The business world as we know it today is a complex one. Gone are the days of 9-5 office hours, or the ability to capture audiences' attention with a simple campaign and a catchy tagline. With the rise of technology and social media, businesses are dealing with more and more complexity in all areas of business — making it harder and harder to truly build a high-performing team. And with this rise in technology and shift in work culture, a whole new complexity has been added to the mix: Mental health. We brought together industry experts, experienced entrepreneurs and passionate leaders in our latest webinar, Building a High-Performing Team: The Importance of Mental Health. Hosted by keynote speaker, author and facilitator Erik Kruger, this discussion featured YuLife SAs Co-Founder and MD, Jaco Oosthuizen and entrepreneur and business owner, Nomndeni Mdakhi.We dove deep into their experiences in this shifting world, and their expert tips on how they’ve built top-performing teams — and how you can too. Watch the full webinar here.The link between mental health and high-performance“I never thought I had mental health issues,” says Jaco. “I was a keen mountain biker, and then I was attacked and almost killed — the only thing I got from the company at that stage was one session with a counsellor. I didn’t even know about post-traumatic stress disorder.”South Africa is among one of the least mentally healthy countries on the map, but most companies don’t know how to deal with it.In fact, 1 in 4 people in SA are experiencing depression — and 80% continue to work as normal despite it. South Africa is currently rated one of the "least happy and most distressed" countries today, making it even more of a challenge for companies to build high-performing teams. After all, research from Mercer shows that high-performing HR teams can align their work with the business goals more often (66% of the time) than low-performing teams (only 16% of the time).Additionally, poor mental health that goes unaddressed is estimated to cost the SA economy R161 million annually in lost working days, and an estimated R200 million in presenteeism. But businesses simply don’t know how to deal with it. So what can businesses do to create a space where mental health is prioritised, and teams can operate at their best? 1. Make sure your team culture and values are alignedYou might think this is a basic step — but so many workplaces miss the mark.“I’ve been in companies where we had all these lovely values and mission statements, but no one lives them,” begins Jaco. “They’re lovely, you walk into the office and you see them all over. But do the leadership actually, firstly, believe in them, do they live them, and does that filter through the whole company?” Lived values, clear direction and a sense of belonging for each employee are vital elements to building a top-performing team. All the while, most organisations are just doing the bare minimum and applying values as a tick-box exercise. But if you’re looking to step up your game in this department, Erik Kruger shared some simple actionable tips for high-performance teams during our conversation: I) Improving the team environment “I always think that there are 3 big levers we can pull,” begins Erik. “The first one is the team environment.” Your team environment encompasses much more than the physical space your team is in. It’s important to consider what kind of involvement and relationships your employees have with one another. What’s the orientation of those relationships? Are they on the same page or varying? Is there anyone in that team environment making it a one-person show, or are they all collaborating as a unit? “It’s about we and not about me,” Erik concludes. It’s vital that your workplace is a space where your people have synergy, and where they all feel they belong and are an equal part of the company’s mission. But most of all, they should be able to see themselves in that company’s vision and live it as they work and interact with others around them. II) Ensuring coordinationThe coordination of your team must be in sync to be high-performing. This means behaviours need to align in a way that allows your team to become the type of team they want to be. “Every team has an identity, whether we speak about it or not,” states Erik. “I think the more intentional way of building a team is saying well ‘What identity do we want as a team?’ and then how do we reverse engineer the behaviours — and we can align to get to that identity.”III) Optimising communication Having a productive communication strategy is vital in creating a high-performing team, and the method is key. It’s important to assess how your team has conversations around growth, and how you deliver feedback — because many teams communicate, but that communication doesn’t result in momentum or results. Start with identifying your approach to communication right now. Is it predominantly one way? Is it too open and ad hoc that no one knows how to apply feedback or growth ideas? Ensure you build an improved communication model that allows for conversation that is productive, reciprocal and actionable. 2. Don’t just look at external sources of inspiration “I’ve been an entrepreneur now for 15 years,” says Nomndeni. “A lot of people in the more junior roles of leadership, seek leadership inspiration outside of the organisation. And of course — it’s a very solo journey — so you’re constantly looking around for what does this leadership thing look like? It feels like a thing external to you.” But this is where leadership in organisations often go wrong — and where Nomndeni herself admitted she ran into a lot of problematic advice:“As a young entrepreneur, I looked to what I was seeing in the world. And Ironically, a lot of the big companies do not really demonstrate great leadership.” They are autocratic, and have unhealthy norms of what running a team might look like to produce quantity of output, but not quality and longevity that true, high-performing teams reflect. It wasn’t until Nomndeni started really looking inside and at her people that she realised how it’s far more effective to look in the business you are in and ensure you fulfil your unique needs and the needs of the type of people you work with — rather than following someone else's structure to a tee. And by avoiding a lot of the toxic hustle culture out there, you are able to maintain a vital part of what makes for effective leadership: Psychological safety. 3. Prioritise psychological safetyThe importance of feeling safe in an organisation as your whole and truest self is vital in building high-performing teams. And the happiest, most successful organisations out there reflect that culture— Nomndeni even went on to share an employee satisfaction survey done about Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai: “[Sundar] came into the leadership role in 2015, and he’s the first CEO that got over 80% positive sentiment as a leader,” she says. “And people were saying they really love working at Google. And what he prioritised is psychological safety in the Google environment. Making sure that people felt comfortable to express what it is that they think the business can be doing differently. So the 3 things that he encouraged was a growth mindset, continuous learning — and people feeling free to be innovative in their environment.” And Google’s growth is proof that having more than one person contributing to the ideas in the company, having people who feel the freedom to express and be open about their experiences and push for what they need in the work environment is vital to sustainable success.Our purpose at YuLife is to not only achieve this environment in our workplace but help other companies do the same.Mental health and psychological safety are key things we strive to achieve in our workplace, and our holistic wellbeing solution helps our YuLifers build that as well. Because at YuLife: “It doesn’t matter what mental health condition you are in — we accept you,” concludes Jaco. “Because it’s about diversity, and creating that safe place and understanding.” For more tips on navigating the mental health crisis and building a high-performing team in 2024, watch the full webinar here.About YuLifeYuLife is working to reimagine the insurance industry by protecting lives, rewarding living and inspiring life. We’re on a mission to transform traditional insurance into a life-enhancing experience each employee will value and use daily. How does it work?Our award-winning app uses behavioural science and game mechanics to reward your people for living well while offering protection in case of crisis. And with our top-rated employee assistance programme, your team gets access to mental, financial and social support, virtual GPs, nutritionists, life coaches and more to help them live their best lives.Because we believe that your employees should benefit from their insurance from day one — and that wellbeing should be accessible every day, for everyone.Request a demo for your team today.