How Team Mental Health Drives Business Performance

Team mental health is no longer a soft issue; it's a critical component of business success, directly impacting productivity, retention, morale, and the customer experience. Businesses that proactively invest in consistent, inclusive employee well-being initiatives can prevent burnout, boost staff engagement, and minimise costly errors that damage reputation and profitability.

The Business Case for Mental Health

When employees feel supported, they are more motivated, engaged, and resilient. This leads to higher performance, better decision-making, and improved service delivery. Conversely, neglecting mental health issues can quietly drag down productivity and collaboration. Poor morale often leads to high turnover, increased errors, and slower decision-making, while a supportive culture fosters loyalty and improved performance.

Burnout, in particular, is a significant financial drain, causing absenteeism, presenteeism, and disengagement. While some businesses may push for greater productivity during tough economic times, this often creates a false economy. The short-term gains are outweighed by the long-term costs of reduced resilience and high employee turnover. Prevention through a consistent mental health policy is far more cost-effective than dealing with the aftermath of staff burnout.

Furthermore, client relationships can suffer when a team is under mental strain. Missed deadlines, poor communication, and broken promises are often a symptom of overwhelmed staff. Customer-facing roles are especially vulnerable; when employees are running on empty, their patience and attention to detail drop, leading to service errors and reputational damage. This is a predictable result of systemic neglect, not a personal failing.

Common Challenges and Proactive Solutions

Many businesses struggle to support mental health effectively. Inconsistent leadership direction such as shifting priorities can cause anxiety and confusion. Non-inclusive support systems, where aid is offered selectively, can breed resentment. The lack of regular check-ins means early signs of distress are often missed.

Building a culture that supports mental health requires a strategic approach:

• Consistent and Equitable Wellness Practices: Ensure that support systems and policies are inclusive and apply equally to everyone, regardless of tenure or role.

• Encourage Flexible Work: Offer options like remote days and flexible hours. Flexibility is a performance enabler, reducing daily stressors and accommodating personal responsibilities.

• Create Routine Check-ins: Implement regular one-on-one and group catch-ups to uncover issues and build trust before stress escalates.

• Instill Psychological Safety: Foster a culture where employees feel safe to speak up, admit mistakes, and ask for help without fear of retribution.

Ultimately, mental health is a business imperative, not just an HR checklist. Organisations that adopt consistent, inclusive mental health approaches build stronger cultures and brands. They retain talent, deliver better results, and more reliably meet client expectations. Your investment in your team's well-being is an investment in your company's long-term resilience and success.

Head over to the Josty Blog to read the full article: Team Mental Health Drives Business Performance

How do you finish the week with your team?

 

For many workplaces, the Friday after-work drinks are a distant memory. With hybrid teams, remote setups, and shifting priorities, those informal wind-downs have faded but that doesn’t mean we should lose the opportunity to end the week well.

When I was a Sales Manager, I made sure we finished the week together online, every Friday afternoon.

It was our weekly roundup.

Everyone had to share:

• The worst or funniest thing that happened that week

• Their personal highlight

• And what they were planning for the weekend

The purpose?

✅ To stop the team carrying frustrations into the weekend

✅ To celebrate wins, big and small

✅ And most importantly, to shift our mindset from work to life

It didn’t take long, but it made a huge difference.

• It built trust.
• It lightened the mood.
• And it reminded us that behind every role, there’s a person with a life outside of work.

We laughed. We vented. We connected. And we left the call lighter more human.

We often underestimate the power of small rituals in business. A 15-minute catch-up might not seem like much on paper but in practice, it helps your team disconnect from work with purpose, rather than dragging the week’s stress into the weekend.

These weekly roundups often revealed things I wouldn’t have known otherwise. A team member who had a tough week with a client. Someone dealing with something challenging at home. Or a surprising win that hadn’t made it into the CRM yet. By creating space for both honesty and humour, we became more than just colleagues we became a team that had each other’s backs.

