Helping your Manager Support You

As we settle into our Corona trenches, staying productive and mentally balanced at work has been hard. In our concurrent economic, social, mental and physical health crises, managers have been placed in the role of corporate mental health first responders. Our well-being weighs heavily on their shoulders. Below are suggestions about how to get support from them--and in doing so, support them, too.

Educate and provide feedback on a specific situation: Useful if specific actions your manager or someone else is taking is negatively impacting your mental health.

·        “Here’s what I saw happen…” Explain what happened.

·        “I understand you…” Show how you understand the other’s perspective.

·        “Here’s the impact on me…” State the impact and how it made you feel.

·        “I’d love if next time we ….” Propose what the two of you could do differently.

Articulate a need: Useful if something is lacking in the work environment that's holding you back.

·        “I need _______ to feel ______.” [e.g., I need positive reinforcement to feel motivated.]

·        “When I don’t have ______, I ______________.” [e.g., When I don’t have positive reinforcement and I only receive constructive feedback, I begin to feel deflated and question if I’m doing a good job.”

·        “I can work in this by _______.” [Insert action I can take to improve my situation.]

·        “I’d love if you could help by ________.” [Insert action the manager can take to improve the situation.]

Express feelings: Generally useful when there is nothing specific to be changed, but rather you want to articulate how you're feeling overall.

·        “I wanted to use this time to share how things have been going for me this week and how I've been feeling. I'd appreciate it if we could create a space where I go through everything that's on my mind and how it's making me feel before we dive into solutions or what we can do to make things better."

·        “Here are a few things that have been weighing on me that are on my plate/mind and how I'm feeling about them:  #1 .... 2..... 3.....” This can be filled in with anything from a big project on your plate to a personal situation, such as “I'm struggling on my project and feeling overwhelmed... My parent is very ill and I've been trying to be emotionally and physically supportive which is taking a toll on me, so I'm feeling less energized at work.”