Managers as Multipliers of Organizational Resilience

When it comes to building lasting organizational resilience, every employee has a role to play. It starts with leadership buy-in. But to scale resilience across an entire workforce, manager enablement is essential. 

Organizational resilience isn’t just about how your teams respond to a crisis (although that’s important, too). It also shows up in the small, everyday behaviors and interactions that managers are uniquely positioned to observe and influence.

Managers don’t need to be clinicians or mental health experts to support employee well-being. But they do need to know how to spot early signs of distress, escalate concerns, and foster a culture of psychological safety. By empowering managers with these skills, you can ensure that all employees have the resources they need to proactively care for their mental health. 

Managers as the Multiplier of Team Resilience

Managers are your leadership’s “eyes and ears” into what’s happening in your workplace. So they’re often the first point of contact when someone needs help. In those critical moments, managers are expected to support employee well-being, but they may lack training and confidence. They might worry about saying the wrong thing and making the situation worse. Or they might be unaware of existing resources or where to turn for help. These knowledge gaps can increase risk for organizations and prevent employees from accessing critical mental health care. 

Fortunately, by taking a proactive approach, you can give your managers the tools and skills they need to intervene appropriately (while also safeguarding their own mental health). By prioritizing manager training and enablement, you can streamline access to employee support when it matters most.

What Managers Notice First: Early Signals of Stress

Early detection and intervention are key to promoting mentally healthy workplaces. Because if managers know how to identify early signs of stress, they can intervene before problems escalate. Let’s review an example of what this might look like in real life. 

Imagine that you have a long-standing employee who’s known for their positive demeanor. They arrive on time without fail, rarely miss a shift, and most of their colleagues say they’re a joy to work with. 

Lately, though, some things have changed. 

The employee has missed several days of work over the past few weeks. They’ve also been uncharacteristically rude to their coworkers, and their appearance has been disheveled. In other words, they just don’t seem like themselves, but no one is sure why. Their manager may notice that something is amiss. But if they aren’t trained on how to help, they might not take action, and the employee may continue to struggle without support. 

As an HR leader, you can help prevent this outcome by giving managers the guidance and resources they need to respond compassionately and appropriately to difficult situations. This means making sure that all managers have consistent access to:

• Communication skills training so that they can respond empathically to sensitive issues 
• Clear expectations and protocols for escalation so that they feel confident enough to take action
• Detailed information on available mental health resources and how to help an employee access them

The Everyday Behaviors That Build Resilient Teams

Like other long-term goals, building organizational resilience isn’t something that happens all at once. It comes from small, intentional changes designed to increase psychological safety and well-being at work. 

Modeling help-seeking and making mental health a part of everyday conversations and 1:1s can go a long way in building resilient teams. And at Modern Health, we’re here to provide managers with the support they need to turn that vision into a reality with resources like:

• Individual leadership coaching to increase self-awareness and communication and stress management skills
• Live or asynchronous trainings on healthy workplace boundaries, conflict resolution, creating sustainable workloads, crisis response, etc.
• Practical tools like topic-specific one-pagers, templates for difficult conversations, and structured walk-throughs on talking to teams

Why Managers Need Support, Not Just Expectations

If a manager’s mental health is suffering, their ability to help employees is limited. Without adequate support and clear expectations, they are at increased risk of burnout and compassion fatigue. 

Resilient organizations offer comprehensive mental health solutions that can adapt to the needs of each employee, including managers. For example, with Modern Health, managers get access to an extensive library of digital resources on topics like:

• Overcoming burnout as a leader
• Supporting your team through organizational change
• Navigating performance season stress
• Increasing work-life balance
• Tackling imposter syndrome
• Open enrollment and workforce changes
• Becoming an emotionally intelligent leader

How HR Can Equip Managers at Scale

To build resilience at scale, managers need to be trained to respond to challenges before they happen. For example, let’s say that annual review season is coming. To navigate these potentially difficult conversations effectively, managers need proactive supports such as:

• Skill-building and training on high-stakes conversations and de-escalation
• Enablement tools that make it easier to guide employees to the right care for their needs
• Resources to maintain their own mental health in stressful seasons (coaching, therapy, mindfulness training, etc.) 

Turning Manager Enablement Into an Organizational Advantage

With today’s near-constant crisis cycle, the rise of dispersed teams, and evolving employee expectations, the world of work is undergoing massive change. HR leaders can’t always prevent stress or upheaval from impacting their workforce. But by increasing manager enablement, they can build more resilient teams. 

Giving managers proactive tools and resources can help boost their skills and confidence. So when an employee mental health concern inevitably occurs, they can address it before it escalates. By modeling help-seeking, talking openly (but sensitively) about mental health, and prioritizing psychological safety, managers can help employees feel seen, valued, and cared for.

Increasing organizational resilience has a distinctly human benefit. With the right support, managers can help their teams weather uncertainty, bounce back from challenges, and adapt to change. But resilience also yields a significant ROI for organizations, especially amid uncertainty. 

Organizations that invest in manager enablement and employee mental health see earlier intervention, stronger engagement, and more sustainable performance across teams. Workforce resilience can also be a powerful lever for cost containment and preventing turnover. A recent Gallup poll found that 21% of people who quit their jobs in the last year may have stayed in their role if they had had more positive interactions with their manager.

Building Resilience Through Leadership, Not Mandates

When your organization is ready to reap the benefits of workforce resilience, Modern Health is here to help. Our offerings don’t just “train” managers—they also support them as human beings dealing with stress, complexity, and change. Our adaptive, science-backed mental health benefits are built to meet the diverse needs of today’s global workforce. 

Whether it’s dealing with a crisis, navigating a sensitive conversation, or knowing how to make a referral for outside services, Modern Health brings the training and tools managers need to increase resilience on their teams. Through live workshops, leadership coaching, manager-focused peer support and learning opportunities, your managers can become confident advocates for mental well‑being across your organization.