HEALTHY LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS INTRODUCTION OF A NEW SEMINAR CONCEPT

Abstract HEALTHY LEADERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS INTRODUCTION OF A NEW SEMINAR CONCEPT Paul Jiménez & Anita Dunkl Institute of Psychology, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, Universitätsplatz 2/ DG, 8010 Graz, Austria paul.jimenez@uni-graz.at; anita.dunkl@uni-graz.at The quality of leadership has a strong effect on well-being and health of both, leaders and employees. In return, healthy leaders and employees can support and strengthen the whole organization and provide an essential input for organizational success. This new concept of Healthy Leadership is a style of human and relationship-oriented leading with its focus on emotional and instrumental support, open communication and possibilities for participation. It implies establishing basic conditions which allow maintaining and/or recovering health and efficiency of leaders and employees. The concept of Healthy Leading was introduced during a series of seminars and workshops within the EU project chance4change in Maribor. The aim of these seminars was to establish an understanding of healthy leadership and to develop a leading style which supports health. The participants got to know the fields of applications and instruments of healthy leadership and got the chance to improve and develop their leadership skills. After the seminar, the participants were able to pass over and furthermore to implement the learned strategies of healthy leading in their organizations, supported by coachings and personal trainings. This disseminator concept helps to integrate the learned topics of the seminar into the working environment, to further enhance the important topic of healthy leadership in organizations. The detailed concept will be discussed in the presentation. Keywords: healthy leadership, disseminator concept, seminar satisfaction, well-being ZDRAVO VODENJE V ORGANIZACIJAH - PREDSTAVITEV NOVEGA KONCEPTA SEMINARJA Paul Jiménez & Anita Dunkl Inštitut za psihologijo, Univerza v Gradcu, Avstrija Povzetek Kakovost vodenja močno vpliva na dobro počutje in zdravje vodilnih in zaposlenih. Po drugi strani zmorejo zdravi vodje in zaposleni podpirati in krepiti vso organizacijo in pomembno prispevati k njenemu uspehu. Naša nova zamisel Zdravo vodenje vsebuje slog vodenja, usmerjen k ljudem in odnosom; osredotoča se na podporo s čustvi in pripomočki, odprtim komuniciranjem in možnostmi za sodelovanje. Zato ustvarja temeljne pogoje, da je mogoče vzdrževati in/ali obnoviti zdravje in učinkovitost vodij in zaposlenih. Zamisel Zdravo vodenje smo predstavili na nizu seminarjev in delavnic v okviru evropskega projekta C4C v Mariboru. Namen seminarjev je bil ustvariti razumevanje zdravega vodenja in razviti stil vodenja, ki podpira zdravje. Udeleženci so spoznali področja uporabe in pripomočke za zdravo vodenja in dobili možnost izboljšati in razviti svoje vodstvene spretnosti. Po seminarju so udeleženci zmogli prenesti na druge in nadalje uporabljati spoznane strategije za zdravo vodenje v svojih organizacijah, kar je dobilo podporo v osebnem svetovanju in usposabljanju. Ta zamisel o širjenju pomaga vgraditi spoznanja s seminarja v delovno okolje, tako dalje utrjevati pomen zdravega vodenja v organizacijah. Podrobnosti bomo prikazali na posvetovanju. Ključne besede: zdravo vodenje, zamisel o širjenju, zadovoljstvo s seminarjem, dobro počutje 1. Introduction

Strain, stress and burnout nowadays these are important topics in economy. Therefore it becomes more and more important to sensitize the public and mobilize people for preventive actions in the fields of psychological, mental and social health. The aim is to develop an alternative technique or program focused on anti-stress and wellbeing in organizations. Especially the relationship between employees and leaders is important. Healthy leadership means an employee-orientated cooperative leading style with a main focus on health. The quality and style of leadership affect well-being and health of both, leaders and employees. Because of this it is necessary to establish basic conditions which allow maintaining and recovering the health of both sides. The focus was to create a seminar for the topic healthy leadership, not only for leaders, but also for employees and for professional advisors, for human resource development trainings and coachings and their implementation into the practice. The aim of this seminar and workshop is to establish an understanding of healthy leadership and to develop a leading style which supports health. The participants will get to know fields of applications and instruments of healthy leadership and the chance to improve and develop their leadership skills. The concept of the training is based on research results, theories and techniques related to healthy leadership in organizations. 