Hope key to weathering uncertainty

MEGAN JENKINS Registered Organisational Psychologist

Covid fatigue, fog, inertia; call it what you will, but we are all suffering some form of this with the current lockdowns. Last year the very concept of a lockdown was new and brought with it new challenges. Along with a new language, “let’s zoom”, new skills (let’s learn to zoom) and a personal look into the lives of our colleagues via Zoom (is that what your house looks like!).

ast year we baked banana bread, learned the art of sourdough and new DIY skills, exercised, and bingewatched Netflix and Neon. In 2020, the focus was on pivoting the business; employees were engaged and willing to step up into this new world and deliver fresh ideas and strategies.

This year we have ongoing challenges with the threat of progressive mutations of the virus coming slipping through our borders. With this growing feeling of uncertainty and isolation, the team of five million wonder when this will end.

So how do we reinvigorate our employees, ourselves and our clients to not only survive but thrive?

Like all things, COVID-19 will settle down, either as an ongoing virus that we learn to live with, as we do with other diseases. It will pass entirely through herd immunity or vaccination protocols.

Restaurant & Café sat down (via Zoom) with Megan Jenkins, Registered Organisational Psychologist and committee member of the

“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end— which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

Admiral James Stockdale

Institute of Organisational Psychology to talk about how businesses can help their staff cope with COVID-fatigue in the current lockdowns.

“The first thing I would say to team leaders and business owners is to break down what appear to be mountains to small hills.

“Empower staff to take ownership of their work tasks, which is important for their feelings of self-belief.”

“Readjusting mind frames to accept less activity, by breaking the working day down to tasks that the employee feels that they can achieve today rather than this week or this month,” said Jenkins.

“Businesses have moved from peacetime to wartime, survival mode if you will. They are trying to comprehend rapidly changing circumstances, and goals are changing, from long term to short term to immediate.

“We are all feeling a bit bewildered, shell shocked if you will, and that is understandable.”

Jenkins believes in creating moments in each day, readjusting expectations on the norms of productivity. This self-efficacy will give employees confidence in their ability to exert some control over the current situation, and help both wellbeing and motivation.

“If we normalise our feelings, say ‘what is one thing can I do now? Or ‘what was a success today?

“Not I have to stay home, but rather I can do this while I am at home.”

At many zoom meetings, we have moved away from engagement; teams often don’t fully engage. COVID fatigue or fog is the new wellbeing issue for staff; not answering phones, emails unanswered for days, with zero in-boxes a distant memory.

Jenkins believes in allowing employees to normalise what they are feeling by sharing with others. Sharing perhaps an emoji on-screen when you are in a team zoom meeting, it’s a quick way to see how the team is feeling and allows others to empathise.

“Resilience takes time to build, and building teams takes an equal amount of time.

“It’s important to use self-compassion and have hope. Research shows hope as key to weathering uncertainty. This lockdown will pass, and even at the next lockdown; we will have learnings that we can take from this one.,” Jenkins concluded.

The Stockdale Paradox and the related discipline of survival psychology shines light on our present and how we manage our current circumstances. Recommended reading: Jim Collins’s bestselling book From Good to Great