RESILIENCE AND RECOVERY In Britain, businesses that don’t sell essential services, such as food or medical supplies, were ordered to shut down and despite financial measures introduced by the government to protect jobs and incomes, there is huge uncertainty surrounding the state of the economy and how it will look in a few months’ time. While the health and economic consequences of COVID-19 have been played out often in the media, less attention has been given to the effect the pandemic is having on mental health and well-being. How do businesses and the staff increase and maintain their resilience so they’re in a better position to cope, both during the crisis and after it has passed? One tactic that company owners and workers can deploy is to shift their mindset, to alter preconceived attitudes about the crisis that may be affecting their well-being. Natasha Chatur, a qualified personal coach, says: “Over the past few months, large groups of us will have experienced some of the same adverse events, including lockdown, furlough or redundancy. We may have also noticed how these same events will have caused quite different reactions in different people.
Building resilience in challenging times The world is facing the biggest health pandemic in living memory. The COVID-19 outbreak has caused chaos across the globe, with countries in lockdown, companies having to temporarily or permanently lay off staff, and the death count rising by the day.
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“We often think it’s the event – lockdown, for example – that has caused the reactions. In cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), the principle is that it’s not the actual event that has caused our reaction, but our interpretation of it. Cognitive behavioural coaching (CBC) goes on to suggest our reaction and behaviour is a function of our environment, thoughts, feelings and physiology. So, for example, if we were to change our thoughts or feelings about the event, we could change our reaction and our behaviour.” Natasha works with middle and senior managers in SMEs, helping them to maximise their potential. She refers to the ABC model – that adversity occurs, beliefs are created and consequences happen – which is an approach that encourages optimism not just as a way of being more productive and successful, but as a skill that can be improved and called upon in times of adversity. “It suggests that you can’t affect the event that has caused you adversity, but you can shift your beliefs,” she says.
