actually a requirement to provide a psychologically safe workplace right across the country. So, that network of noise really makes this challenging. We can't oversimplify the issues and I recognize that, but the challenge is, if we think about good job and work design, how do we do that? And here we come to another everything old again statement, but Frederick Herzberg said, If you want to get a good job done, give someone a good job to do. And too often we find ourselves in a role that we signed up for and then doing things that don't

even look like that role. We're not actually giving people good work. So, how do we do good work? Work design and Hazard management are now inextricably Linked In Our regulatory environment and Carlo capania from the University of New South Wales here has done some incredible work in this space and working with sa work New South Wales and other regulators and other employers to look at the elements of good job and work design and Hazard management and bring the two together. When we're thinking about job and work design, where do we start? I say we start at 8 hour sleep and often then we can build to the other things but sleep is so fundamental to our well-being then we look at the resources that we need to do the job, the environment that we do need to do the job, the tasks we're asking people to do, and the people around us, and we build that picture together. So, I would recommend having a look at Carlo's work and the resources that are available to you as you perhaps are embarking on this.

journey for the first time or need some refresher. So one of the lessons that um I'm often asked or or the insights that people seek from me is what has Co taught us in this space because it really was a big shift in terms of the way a number of Australians worked. And I think it's important that we qualify that add a number because actually when we have these high flu conversations about job and work design and flexibility, particularly we're often focused on Professional Services. And I'd just like to remind people that flexible um work and particularly work from home is a very privileged opportunity and actually very few Australian workers get that opportunity to have the choice of doing their job from home. You know top of mind is obviously Frontline workers, but there are many people that don't have the the luxury of flexibility. There may be some Flex in their tasks, but let's think about the holistic Workforce when we have these conversations. But I do think that what we've seen from Co is that this is the time to seize.

opportunities around occupational health and safety, as well as leveraging all sorts of issues that are going on for people at the moment. How do we provide flexible work not just for something like Co, but the natural disasters that our workers might be encountering when I can't get to work because of the flood or the fire, and then how do I support people on that return Journey when they've been dealing with loss of home or real fear and anxiety. So I challenge people to use Co as the continuing Journey on looking at ways of working and productivity into the future because we are only going to be hit by more complexity not less. If you are looking for help in this space and guidance again, I mentioned before the Corporate Mental Health Alliance, and on this slide, we can see a number of members of that organization. Now, this was brought together by Steve Warl, the CEO at Microsoft, with a real mission to bring together some of our biggest corporates to share in an open-source environment their learnings around mentally healthy workplaces.

so it's actually quite novel. We are allowed to have coals and woolies in the same room together. That is very unusual. For those of you that know competition law and together, they are sharing what they know works and doesn't work. So, if this is an area of interest for you to participate or find resources, have a look at the Corporate Mental Health Alliance website. You may want to join. You may just want to have a look at what's available, but it's really a great and growing resource for Australian business. Now, we talk about the individual because we're leaders, and we can't be good leaders if we're not strong, healthy leaders. So, what is it that we can do? And this is where I talk about resourcefulness. Resourcefulness is our ability to effectively use our internal personal resources and external social resources to creatively and effectively solve problems and navigate the challenges before us, making the most of available resources and adapting to new situations. As leaders, I like to think that we are also carers, and I identify as a carer. I care.

for my husband who has sign significant mental health issues. We have to care for our people. We can't just manage them. We need to care, and that's how we build that resilient workplace and that safe workplace. The golden rule of being a carer is self-care first. So, it's important that if you want to be that resilient, resourceful leader, that you are caring for yourself. You are getting the sleep you need. You are eating well. You're relaxing. You are allowing time for family, all the important things that we know that go into well-being. Now, that's really TR and easy to say in the complexity that we all deal with, but I really challenge you to think about the golden rule of being a carer or leader is your own self-care. One of the things we talk about often in society when it comes to mental health and well-being is that conversation that says if only they'd reached out, if only they'd said something. Well, I want to flip that question and say who should be doing the

