Lead with Compassion - Mental Health

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Leadership is challenging because leaders are required to manage a diverse team of individuals using consistent methods. When it comes to managing employees, consistency is king. However, at the same time, we don’t always know what our individual people are going through. Maybe someone on your team is having a serious physical health issue, or a mental health issue, or an addiction issue or a family issue? Maybe they are going through a divorce? Maybe they are having financial struggles because they are paying for a parent who needs nursing care? The list of personal problems that can affect employment performance is long and supervisors are not privy to employees’ personal information. Leaders can “fly blind” as to the root-cause of employee performance issues however, this fact cannot prevent us from managing employee performance.

When employees start acting like imperfect human beings instead of perfectly robotic machines, things can get really messy. In this multi-part series, we explore real-life examples of these messy situations and some good approaches for navigating them. We ask; How can we be strong leaders and still be good human beings? This article focuses on the leadership of individuals with mental health issues.

A Case Study: Dan Plum

Dan Plum* was an entry-level employee in a plant that I managed. Dan was a great guy. Despite a long commute, he as on-time to work everyday. Dan had great energy, his attitude was positive and he worked hard for us every day. I really enjoyed talking with Dan when I was on the production floor. His positivity was contagious.

However, one day, Dan walked into my office and said that “I want to tell you my personal story and that it will take several hours to tell it.” He said that “I wanted to kill six people….” (YIKES!!!)

Although Dan was rambling-on, he was not acting violently or even scaring me. He was actually telling me all of this with a very calm demeanor. Regardless of his calm demeanor however, this conversation was extremely alarming to me. Dan rambled-on and pulled out a notebook to continue the conversation. He looked at his notebook and went on to say that I was was on his ‘friend list’ but there was a group of people (not company employees) that he want to kill... (MORE YIKES!!!)

As Dan was talking, I asked a supervisor who was passing-by my office to please get Mary*, our HR Manager. Mary came into my office, and I was able to bring her into the conversation. After a few minutes of listening, Mary left to call the police, and the police came in and took Dan to the local police station.

What was the issue? How did Dan go from “great guy” to talking about murdering people? Well, what I didn’t know before-hand was that Dan was a mental health patient. As we were talking that day, he told me that he stopped taking his medication because he didn’t like the way it made him feel. I deduced that his medicine kept him mentally stable. Later the police confirmed this assumption. Going off his meds did in fact make Dan mentally unstable.

Our HR department pursued a series of actions, including terminating Dan and obtaining restraining orders. There was an arraignment at the courthouse a few days later. At the courthouse before the arraignment, the police told us that they couldn’t keep Dan in jail based on this one situation. Then 30-minutes later, while Mary and I were sitting in a waiting room, a policeman walked in and told us that Dan requested help. Dan agreed to 3 months in a psychiatric care hospital. This made me happy for Dan. He was getting help! On the way out of the courthouse, I saw Dan, shook his hand, and wished him well.

I haven’t been in touch with Dan since that day. I still like Dan as a person. I occasionally think about him and wonder how he is doing. He is a nice guy and I wish him well. I am saddened about his disability but very happy that he agreed to get help that day.

Case Study: Leadership Summary

Being a Strong Leader: Dan’s behavior was not tolerated. He made threats and was immediately terminated. We protected our other employees by taking quick and appropriate action. Our documentation of the conversation and events was very thorough. From a company perspective, we acted as strong leaders and protected the company and its employees.

Being Compassionate: Our leadership team cared about Dan as a person and by taking appropriate action, Dan was able to get the professional help that he needed. A weaker leadership response may have resulted in a far worse outcome for Dan. For example, maybe Dan would have actually committed a violent act and be sentenced to prison. Or maybe he would have become homeless because his mental illness? There were many potential outcomes, but the good news for Dan is that he was able to get the professional help that he needed and it was because the leadership team at this plant took the appropriate actions.

Throughout my 35-year leadership career I’ve come to realize that good leadership always yields what is in the best interest of the company, the employees as a group and the employees as individuals. Managing an employees with a mental illness is no different. It is possible to be a strong leader and to be a compassionate leader - both at the same time.

Recognize however that being a compassionate leader takes much wisdom and energy. It is easy to be an uncaring manager and to always make the textbook decision - decisions that ignore the needs of the individual. And it is also wrong to be overly sympathetic to an employee, in which case you may fail to represent the best interest of the company.

Spending personal energy to find a means to accomplish win-win outcomes is no-doubt exhausting. But it is also the right thing to do. I think that someone who doesn't take the time to do both, isn't a leader at all. So be a leader and find that balance in every messy situation. Do what is right for the company and the employee. It rarely needs to be an either/or outcome.