Managing Employees with Anxiety: Using Radical Candor to Overcome Difficult Conversations in the Workplace

If you or someone you know has anxiety, you probably already know that pursuing a straightforward answer to the question of best to manage employees who are open about their own anxiety is tricky. As workplace leaders, it’s vital that we remember that while we’re not mental health experts, we do have the ability to navigate these kinds of difficult conversations with compassion, unique insight, and– radical candor.

Recently in Leadology’s DMs, we received a thoughtful question: “How do you manage an employee who has been open about their anxiety?” 

To offer a bit more guidance on the topic of employee mental health, we consulted Sarah Savella, Executive Coach and Founder of the Savella Group to weigh in. She states, “There is a balance between showing up with empathy for the whole person and knowing that [a manager’s] primary goal is to keep the team functioning and effective.” 

Add this to your reading list: “Why empathy in leadership matters”

What is Radical Candor, and what place does it have in difficult conversations?

When it comes to having difficult conversations with employees with anxiety, Sarah notes that while it's important to care deeply about your employees, it's equally as important to set expectations and hold the team accountable to them.”

What Sarah brings to the table is the concept of Radical Candor, the idea that managers care about their employees and the people they work with while also being willing to challenge them, and this commitment to building workplace relationships is authenticity in action. 

As a management strategy, it also has the evidence to back it up: a recent survey from Gallup of 10,000 people in non-leadership roles found that what employees value most in a leader are trust and compassion, some of the primary tenets of emotional intelligence. So, as managers, approaching anxiety with Radical Candor can ultimately change the way mental health is navigated amongst your team and organization at large, paving the path for healthier, happier employees (yes, even employees with anxiety!). 

Preparing for a difficult conversation? Combine “Radical Candor” with Leadology’s top management tips:

Now that we understand the idea of Radical Candor, how do we go about implementing it in our management strategy, especially when it comes to caring for employees with anxiety? Let’s dive in: 

• Start with empathy

  All of the empathy skills that we’ve picked up from our favorite thought leader Brené Brown are going to serve us in this area of management. Between perspective-taking, avoiding judgment, and intuitively recognizing others’ emotions, practices in empathy are critical to offering the appropriate kind of support that your employee may be needing. Instead of immediately trying to troubleshoot or “solve” their issues, simply start by thanking them for sharing their struggles with you.

• Discover their unique needs

  When it comes to anxiety and other mental-health related issues, know that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. In order to really hear the needs of your employee, try discussing the anxiety and its implications further to learn what is uniquely important for them in this moment. 

• Proactively discuss accountability  

  Once you’ve learned that an employee periodically experiences anxiety, don’t wait for them to be stuck in the messy middle of a particularly anxious time, especially when they may be underperforming. Get ahead and proactively ask them what accountability looks like for them. For instance: how do they like to receive feedback? What motivates them? If they make a mistake, what’s the most productive way for them to receive that feedback? Once you’ve established clear expectations for an employee who is prone to struggling with anxiety, you can accommodate their needs while still holding them accountable to their responsibilities.

What if radical candor doesn’t work, or conversations still feel difficult?

As mentioned, offering this kind of employee care has no universal approach. While there are certainly strategies we can implement to overcome difficult conversations once we learn about an employee with anxiety, there are simply going to be times when you may have to partner with HR to co-create a way forward that will meet the needs of both the person and the work simultaneously.

But regardless of the way forward, it is vital that leaders possess the emotional intelligence required to guide their employees through these difficulties.

At Leadology, we’ve had the privilege of helping leaders worldwide develop these skills in order to positively influence the way mental health is approached in their teams and across their organizations. In fact, comprehensive programs like Activate are already preparing managers to approach employee care and accountability with a newfound confidence. Whether you or your employees need to learn how to utilize influential communication strategies in your small business, learning outcomes always include how to empower managers to lead more compassionately than ever before while still maintaining high standards of productivity in the workplace.

Ready to prioritize empathy and productivity in your organization? Schedule a strategy call with us to learn more about how Activate is equipping small business leaders with the resources to effectively empathize, listen, and find a way forward for their employees.