28.05.2024

Line managers – the glue that holds a team together

By Magdalena Jablonska El-Aasar, HR director, Corps Security

In the world of hybrid working where we are losing a sense of connection and relationship building as conversation decreases, the relationship between the employer and employee is ever more important. And line managers play a pivotal role.

Line managers are the glue that hold a team together. But not all individuals are suited to managerial roles. Line management isn’t just about getting the day job right. It is about having the soft skills and awareness to care for fellow team members. At the recent Watercooler event, Carole Spiers, leader at The International Stress Management Association, stated that managers should “have IQ prowess, their technical skill set and reason for their promotion, but they also need EQ - emotional intelligence". EQ requires empathy, caring, support, sharing, and being there for someone. Especially as one in six workers in the UK suffers from poor mental wellbeing.

Spiers went on to highlight that it is unreasonable to expect managers to learn people management skills on the job without it being at the expense of their colleagues. Line managers should be adequately trained so they are armed with the soft skills to truly lead a team. This is something that was particularly thrust under the spotlight during the pandemic. Managers had to expand their care from professional, to personal.

Giving all levels of management a 'sense of purpose' to care for their teams is essential to increasing employee engagement and resilience. Managers must prioritise human connections, emotional support, and effective communication to create healthy workplace cultures and drive productivity. This includes active listening, understanding the impact of language, and fostering supportive relationships within teams to provide greater foundations to be able to detect when team members might be struggling. People may suffer in silence with hybrid working, while people that are lone workers or work shifts at unsociable hours, like security officers, may feel isolated.

In the security industry, addressing the effects of poor mental wellbeing needs to remain a primary focus for leaders. In 2020, the University of Portsmouth found that nearly 40% of UK security officers surveyed had symptoms of PTSD or other mental health illnesses.

Our managers at Corps are trained to be attentive to the tell-tale signs of someone struggling and how to offer support. Mental health and well-being training is mandatory for all colleagues. This training teaches colleagues about the main signs and symptoms related to mental health and the effects of poor mental health, and offers tips for managers about how to address a colleague who suffers from mental health issues. Already having a good relationship with team members makes this far easier.

We use signposting cards from SecurityMindsMatter, which include QR codes and resources for officers and colleagues to access online support for their mental health. We have created our own mental health continuum, developed from the Ambulance Service’s work. The continuum allows individuals, and line managers, to identify where someone is on the mental health spectrum. Once determined, they can use the guide to source advice and support. We have also committed to a selection of pledges to address our sector's ongoing mental health impact - something that needs to be an industry wide commitment.

In light of the recent Mental Health Awareness Week, we are keen for mental health resources to be shared far and wide. If you would like signposting cards or the continuum, please visit SecurityMindsMatter.

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