reaching out because I actually think it's those of us that are traveling well that should reach out, not be expecting those that are struggling or not coping to reach out. And so I challenge you to actually think about being the emotional mirror to a friend, a colleague, a loved one. This can be the greatest gift you actually give someone, instead of standing by the water cooler or in the kitchen bemoaning the fact that someone is not as engaged as they once were, missing deadlines when they were always so reliable, a little bit more irritable, not performing for whatever reason, seemingly out of the office a lot. Don't talk about them behind their back, offer them a gift of being an emotional mirror. Actually say to them, I noticed the change in you. I notice that you're a bit irritable. I notice you've missed deadlines and I'm concerned. I imagine there might be something going on for you. I feel that together we might be able to fix this or at least fix part of it and I'm here for you because what we know with

people, particularly suffering mood disorders, is that actually their own self-awareness is the first thing to go. So, they may be struggling, they may be feeling awful, they may be really aware that they're not performing at the same level, but actually, they can't put words to that, they can't bring that up to actually reach out. So actually, reach to them, be the mirror and notice that, and then if collectively we start to be there and provide that social support and create the safe space for each other in a workplace, we then create a resilient environment for resilient individuals to thrive. Thank you.

Learn to Lead 2024 | Mental Health and Resourcefulness with Lucy Brogden AM

Our second channel for the UNSW Sydney community, focussing on studying, campus life and the success of our graduates.

UNSW CRICOS Provider Code: 00098G ABN: 57 195 873 179

UNSW Community

Resilience and Well-being: An Organizational Perspective

Lucy Brogden, a University of New South Wales alum, discusses the importance of resilience and well-being, drawing from her experience as a Mental Health Commissioner.

She emphasizes the need for a philosophy that prioritizes the well-being of people in professional settings.

Brogden also highlights the continuum of well-being, encouraging individuals to make lifestyle choices that can prevent and treat mental health struggles.

Mapping Sustainable Development Goals to Well-being: A Business Perspective

A groovy chart by Lancer Commission maps the SDGs to well-being, considering proximal and distal factors for community, organizational, and individual well-being.

The concept emphasizes the importance of good accommodation, equity, and various SDG issues for personal well-being.

The chart also highlights the significant pressures that adults face, both in their personal lives and in the workplace, emphasizing the crucial role of good work in supporting well-being and mental health.

The Corporate Mental Health Alliance of Australia is focused on creating mentally healthy workplaces, considering the increasing impact of mental ill health on the workforce.

The Economic Impact of Mental Ill Health in Australia

Mental ill health costs the Australian economy around $39 billion annually, impacting productivity and potential growth.

The University of New South Wales and the Black Dog Institute identified six key areas for workplaces to focus on in order to create resilient workers and environments, with a focus on job and work design.

The concept of psychological resilience, defined as the ability to bounce back, is crucial in the discussion, along with the recognition of resourcefulness in coping with mental health challenges.

The Persistence of Employee Engagement Surveys

Elton Mayo's Hawthorne studies from 100 years ago found that employees need health, interesting work, and family connection, raising the question of why we are still asking the same question today.

The modern workplace is complex, with leaders facing various challenges in the human capital space, such as regulatory changes and the Me Too movement.

Good job and work design, as well as hazard management, are now closely linked in the regulatory environment, with a focus on starting with 8 hours of sleep and then addressing other job-related factors.

Carlo Capania's work at the University of New South Wales provides valuable resources for those looking to improve job design and management.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Work and Workforce in Australia

COVID-19 has significantly shifted the way Australians work, with a focus on the privileged opportunity of flexible work, especially work from home.

The pandemic has highlighted the need to provide flexible work options for all workers, not just during COVID-19, but also during natural disasters and other challenges.

The Corporate Mental Health Alliance, initiated by the CEO of Microsoft, is a valuable open-source resource for promoting mentally healthy workplaces in Australia.

The Golden Rule of Caring for Others with Mental Health Issues

Self-care is essential for being a resilient and resourceful leader or carer, including getting enough sleep, eating well, and making time for relaxation and family.

Instead of waiting for those struggling with mental health to reach out, the responsibility falls on those who are doing well to offer support and be an emotional mirror to their loved ones, friends, or colleagues.

Creating a safe and supportive environment in the workplace, and reaching out to those who are struggling, can help build resilience and improve the well-being of individuals dealing with mental health issues.