What is the relationship between leadership and fitness for work?

During your working life you will encounter situations where someone is (partially) unfit for work. This can be due to medical causes, but also perhaps personal problems or lack of motivation. We also know that in about 50% of cases where people call in sick, the employee is in two minds about doing so. What is it that makes one employee decide to actually stay home and another employee to go into work after all? The following factors are involved: work that makes the employee feel better, nice colleagues and a supportive manager.

This means that you as a manager have an important key in your hands that you can use for issues of absenteeism and fitness for work. You can provide support yourself, but you can also influence the atmosphere (a psychologically safe work environment), how employees deal with each other and the work a person does. In addition, you can also encourage enthusiasm and ownership among your employees by the way that you manage, in other words: your leadership.

A huge amount of scientific research has been carried out into leadership and leadership styles. Mensely subscribes to Covey's theory of effective personal leadership and believes in situational leadership, combined with positive psychology. In daily practice (to summarise rapidly) this means that you as a manager work on reaching constructive work agreements with your employees. You do this by asking what they need and facilitating that. By starting from what someone is able to do and emphasising that. By encouraging employees to take control for themselves and take ownership. And by setting a good example of all this yourself. Whether you are talking about being able to work well, to develop yourself, to recover, to reintegrate or to remain motivated.

All these terms sound kind of complicated. How do you do this as a manager, while also having plenty of work of your own to get through as well? It is really very simple. "What do you need?" is a question that you as a manager can ask an employee in almost any situation. Imagine that someone has just lost a loved one. "What do you need?" is a totally legitimate, but also very kind question at that precise moment. Equally, in the case where one employee has a conflict with another colleague or even with you as a manager. Or if someone is threatened by burnout or is recovering from it.

By asking this question, you let your colleague know that you want to support them. At the same time, it puts the ball in the employee's court and makes them responsible for their own fitness for work or recovery.

There are some preconditions that must be met before you can ask this question:

• Listening to the answer and doing something about it, is essential. Otherwise you can only ask once, after that it becomes meaningless.
• There must be enough safety in your organisation/team to be honest and as manager you must have enough trust to allow your employee the autonomy and space to do what is necessary.
• In the case of absences, all those involved support the process, meaning the managers and the company doctor, and HR or other intervention experts.

That is a good question, which is best answered by your own employees. Many managers reached their position because they are very competent with the skills of their profession, and got promoted. This does not mean by definition that they have adequate knowledge and skills in the areas of leading of a team, and motivating, inspiring and facilitating employees.

A good leader acknowledges this, and looks for support, in whatever form is available. Leadership training courses, brainstorming, a mentor, advisor or coach, the options are endless. Dare to take an honest look at yourself and also ask yourself the question "What do I need?"