1.2 Theoretical Background Experiences of leading- and business culture in a subjective way can have an effect on the health of people. Degener (2004) was able to identify factors of leading- and business culture which reduce the days of absence of employees. He also found that results of benefits, sales and added value can be enhanced by aspects like task identity, quality demand, task diversity, latitude and opportunities for participation. Nahrgang et al. (2011) also showed in their meta-analyses that aspects like independent accomplishing of work, administration of time or independent decision options have a positive effect on the health of employees, by reducing the burnout risk and enhancing engagement. Autonomy and latitude are crucial factors for leading and health. It is possible for employees to take part in decision processes or bring in problem solving suggestions. If there is an information transfer between leader and employee, the participation opportunity is rising, which leads to a growing work satisfaction and aspects like stress or the intention to quit the job are decreasing (Lee et al., 2009). If leaders are recognizing the feelings and emotions of their employees, and if they show that they will support them in a social way, it will have various influences on their health. In the study of Scott (2010) employees reported a decrease of physical disorders, whereas aspects like general well-being and motivation to reach the aims increased. Also, the attention through the leader on work-family-balance can influence the health of employees. Berkman et al. (2010) detected that the consideration of the work-family-balance, through an appreciative behavior (where solutions are found together and employees experience that working and private life are compatible) is also able to improve the health of employees. In principle it is important to choose a salutogenetical access. For leading employees in a relationship oriented manner it is necessary to use an integrated perspective, which means there is the need for working on a physical, mental and social level. Knowledge about procedures, principles and rules in group dynamics is very important if you want to lead in a structured way with clear aims. Another important point is the process of communication. It has to be a frictionless information transfer between all hierarchies. Critic should be given in a constructive way and every employee should receive the same level of leader s interest. In general leaders should be a role model for their employees. A good leader sets the stage for all necessary resources, motivates the employees in the right way, gives everybody the opportunity to participate and supports them in an emotional and instrumental way. But what does a salutogenetical access mean? The salutogenetical model of Antonovsky (1997) is in concordance with different constructs of health development and health maintenance. The main point of the model is the feeling of coherence, which consists of three components. The sense of comprehensibility describes the ability to convert stimuli of the environment and to integrate them into the existing knowledge. The sense of manageability supports the belief of the own competences of problem solving. The third component is according to Antonovsky an important one: the sense of meaningfulness. This component is seen as a motivational aspect. People with a high coherence feeling are able to react to demands in a flexible way. In specific situations they are able to activate adequate resources. Whereas people with a low coherence feeling encounter demands in an inflexible way and develop only few coping strategies. Hence a coherence feeling can be seen as a flexible control model, which activates different coping strategies according to different demands. 1.3 Responsibilities and Duties of leaders It is getting more and more obvious that health is an important outcome of the relationship between leaders and employees. So the duties and responsibilities of leaders are changing in today s economy. According to Zimber (2006) it is possible to differentiate between the functions of a leader in regard to possible protection factors of health. Leaders can take the role of the safety manager or of the resources manager. The work and health protection as responsibility of the leader is defined by law. A leader with the role of the safety manager has a

fiduciary duty for all employees. This can be managed by providing utilities and protective equipment. They have to inform their employees about the occupational safety and have to control the working behavior of all employees. Furthermore, leaders have to be a role model regarding safety and health for their employees. The role of the resource manager provides the basic conditions for a health beneficial way of working. Therefore a leader influences the available social, organizational and personal resources. These are resources like social support, participation, latitude, target orientation and level of motivation. Spieß and Stadler (2007) also defined some behavior rules for a good working healthy leadership. All in all the model consists of four parts. The core of the model is target- and duty-oriented leading, which is in accordance with the common