In this article we will explore the psychological health of a team, what is it and who's responsible for it?
A healthy team is important to reach the organizational objectives and achieve success. The impact
of good team work has been well researched over the years. Collaboration will be important for those
in the service industry to provide their customers with their services. To accomplish this the leaders of
the organization must consider how the psychological health of the team will impact their ability to
perform. A teams psychological health is a reference often used by psychologist in the industrial and
organizational field to describe the 'safety net' surrounding the employees' ability to feel safe, or to be
able to provide their opinion freely without a fear of retaliation or consequences associated with
upsetting their leaders or other team members. A psychological healthy team will get through
adversity, as any team would face, with resiliency.
Resilience is the ability to overcome adversity (Tonkin, et al). It’s crucial for the success of an organization that leaders create a work environment that fosters resiliency to promote workplace psychological health and safety. Leaders can build resiliency in their staff by identifying resources to reduce the risk of psychological harm. Leaders promote resiliency by engaging staff in meaningful contributions to their team (Grothaus, 2004) and in reducing the psychological hazards that may affect them. Psychological hazards refer to the environmental conditions in which a person works (Sanaz, et al).
Resilient employees often approach changes with positivity (Tonkin, et al) and are more adaptive. In a world where changes are inevitable, we need to instill in the employees the ability to adapt to those changes. Employees who struggle with adapting to new ways often experience anxiety and stress, negatively affecting their psychological health. On the other hand, resilient employees experience lower psychological stress (Tonkin, et al). Employees may experience good stress, which can be beneficial leading them to think positive (Pandey, Schulz, & Camp, 2018). On the contrary, bad stress can be manifested with physical ailments.
Experiencing high levels of stress at work due to an unhealthy work environment can affect the psychological health of an employee, causing physical complaints of; sleep disorders, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, and respiratory problems (Sanaz, et al). These physiological symptoms can be indicative of a toxic work environment, and costs organizations thousands of dollars in sick time reducing productivity as well (Pandey, Schulz, & Camp, 2018). Moreover, a negative work environment affects job satisfaction. Sanaz, et al found a direct link between job satisfaction and employee health (2015). Job satisfaction is an individual’s attitude toward a job (Sanaz, et al) dependent on the expectations of that person for the position.
Creating a healthy work environment that protects the psychological health of an individual starts with the job design and employee selection process (Sanaz, et al). Adding the wrong person to your team can cause problems leading to reduced employee morale. A good job description includes the skills, qualifications and behaviors require to succeed at the job (Doyle, 2019). A simple competency test during the employee selection process can help determine if the candidate can do the job, but can they bring value to the team?
The interview process is a good opportunity to get a feel for the individual’s chemistry and to learn if the candidate fits the qualifications of the job and the team (Doyle, 2019). To find out if the candidate’s attitude and chemistry fits the team, it’s important to include a few members of the team in the interview panel. This way the employees are engaged in the decision-making process, and the candidate also gets a chance to determine the type of team atmosphere and decide if that’s one they want to be part of. Instinct may matter to some hiring managers at this point, however there are scientific ways to go about selecting the right candidate (Doyle, 2019). Hiring the wrong candidate can be costly for an organization and can negatively affect the organizational culture. Therefore, it’s important to hire someone that can bring value to the team. In order to avoid any legal repercussions, the employees who take part in the interview process must be trained in what’s appropriate to ask during an interview and what’s not. They should also be guided as to the clues to look for to determine if the candidate truly possesses the skills needed for the job. Employee engagement allows for improved productivity and positively affects their psychological health by increasing their optimism and confidence.
