Small-scale enterprises (SSEs) are important for sustainable development at national development and regional levels, and account for a large part of private enterprises and their large contribution to employment. Earlier research shows that SSEs are limited with respect to personnel, economic resources and competence for creating health-promoting workplaces. This study explores the premises for managing health-promoting workplaces from a leadership perspective in eight Norwegian and ten Swedish SSEs. A stepwise qualitative approach and analysis were used to analyze data. The analysis shows two main categories: corporative health promotion workplaces and cultivating health-promoting leadership.
The leader’s experience of solidarity and flexibility, self-steered task management, safety, trust and care, job satisfaction, loyalty, humor and recruitment indicates these as important components related to a health-promoting workplace. They point to the importance of being a process-oriented communicator, an all-rounder, and the need to make use of a dedicated and distinct leadership style. However, they also indicate problems with being a lonely problem solver, high and conflicting work demands and work-family conflicts. One conclusion is that leaders exhibit an awareness of the importance of applying a holistic approach for creating health-promoting workplaces. Another conclusion, which is not in line with previous research, is that the leaders exhibit a maturity about the importance of combining individual and organizational health promotion measures and that they have a high motivation to work with these areas.