Management Competencies for Health and Wellbeing

A growing body of research demonstrates the impact of management behavior on a range of individual and organizational health and wellbeing outcomes; however, efforts to train and develop managers often fall short. This chapter focuses on research to identify competencies–or the collection of skills, abilities, and knowledge–required by managers to promote, protect, maintain, and support the health and wellbeing of employees. A number of specific competency frameworks are presented: for preventing and reducing work stress, enhancing engagement, managing remote workers, and supporting return to work following sickness absence. Research examining the development of management competencies is shared and the implications of new approaches to management such as compassionate leadership and mindfulness are considered. Finally, learnings from interventions to develop management competencies for health and wellbeing are discussed. This chapter aims to provide practical insights into how we can develop managers so that they can better support their teams. We argue that if we are to equip managers to manage the health and wellbeing of others, we must not only raise awareness of health and wellbeing but also support the development of the key skills, ability, and knowledge to take action. In doing so, managing health and wellbeing is not a separate activity on top of managing performance but rather becomes an integral part of the management practices.