Want a high performing team in 2024: Mental health is the key

YuLife SA’s Co-founder and MD Jaco Oosthuizen witth Nomndeni Mdakhi, CEO and founder of Agenda Women Brand and Co and Erik Kruger, a renowned author and keynote speaker.

Erik Kruger

Nomndeni Mdakhi

YuLife webinar shows how high performing teams are not born they’re built

Any organisation that wants to thrive needs to build high performing teams. Research by Mercer shows that high-performing HR teams align their work with the business’s goals more often (66% of the time) than low-performing teams (only 16% of the time).

A recent YuLife webinar titled “Building a High Performing Team: The Importance of Mental Health” highlighted how essential employee wellbeing is for driving productivity, innovation, and overall company success.

YuLife SA’s Co-founder and MD Jaco Oosthuizen was keen on emphasising the importance of wellbeing on workplace performance, “We’re seeing time and time again that caring about your staff’s mental health and overall wellness is one of the best business decisions you can make. We know it significantly boosts talent retention, but it also positively impacts productivity and performance.”

Oosthuizen was joined by Nomndeni Mdakhi, CEO and founder of Agenda Women Brand and Co, and Erik Kruger, a renowned author and keynote speaker. During the webinar they engaged with the audience on several matters that touched on issues affecting their performance and mental health.

From the webinar, it was found that these are some of the ways that employers can create environments where high performing teams can thrive:

Create a supportive culture

Building a supportive culture starts from the top. Leaders that actively display the right values and promote and participate in wellbeing initiatives get the most buy-in from their staff. “When leaders actively commit to mental health, it sets a powerful example for the rest of the team,” said Kruger.

Psychological safety is crucial:

Creating a workplace where employees feel safe to express their ideas, ask questions, and admit mistakes without fear of punishment is essential for high performance. Psychological safety encourages open communication and innovation. Kruger explained, “Teams that foster psychological safety see higher levels of creativity and collaboration, as employees feel empowered to contribute fully without the fear of negative consequences.”

Encourage work-life balance

Promoting a healthy work-life balance is another critical factor. It can often be incredibly difficult to juggle the demands of one’s home and work life. This is especially true for women who often find themselves bearing the brunt of the domestic labour load as well. Flexible working hours and remote work options can help employees manage their work and personal life more effectively. “Striking the right work life balance can be one of the hardest things to do. Prioritising a healthy work life balance instead of pushing yourself until burnout is really one of the best things you can do for the overall happiness of your teams and organisational productivity,” explained Mdakhi. 

Easy access to mental health resources

Unfortunately, there can often still be some stigma attached to seeking mental health services. By providing easy access to it, organisations demonstrate that their employees have nothing to fear by using them. Almost everywhere it has been used, YuLife’s gamified wellness app has been shown to be incredibly effective at getting employees engaged in an organisation’s wellness initiatives.

“We like to think that preventing a problem is better than solving one and our app is designed to help employees effectively manage their wellness before it becomes a problem. The platform has a wide range of solutions to help employees show up as their best selves,” said Oosthuizen.

Turning your team into high performers does not have to be difficult. By simply taking care of their wellbeing and ensuring that they’re in the right state to succeed, you can build a powerfully motivated workforce. For more insights on how to do this, visit the Yulife website or watch the webinar on Vimeo under YuLife or access it here: https://vimeo.com/990455521.