Supportive Leadership Program

3 ½ hour Zoom or face to face course.

Suitable for current & emerging leaders in SA Health

Workshop aims

This workshop is aimed at current & emerging leaders in SA Health to develop positive leadership behaviours and assist staff to develop emotional wellness & resilience in their work environment. The intent of any leadership training is to effect change in the behaviour of the leader. These behavioural changes will then positively influence the behaviours of employees. The overall impact of leadership training is seeing more of the behaviour you want from everybody, increased productivity and engagement (wanting to be at work) and more positive respectful interactions between staff (workplace civility).

“By changing leadership behaviours and showing more supportive leadership skills we can improve mental wellbeing and psychological fitness for work leading to improved performance”

Learning outcomes for managers participating in the program are to

  • Understand their role in creating a psychologically healthy workplace.
  • Understand the leadership behaviours that influence staff behaviour and emotions.
  • Understand what positive behaviours they are currently displaying and which ones they need to develop, and develop a plan to address this.
  • Practice behaviours that will potentially change staff behaviour and engagement at work.
  • Take actions to improve the emotional wellness of their staff.

Supportive leadership aims to

  • Designing “good work “that is achievable.
  • Ensuring workers are clear on what they are doing, what they are expected to achieve and have the skills to be able to do the work.
  • Getting to know each worker, checking in with them personally and understanding what motivates them and what hinders them at work.
  • Allowing staff to get to know the leader, being sociable and personally accessible.
  • The leader doing what they say they will and taking responsibility for their actions.
  • The leader playing a key role in buffering workers from unrealistic work expectations from the public or political sphere. This will involve helping workers to plan their workload and stopping additional work if needed.
  • Leaders recognising their own emotions and how these manifest in behaviour. Poorly managed emotions can lead to increased stress for staff.
  • Leaders taking ultimate responsibility for resolving conflict and poor performance (even if outsourced to experts). Avoidance of these issues increases worker stress.
  • Providing the right resources to the job.
  • Talking about mental health and being aware that mental health and personal issues outside of work can be related to performance issues at work.