The Sunny Side of Leadership. Have you ever noticed how a sunny day can lift your spirits almost instantly? There’s something magical about the way sunlight floods a room or warms your skin, making everything seem just a bit brighter and better. This isn’t just a figment of our imagination. There’s also several fascinating links between sunshine and mood that we’re learning exist. And these are important, when you are managing and leading a team of people.
Healthy sunshine
Let’s start with the basics. Sunlight is a natural source of vitamin D, which our bodies produce when exposed to the sun’s rays. Vitamin D is often called the “sunshine vitamin” and plays a crucial role in maintaining good health including a significant impact on our mental well-being. Science has shown that low levels of vitamin D are associated with an increased risk of depression. So, when we soak up some sunshine, we’re not just getting a tan; we’re boosting our mood on a chemical level.
Remember back in lockdown, we were all inside more, only allowed out and about for restricted times each day? We attached huge importance to those times when we could go for a walk, and millions of us attached particular importance to getting out and about in nature. Sunshine (and it was a really sunny Spring and Summer that year) affects our brains in a range of ways, including triggering serotonin. This chemical regulates our mood, and is often linked to happiness and increased focus.
Nowadays, we are back to spending long hours in offices (at home or in a workplace) and somehow we’re forgetting that nature-bonus of getting outside into the sunshine. Why is that? Often, sadly, I have come across employers unwilling to “lose” staff time to outside breaks or flexible working to maximise daylight freedoms.
Social sunshine
In addition to how sunshine affects us on the inside, we can all also learn a bit from how sunshine affects us on the outside. Positive psychology, the field seeking to study and advance a greater sense of well-being, teaches us the importance of positive experiences. It is the reason that “gratitudes” have become something that some people journal or even feel the need to put on social media!
What is starting to be understood a little more is that sunshine naturally fosters these positive emotions. It does this through the chemicals we’ve explored, but also by creating environments that are bright, warm, and inviting. Sunshine offers the possibility of a positive experience, and encourages that positive experience to be with others. Here again, social interaction is known to boost mood (think back to the lockdown example to remember how lonely some people were when not allowed to see other people). So it is positive to get out into nature, see the colours brightened by sunshine and maybe engage in activity. There has been a marked rise in Netwalking groups (networking for business whilst walking for health) in recent years, which attests to the success of this approach.
Sunshine leadership
What has sunshine got to do with leadership? Surely that’s a bit of a reach? Actually, not at all.
Effective leadership involves knowing your people and wanting the best for them. Your team are, after all, your prize asset. They cost you the most and have the potential to bring your organisation to its knees. Of course you need to make sure you look after their wellbeing (quite apart from it being a legal obligation!).
“OK, so where’s the link? I still don’t see it” …
Effective leaders will put in place policies, procedures, places and a culture which all work together to make it possible – and even preferable – to get outside every working day. Whether that be community-led activities, or a place to sit outside to eat lunch away from the desk, or a remote working policy which focuses on staff quality outputs, not whether their Teams icon is green, it is perfectly possible to support your workforce to access sunshine when it happens.
It doesn’t make you the best leader in the history of forever, to understand the importance of your workforce feeling happier, healthier and more focused. In fact, it is so basic that it is pretty hard to see you as anything other than an abysmal manager showing zero leadership, if you don’t. It can still be all about the bottom line, without adopting the attitudes of a Victorian mill owner! Happier, healthier staff make for a more focused and productive staff, not only because of the chemicals and psychology, but also because they feel valued and trusted. When was the last time you didn’t want that for yourself? Exactly!
Sunshine Leadership is the way to go … even when the British summer doesn’t want to play!