And here's the thing: you don’t need a title like Sales Manager to introduce something like this. Anyone can take the lead. Anyone can decide to create connection. Whether you're running a business or contributing to one, fostering a rhythm of reflection and recognition helps everyone feel more grounded and more motivated.

In today’s work environment, where messaging never sleeps and emails roll in on Sundays, it’s easy to feel like there’s no real off switch. But if we don’t create clear transitions between work and personal time, burnout creeps in and culture starts to fray.

Ending the week with intention is a small investment with a big return.

It doesn’t have to be drinks, or even a formal Zoom. It could be a group chat voice note, a quick check-in thread, or a shared GIF of the week. It’s about building habits that remind us we’re more than our KPIs and deadlines.

So, how do you wrap up the week with your team?
What little traditions help your people feel seen, heard, and ready to recharge?

👇 I’d love to hear your ideas. Let’s learn from each other. Leave a comment below or head over to our contact us page for other ways to connect. 

What’s Driving You and Your Team?

 

In every business I’ve worked with across industries, sizes, and stages there’s a common thread that determines whether a company performs at its peak or just ticks along: what drives the people inside it.

Is your team just clocking in and out each day, collecting their paycheque, doing what’s expected and nothing more?
Or are they driven by something bigger growth, purpose, challenge, pride in the work, or a shared vision for success?

The difference between these two is massive. I’ve seen teams where salary isn’t even in the top three motivators. These are the companies that consistently exceed targets, foster strong internal culture, and attract top talent without throwing money around. In those environments, pay increases come as a result of success not as the only reason to show up.

But on the flip side, I’ve also seen teams, sometimes including senior leadership, where money is the primary or sole motivator. And in those cases, you’ll usually find something else:

• Siloed departments

• Low collaboration

• Mediocre output

• High turnover

• Blame culture

• Resistance to change

When pay is the main driver, people tend to do the minimum required. Their focus narrows. Team spirit disappears. Innovation stalls. That’s because there’s no shared goal just personal gain. And when personal gain becomes the only thing people care about, businesses lose their edge.

So, ask yourself honestly:
What’s driving your team?
What’s driving you?
Are you cultivating a culture of curiosity, shared achievement, pride, and purpose? Or are people just counting the hours till payday?

True performance comes when people care when they feel connected to something larger than themselves. That might be:

• Building a product or service that genuinely helps people

• Achieving growth that opens up new opportunities for the team

• Seeing customer success as their own success

• Learning and improving every week

• Being part of a team where everyone has each other’s back

These are intrinsic motivators that create resilience, loyalty, and passion. They build organisations where people stay longer, contribute more, and help drive transformation from the inside out.

As a business owner or manager, one of your most important jobs is to build and protect that kind of culture. To ensure people know where the business is heading, how their role contributes to it, and why it all matters. That starts with leadership being driven by the right things too.

Because if you’re only in it for the money, you’ll never get the best from your team. And if your team is only in it for the money, your business won’t perform at its potential.

There’s always a bigger purpose if you’re willing to define it and back it up with the right behaviours, recognition, and strategy.

If you’re unsure whether your business has that purpose baked in, or how to identify the right drivers for long-term performance, culture, and growth, we can help.

Head over to Josty.nz to explore how we support business owners and leadership teams to embed meaningful drivers, improve team alignment, and achieve sustainable success.

Cultivating Talent: The Power of Internal Promotion

 

Unlocking Potential: The Strategic Power of Internal Promotion

For businesses aiming for sustainable growth and a truly resilient future, internal promotion isn't just a nice-to-have it's a strategic imperative. As an expert business consultant, I've seen firsthand how nurturing talent from within can transform organisations, boosting employee engagement, strengthening talent retention, and building a robust leadership pipeline. At Josty, we champion this approach, understanding that empowering your existing team is key to unlocking their full potential and securing your long-term success.

