Self-care for leaders

Leaders play a key role in preventing and reducing work-related stress and are expected to be role models for ‘healthy’ behaviour. This is a major responsibility, especially if you are struggling to maintain your own work-life balance and protect your own wellbeing.

What you can realistically achieve may feel constrained by the need to manage teams with large caseloads or having day-to-day responsibility for the functioning of an entire service. At the time of writing, leaders are required to navigate their organisations through considerable uncertainty that will compound the existing pressures of the job. Although the health and social care sectors tend to have a more positive approach to stress, mental health and wellbeing, you might work within an organisational culture that stigmatises (albeit unconsciously) stress and help-seeking, encourages long working hours and presenteeism, and overlooks the adverse implications for the wellbeing and performance of its workforce.

Protecting your own wellbeing will be challenging under such conditions; but if you are not able to take care of yourself, then you will not be able to support your team. Remember, the strategies in this app apply to you as much as to your team or workforce.

Self-care is not a luxury for leaders of health and social care organisations but a core competency, and it is essential for survival. So, it is crucial that you develop your own ‘toolbox’ of strategies to sustain your resilience and make sure you are as compassionate towards yourself as you are to others.

The self-care audit is designed to help you identify the strategies that you use to support your wellbeing and the extent to which they are effective.  An action plan to help you set short-term and longer-term goals is also included.  Some specific guidance is:

• Prioritise Sleep: Ensure you get 7-9 hours of quality sleep every night. Create a sleep-friendly environment, establish a consistent bedtime routine, and avoid screens before bedtime to improve the quality of your rest.

• Set boundaries: Successful leaders understand the importance of setting boundaries. Establish clear and defined boundaries between your professional and personal life. Allocate specific hours for work and, outside these times, disconnect from all work-related activities including checking emails, sending and responding to texts, or taking work phone calls. Protect your personal time to recharge and make meaningful connections with your loved ones.

• Practice mindfulness: Integrate mindfulness practices into your daily routine. Meditation, deep breathing exercises, and mindfulness apps can help you manage stress, enhance focus, increase self-awareness, and enhance work performance. Only a few minutes of mindfulness each day can yield significant benefits. Quick Win on mindfulness.

• Take regular exercise: Physical activity can significantly reduce stress and elevate mood. You do not need to go to the gym, find a form of exercise you enjoy, whether it is jogging, practicing yoga, or dancing, and make it a regular part of your weekly schedule. Exercise not only benefits your physical health but also enhances your mental well-being.

• Delegate and collaborate: Do not try to bear the entire burden of leadership alone. By effectively delegating responsibilities, you not only alleviate your own workload but also empower team members to learn and develop.

• Remember that self-care is not a luxury; it is a necessity, especially for leaders