Am I Managing?

Brave, tough and vulnerable

Our regular columnist Natalie Barker, Head of Transformation at Southern Cross Health Insurance, shares how she prioritises the wellbeing of herself, her team and the business.

One of my team split up with her partner over the summer break. Understandably, she was feeling a bit fragile when she came back to work. Someone else is supporting a family member through mental health challenges; she values the flexibility to be there when she’s needed. Another person is enjoying the last few weeks with his kids at home before they start university at the other end of the country. Someone else has just finished a lengthy kitchen renovation; her new fridge is a thing of beauty. Yet another has just put his house on the market.

I can go days without talking about work in team meetings and one to ones. I’m slightly nervous to admit that, but sometimes what’s top of mind for my team isn’t their job but the other things going on in their lives. How they’re feeling, what they’re thinking and what they’re needing right now can be more important to recognise than the work we have in front of us. In this new world of COVID, remote working and general uncertainty, more and more I’m prioritising checking in on their wellbeing over their work in progress.

I’m lucky to have a talented, motivated team of people who don’t really need me too involved in their work; they do their jobs well without me being directly involved day to day. I’m also fortunate to belong to an organisation that strives to empower and enable people to operate with autonomy, but, even so, COVID has affected what leadership looks like for me and my team.

At Southern Cross Health Insurance, the theme of our most recent employee business update was ‘our wellbeing’. We talked about mental wellbeing, career development and building strong social connections. We talked about how we’re performing against our strategic targets, and we also talked about pressures in our operating model, collaboration, and the value of making time for learning and development.

To me, that agenda was a metaphor for leadership today: equal parts focused on our own personal wellbeing, the wellbeing of our teams and the wellbeing of our business.

In my opinion, the role of leadership got harder over the past couple of years. It’s no longer enough to create a strong team culture and help your people to do a great job.

With the same number of hours per week, leaders nowadays are coach, counsellor, adviser and friend. They need to be brave and tough and vulnerable, all at the same time. They plan ahead but act in the now because the future can’t be predicted. They care for their customers and the success of their business; they make time for themselves and their whānau, and still give their all to their people. They do as much as they can personally and know when it’s appropriate to help their people access professional support.

I’m not going to apologise for not talking enough about work at work. I’m going to keep giving time to what’s most important for my team. I’m going to prioritise personal connection and wellbeing, knowing without that, they can’t be expected to look after their own teams or the wellbeing of our business.

Natalie Barker is Head of Transformation at Southern Cross Health Insurance. She has been leading people for 15 years and believes that leveraging people’s strengths and passions is the best way to drive engagement and get stuff done.