Drugs and Alcohol at Work: Complying with the Health, Safety and Welfare at Work Act 2005

The new ruling is excellent news for the workplace. It is a sad sign of our times that we require legislation in order to promote healthy behaviours at work, rather than relying on our own ability to self regulate. However, there is much work to be done to make workplaces less 'toxic' places to be and to reduce behaviours emanating from fear and instead promote growth and innovation (fear is probably the greatest inhibitor of productivity and innovation and most dysfunctional behaviours and communication issues can usually be linked back to fear at their base). A person's over-reliance on alcohol or other substances to build their sense of wellbeing, is usually a clear sign of low self esteem and low self management. One should not estimate, either, the extent of the problem. We're not just talking about the occasional drinking binge here, but a continued over-reliance on pain-killers or regular drinking after work, for example, can also contribute to lack of vitality and focus, leading to irritated behaviour which can negatively impact performance and the colleagues who have to collaborate with the individual(s).

As such, companies need to approach their strategy concerning the legislation in a preventative manner rather than just looking at dealing at the worst case scenarios when an employee is clearly is out of order. By that stage the likelihood they already have a trail of destruction behind them. The issue is of personal awareness and personal growth, and this is a whole culture change that is required. We're gradually learning about not drinking and driving in Ireland and we've managed to give up smoking in pubs, but it is still very acceptable to turn up for work with a hangover, or return to work merry after a lunch out. In fact, it often generates approving small-talk and sharing war-stories of partying which then becomes the glue on which people collaborate better. And then the number of 'team building' sessions that focus around drink further exacerbates the problem and does little to address the real communication issues and behavioural dysfunctions in the team. Why? There is so LITTLE awareness of what self mastery and team collaboration is really about in the corporate world and behaviour that colludes in dysfunction.

Substance alcohol abuse is more often a problem at senior levels of organisation, where the higher stress levels can be. Emotional management and self control is essential for good leadership. The first requirement in developing emotional intelligence and good leadership is huge self awareness. The second requirement is then to take total accountability and responsibility for one's own behaviours. I find that the majority of managers that, when coached for the first time, do not have sufficient factual information about their impact on others - they are quick to judge those that work for them, but are often scared to look at how they are themselves or how others perceive them.

As an executive coach, I develop leaders and managers and help teams to become productive. Coaching is very successful at helping derailing managers - or those at risk from burnout - because it engages them at an intellectual and emotional level and holds them more accountable to make changes. One of the problems with traditional EAP solutions that are counselling-based is that senior managers see them as 'failure'. That's not a negative judgement about counselling, more of a general perception that I know that most executives have. However, in choosing an executive coach to deal with derailing managers, it is vital to choose a coach that has significant experience of coaching 'alpha - executives' and can engage the client at the necessary level - intellectual and psychological - in order to be able to facilitate change. As a coaching assignment, it is can be one of the toughest and it's important to know when to refer on to specialist help. At Xenergie Executive Coaching, we approach this as a 3-6 month personal growth journey rather than a one off event. We also work in collaboration with residential addiction recovery centres - referring clients as necessary and helping them on their journey afterwards. Often we are still in touch with our clients two years later - recognising that true transformation really does take that timeframe, it's not a quick-fix. And, serious addiction recovery is a lifelong journey.

However, the point I'd like to make is that the approach should be preventative - we shouldn't even have to be dealing with 'derailing managers' if there was as much weight attached to developing personal responsibility attached to personal emotional growth and emotional self management, as there is to developing hard technical skills in organisations - and it should start at the top in the boardroom. Also that executives should have no shame in coming forward for coaching -it's irresponsible to stay in denial or do nothing. That goes for colleagues too, when the person with the problem themselves is in denial, it is important not to 'collude' with their problem, but challenge it. None of us is perfect, but not acting on problems when worse problems really begin.

In developing leaders through our programmes at Xenergie, we consider seven pillars of leadership: morality, collaboration, competence/intellect, trust, inspiration/vision, commitment, and courage. As you can see very little of this is to do with technical competence. This is where the focus should be in our opinion! As Mae West said, "It's not WHAT I do but the WAY that I do it!" and as Socrates says "An unexamined life is a waste"

Lorna McDowell of Xenergie Consulting Ltd will speak on "Coaching as an EAP Intervention for Senior Executives" 28th Annual EAP Conference
Thursday 20th September 2007 in the Carlton Hotel, Dublin Airport, Ireland. See our workshop section for more information.