definition of leading. Hence leading is understood as a target-oriented influence, which is a communicative one, with a consistent interaction of organizational structures, the personal characters of the employees and situational aspects of a working day. Thus, an important role of leading is determining aims, every working exercise and working role has to be clearly defined. The second part of the model is leading in an employee-oriented way. Every employee should have the opportunity to participate in different processes and his personal interests should be taken seriously. Aspects of personal freedom also have to be arranged. The third part of the model deals with the configuration of working- and organizational processes. Therefore it is necessary to arrange organizational sequences, working conditions and cooperation. Last but not least it is important, that a health beneficial leading- and business culture is organized, by establishing confidence and health awareness. 2. Basic Concepts in the seminars 2.1 Job-Strain Model (Karasek and Theorell, 1990) This model describes factors in working with the aid of two dimensions. The model shows that mental strain, like time pressure, too much work or conflicting demands can lead to strain and health problems. It also indicates that a high control and decision latitude is able to support health. Mental strain refers to time pressure, quantity of work and inconsistent demands. In general, activities with low decision latitude and high demands are characterized as high strain jobs, whereas activities with high decision latitude and low demands are low strain jobs. Whereas a high decision latitude with simultaneously high strain through challenging activities is connected with a raised learning motivation and a more active free-time behavior. So the model shows that particular activities can lead to stress. How this can happen can be seen in the following model, which is described below. 2.2 Recovery-Stress-Balance Model (Jimenéz & Kallus, 2010) The recovery stress state depends on stress and recovery processes which take place more or less regularly in the course of a few days or nights. The interaction between stress and recovery is based on homeostatic processes. If individual resources are taxed by a task and the situational context of that task and opportunities to recovery follow, the individual is moved in a fitness loop and the equilibrium is in balance. The recovery-stress-state is optimized continuously and stress offers no negative consequences. Experiencing high stress without having sufficient recovery (insufficient, omitted or disturbed recovery) can lead to an imbalanced general psychophysical state and the individual can become exhausted. Negative coping and post stress rumination enhance the risk of under recovery. This imbalance will cause negative consequences, such as physical symptoms, fatigue, performance decrements, lower well-being and a decreased adaptability to further stress. If this process is repeated constantly, emotional and motivational changes as well as health impairments can be assumed. The balance shifts and this results in an increased risk for burnout (Kallus und Uhlig, 2001, S.368; Jiménez & Kallus, 2009). Figure 1 shows the model. A possible result of a dysbalanced recovery-stress state is burnout (s.a. Jiménez, 2011). The Recovery-Stress-Balance is a resource oriented model. Active engagement contributes substantially to the balance even if the recovery-stress state is influenced by personality, constitution, experience and initial state.

Figure 1: Dysfunctional Recovery-Stress-Balance (Kallus und Uhlig, 2001, S. 368, Jiménez und Kallus, 2010) 2.3 EDEM Engagement-Demotivation Model (Jimenéz, 2004) Another important topic in today s working and leading environment is motivation, demotivation and engagement. How can we stop demotivation and which strategies lead to an enhancement of motivation and engagement? The EDEM (Engagement Demotivation Model) by Jimenez (2004) deals with these important questions. The model shows that people with low engagement and high demotivation come to a withdrawal experience, so it is possible that they cancel their jobs internally. Employees with high demotivation and high engagement can experience problems in their working environment as well. These people have a higher risk for burnout. Figure 2: EDEM, Engagement-Demotivations-Konzept (Jiménez, 2004) 2.4 (Self-) Esteem (Semmer, Jacobshagen & Laurenz, 2006) Another concept for motivation and engagement problems is discussed in the following model. Threats to the concept of self is seen as the main point of stress experiences. This can be e.g. the evaluation of the own person, for example through disappointment of the performance. The concept is called stress as offence to self (SOS, Semmer, Jacobshagen, & Meier, 2006), especially caused by experienced stress through insufficiency (SIN). This stress can be caused also through disrespect of other persons, which is called Stress as Disrespect (SAD). Stress as Insufficiency is caused through the relation between success / disappointment and health-experience. Stress as disrespect is dealing with a lack of estimation, which is caused through disrespect and dispraise through other persons. This kind of disrespect can be seen in a direct or indirect way. The perceived illegitimacy can predict the situational feelings. Illegitimate responsibilities can be seen as a stress source. Such illegitimate stressors can have

