1. How to support mental health through leadership

• The presence of a supervisor is an important resource for employees. The feeling of a supervisor being present strengthens employees' sense of appreciation, relevance of the work and group cohesion. 
• The feeling of presence of a supervisor can also be realized in brief encounters where the employee feels that they have been heard and understood. Remote leadership can also be good leadership. Correspondingly, the supervisor's constant physical presence does not guarantee that the employees feel that they have been heard and that they are supported in their work.
• Non-verbal interaction is also important. Supportive interaction conveys a sense of appreciation, acceptance and solution orientation as well as interest in the thoughts and feelings of the other.
• Presence is not (only) a matter of personality, it also needs a structure. Set aside unallocated time on your calendar for being present and interaction. Accept the employees' different ways of interaction and different needs regarding the amount of interaction.
• Ask the employees what kind of support and presence they need. For example, you can mark times when you are available on a calendar that can be seen by everyone.

• Manage your own work. If the work of a supervisor is chaotic, this easily trickles down in the organization. Make a work plan but be prepared to update it.
• Ask what the employees view as their core tasks and discuss how they are related to the operations of the entire organization. These discussions can be held during performance appraisals and joint meetings, for example. Whenever the operating environment changes, discuss the change together.
• Identify any potential obstacles for performing core tasks and ask employees about them. By your decisions, try to enable the employees’ focusing on core tasks. Work with employees to find solutions to remove obstacles.
• Through discussion, ensure that each employee knows the limits of their role and responsibilities. Ambiguity over roles and responsibilities can easily lead to confusion. It may also evoke a feeling that someone else is doing something that one feels is their duty. Uncertainty creates unnecessary mental stress.
• Tell your employees what you expect from them. If an employee does not know what is expected of them, it consumes their resources. Employees must be able to assess whether they have done enough and what is expected of them.
• Try to identify time management problems with the employees. Find ways of making prioritization easier, making unplanned work visible, limiting interruptions and making it easier to focus.
• Make it possible to participate in work-related decision-making. Employees are experts in their own work and the opportunity to participate in decision-making strengthens the feeling that they are in control of their work. Studies show that increased power over decisions does not always increase well-being, however: It may increase ambiguity over responsibilities. If you can decide on goals, can you also decide on resources? Goals for which the necessary resources are not available are burdensome. It is also worth noting that different employees' ability and desire for self-direction vary.

• Impartiality can be challenging. Supervisors can make errors and different situations can be complicated. However, try to make decisions on the basis of objective and accurate information. The experience of unfairness is a strong feeling, which, if prolonged, is a risk factor for depression, for example. Decisions are considered to be fair when the reasons are understandable and known. It is also a good idea to go over the decision-making criteria together.
• Treat everyone according to the same principles. It is not necessarily fair that all employees have the same practices, for example, the same working time arrangements, but that the decision-making criteria for each employee are the same and understandable.
  From the perspective of fairness, it is important that decisions are not dependent on personal characteristics, such as how likeable or “easy” the employee is from the supervisor’s perspective.
• Some procedures and basic rules can be decided in the work unit. For organization-wide practices, supervisors can take suggestions for improvement provided by the work unit to the forums where the matter can be taken further.
• Change failed or misinformed decisions, if needed. Changing a decision upon reasonable grounds strengthens the employees’ experience of fairness.
• Even if you, as a supervisor, have done everything in your power to promote fairness, it is possible that some employees feel that they have been treated unfairly. It is important for the employee to feel that their concerns have been heard and the matter can be discussed. Encourage discussion: What feels unfair about this?

• A situation in which the employee constantly feels that they are making a disproportionate effort in relation to the rewards easily leads to exhaustion. In addition to money, rewards can also be given as, for example, respect and a stable employment relationship.

• Highlight successes. Appreciate efforts. Every employee, regardless of their work experience, needs feedback. Young people and those who are beginning their careers particularly need positive feedback in order to strengthen their professional identity.

• Make your unit's work visible with an appreciative way of speaking within and outside the organization. As a supervisor, you are an important representative of the work and employees of your unit.

• Strengthen the feedback culture by initiating and maintaining an open dialogue. Presenting reasoned opinions should not be intimidating or risky for the employees. With your own example, you can show that honest conversation is possible.

• You can also promote giving feedback between employees by creating situations where it is safe to give and receive feedback and the basic rules are agreed.
  Give feedback also on situations where an attempt has led to a failure. Assist in finding new routes.

• When providing corrective feedback to employees, also look at the framework in which the employee does their job: resources, competence and supervisor support.

• Be a model of appreciative and respectful speech and attitude.

• As a supervisor, you will also receive feedback and some of it will be critical. Receiving critical feedback can be difficult and may feel offensive. Be open to all types of support available and actively seek support in handling and utilizing any negative feedback you receive. Being the subject of evaluation is part of being a supervisor - but it is about the role of a supervisor, not about you as a person.

• As a supervisor, you can promote the experience of the meaningfulness and relevance of work by initiating and maintaining an open dialogue:

  What makes work in our field important and meaningful?

  For what purpose does this work community exist?

• What are we trying to achieve together, what are we trying to accomplish?
• How do the interaction situations and co-operative relationships of the work community, challenges and frictions, successes and experiences of work engagement relate to the content, fluidity and meaningfulness of joint activities?
• Be interested in the values of employees. Maintain a dialogue and be prepared to consider whether the content of the work can be modified to be in more  line with the employee's goals and values that are considered important while taking into account the goals of the organization.

References: Schaupp ym. Yhteinen muutos. Työterveyslaitos. Helsinki 2013.