Promoting from within offers a wealth of advantages. Firstly, it significantly enhances employee morale and motivation. When staff see clear career pathways and colleagues being recognised, it sends a powerful message that their efforts are valued, fostering loyalty and commitment. This directly translates to reduced employee turnover, saving considerable recruitment costs and preserving invaluable institutional knowledge. Internally promoted individuals already understand your company culture and processes, leading to smoother transitions and faster productivity gains. This inherent familiarity is a significant competitive advantage for any business.

Furthermore, internal promotion is the cornerstone of effective succession planning. By identifying high-potential employees and providing them with targeted professional development and mentorship, you build a ready supply of future leaders, safeguarding against leadership gaps and ensuring business continuity. This strategic foresight, which Josty frequently advises on, helps maintain momentum and stability.

However, it's crucial to navigate potential pitfalls. A purely internal focus risks stagnation and "groupthink," highlighting the need for a balanced approach that can strategically incorporate external talent when necessary. Managing disappointment among those not promoted requires a transparent and objective process, clear communication, and constructive feedback. There's also the "Peter Principle" to consider promoting someone based solely on current performance without assessing their readiness for new responsibilities. This underscores the need for comprehensive talent assessments and targeted leadership development programmes.

To successfully implement internal promotion, businesses must establish a clear talent development framework. This includes identifying high-potential employees, creating visible career pathways, investing in training and upskilling, and establishing robust mentorship programmes. Fostering a culture of continuous learning and regular, constructive feedback is also vital. Critically, the promotion process must be driven by transparency and fairness, with clear criteria and consistent communication. Finally, empowering managers to actively develop their teams through coaching and identifying growth opportunities is paramount.

In essence, prioritising internal promotion means investing in your most valuable asset: your people. It’s a strategic move that not only optimises resources but also builds a resilient, adaptive, and forward-thinking organisation ready to thrive in a dynamic market. It directly supports business growth, strengthens sales performance, and mitigates risk. Read the full blog and let's chat about how Josty can help you unlock this powerful potential within your own team.

How Business Culture Can Make or Break Your Success

Culture: The Real Driver of Your Business Success

Culture isn't just a buzzword or a statement on a wall; it's the collective behaviours, attitudes, and shared beliefs that quietly power your organisation. As someone who has seen its impact firsthand, from the Navy to large corporates, I know that culture either propels your business forward or drags it down. At Josty.nz, we've seen it time and again: a brilliant strategy is useless without the right culture to execute it. Culture is the very context in which your team operates, innovates, and performs.

Why Culture Matters More Than You Think

Think of culture as your business's unseen operating system. It dictates everything from how decisions are made to how employees engage and how customers perceive your brand. A supportive culture acts as your strategy's execution engine, fostering collaboration and trust. It also forms your organisational identity, reflecting your true mission and values. Crucially, culture directly impacts performance and productivity. A positive environment cultivates loyalty and high performance, while a toxic one leads to disengagement and high turnover.

Subtle Shifts, Major Consequences

Even minor shifts can undermine a thriving culture. New leaders introducing hierarchy or micromanagement can crush psychological safety, stifling innovation. When core values are neglected, even "just this once," accountability can erode, subtly changing the entire environment. Ignoring employee wellbeing also leads to burnout, stress, and declining engagement. Lessons from disciplined Navy crews highlight the power of trust and unity, while examples of corporate teams unraveling due to a focus solely on outputs show the devastating impact of cultural drift.

Building a Culture That Works For You

Cultivating the right culture requires intentional effort. It's not just a leadership responsibility; everyone must be empowered to uphold it. Design your structure with intent, ensuring clear communication and accountability. Prioritise psychological safety and trust, creating an environment where people feel safe to speak up and innovate. Most importantly, live your mission and values every day. During times of change, open communication and aligning structures with your cultural goals become even more vital.

Culture isn't a "nice-to-have"; it's your ultimate strategic advantage or silent saboteur. At Josty.nz, we believe that Empowering Growth and Securing Success begins with a strong, intentional culture. Every decision is a chance to reinforce the culture you want. Invest in your culture now, because investing in your people is investing in long-term performance and innovation.