strong consequences. It was shown that persons with a lot of tasks, which they feel as illegitimate to their job description, manifest a lot of psychosomatic disorders. Furthermore there is a positive relationship between dysfunctional social support and social stressors whereas continued appreciation has a positive effect on work satisfaction. 3. Seminar concept The concept of the program disseminator concept which was developed for the EU Project chance4change consists of different modules: 1. Seminars and Workshops: Employees, managers and trade union representatives will be educated with seminars and workshops on Healthy Leadership 2. Disseminator Concept: With the knowledge of the Seminars the participants will then further educate members in their working environment (e.g. working colleagues, employees) about the seminar topics 3. Coachings and Personal Trainings: Coachings and personal trainings for own development will help the participants/disseminators to pass over their conquered knowledge The disseminator concept is a new and innovative approach that helps integrating the learned topics of the seminars and workshops into the working environment. On this way healthy leading can be further enhanced in organizations. 4. Conclusion Healthy Leadership should not be seen as an own independent leading style or leading theory. Healthy leadership can be seen as a clear position or attitude. Therefore it is necessary to work not only on one level. Here we propose the bio-psycho-social concept. This is reflected by the different parts which are part of the seminars. Stress and recovery should be in balance, results are seen on the biological and also on the psychological level. The main role of the leader is seen often as the one who sets targets and rates the results. Especially in the stressrecovery model it is important to see that leaders have to look on feedback, i.e. whether the follower understands the tasks he/she has to do. This is one of the main points of the seminar: Leader and follower have to listen to each other. The old typical roles of leaders have to be changed into new and interactive roles. Not very new is the aspect of engagement and demotivation. Leaders can allow engagement and therefore have to see their important role in that case. Also they learn how quick it can happen that people are discouraged and then change into a state of withdrawal. Allowing engagement means allowing to grow into competencies with one s own abilities. In line with that is the aspect of appreciation. If a leader sees a good result that does not mean that employees feel a praise of that. Sometimes leaders have to be pointed to appraisal and appreciation in a very strong manner. In many companies the topic appreciation is often disregarded and unnoticed, but it can have a great effect not only for employees, but also for the whole company. An additional important point in leading is the part of reflection. Reflecting the own results is important for leaders, to learn about their performance and to work on improving it. We know from many sources that leaders need support and wish to learn. Seminars like this present concepts, which are also helpful in praxis and help on the base of theories. Leaders will learn about healthy leadership and get the chance to develop a leading style which supports health. Through the seminar they learn about instruments and applications of healthy leadership and have the chance to improve and develop their leadership skills. References 1. Antonvsky, A. (1997). Salutogenese. Zur Entmystifizierung der Gesundheit.dgvt-Verlag:Tübingen. 2. Berkman, L.F. & Okechukwu, C. (2010). Manager practice related to work-family balance predict employee cardiovascular risk and sleep duration in extended care setting. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, Vol.15, No.3, 316-329. 3. Degener, M. (2004). Unternehmenserfolg und soziale Verantwortung. Unternehmenskultur und Human Resource Management und deren Einfluss auf den ökonomischen Erfolg und das subjektive Erleben der Beschäftigten. Frankfurt/Main: Verlag Peter Lang. 4. Jiménez, P. (2004). Engagement und Demotivation bei Polizeibeamten - Vergleich öffentlicher Dienst mit anderen Berufen [Involvement and Demotivation at police officers A Comparison of Public Service and Other Professions]. Polizei & Wissenschaft, 2, 24-33. 5. Jiménez, P., Kallus, K. W. (2010). Analysis of Resources and Strain at Work. The Recovery-Stress- Questionnaire for Work (RESTQ-Work). Versions for screening, organizational and individual Recovery- Strain-Analysis. 27th International Conference of Applied Psychology, Melbourne.

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