Leaders play a key role in the psychological health of their staff (Walsh, & Arnold, 2014). Transformational leaders have the most positive impact (Walsh, & Arnold, 2014) as they provide their staff with inspirational motivation. In addition, to inspiring, leaders have an influence on the staff they lead. A supervisor’s support for a new strategy affects the employee's perceptions and propensity in engaging (Pandey, Schulz, & Camp, 2018) with the new workflow or system. In other words, the employee’s likelihood of support for a change decreased when the supervisor was known to have disagreed with it. Another effective leadership style that can help employees deal with stress is servant leadership. Servant leadership is leading by serving (Grothaus, 2004). Regardless of leadership style, to avoid stress related concerns among staff, leaders can teach them the skills necessary to adapt. Deliberate psychological education (DPE) model (Grothaus, 2004) has proven effective in teaching adapting skills to adolescents in a constantly changing atmosphere. Adapting skills can include, communicating empathy, appreciation for the cultural differences, increasing self-awareness and self-esteem, and empowering decision making. This model involves a counselor or adult who serves as an instructor who mentors the person and teaches them skills that may improve their outcome.
Destructive leadership can be the cause of bankruptcy, teams losing, armies being defeated and countries suffering from poverty among other things. A toxic leader will lead an organization to live the negative consequences of bad leadership (Throroughgood, et al). Therefore, it’s important to provide training for employees and supervisors to create a culture of psychological safety. The psychological safety of an organization is the responsibility of the leaders, the followers and the environment (Throroughgood, et al). Employers must take responsibility for creating and maintaining a psychological safe environment by empowering followers to report or address anything that may affect the organizational culture. To avoid these counterproductive behaviors the organization should monitor their leaders and address those who are providing destructive leadership.
Workplace bullying is a rather new concept employers are being forced to deal with. Bullying is a continuous mistreatment from others in the workplace that causes emotional and/or physical damage (Duffy, 2009). It leaves the victim feeling helpless and defend less. The intention and duration of it, can even constitute abuse. For employers it’s presenting a serious issue as it’s creating opportunities for a hostile environment that affects productivity and opening the doors for legal consequences. Experts advise against ignoring accusations and instead for leaders to create a policy that makes clear there will be zero tolerance of any forms of bullying. There are several forms of bullying. Spreading rumors about someone, hurtful comments, and pranks, or intimidating someone can all be considered instances of bullying (Duffy, 2009). Training for the staff on what constitute bullying and how to stand up to the bully, by reporting the incident to the senior team. A system of safely reporting the events of bullying is crucial as often the leaders are not aware of a bullying situation until the damage is done (Duffy, 2009). The consequences in case of a violation of the policy should be widely known across the organization. It’s imperative to create a culture that protects the employees from bullying. Bullying is the cause of high turnovers in organizations of all industries and of decreased work performance (Duffy, 2009).
In conclusion, the responsibility of creating a safe work environment falls on the shoulders of the leaders of the organization. Creating a team of resilient staff, it’s important to help the team adapt to new situations, or changes. Resilient staff have a better outcome in overcoming stressful situations. High levels of stress can cause an employee to experience physiological symptoms such as; stomach aches, headaches, and gastrointestinal symptoms among others. A healthy work environment is one free of sexual harassment and bullying. Leaders need to enforce their policies against these phenomenon's which have the potential costing an organization a lot of money. Organizations have a responsibility of providing staff with the resources they need to maintain psychological health.
Duffy, M. (2009). Preventing workplace mobbing and bullying with effective organizational consultation, policies, and legislation. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 61(3), 242–262. https://doi-org.proxy1.ncu.edu/10.1037/a0016578
Sanaz, A., Khadijah, S., Syaqirah, A., & Golnaz, A. (2015). The Relationship between Job Satisfaction and Psychological/Physical Health among Malaysian Working Women. The Malaysian Journal of Medical Sciences 22(4) 40-46.
Thoroughgood, C. N., Sawyer, K. B., Padilla, A., & Lunsford, L. (2018). Destructive Leadership: A Critique of Leader-Centric Perspectives and Toward a More Holistic Definition. Journal of Business Ethics, 151(3), 627–649. https://doi-org.proxy1.ncu.edu/10.1007/s10551-016-3257-9
Walsh, M., Dupré, K., & Arnold, K. A. (2014). Processes through which transformational leaders affect employee psychological health. Zeitschrift Für Personalforschung, 28(1/2), 162–172. https://doi-org.proxy1.ncu.edu/10.1688/ZfP-2014-01-Walsh
