Second Wave of Pandemic and Life Coaching

I would like to share something very interesting, I have posted two polls on LinkedIn. In both both the polls, consulting a Life Coach is of a less priority. People have voted for things like, reading self help books, going to temples, consulting astrologers etc. I am unable to understand that how can mental and emotional well being is a least priority for them.

We can pay couple of millions to self styled Godmen and Gurus. But we do not want to consult a Life Coach, who is a trained professional from international coach federation with international certification.

We visit cardiologist, dentist, general practitioner but not a life coach.

During my study I have gone through a study, which says that we can fix up our problem ourselves only. Emotional and mental well being is not that serious concern.

In India, I believe, it would take some time for the evolution of life coaching.

At times, I am unable to understand the psyche of a common person.

Why do we need to leave our life to chances.

I do have clients, those who are matured in their thinking. They do believe that Life Coaching is an important thing.

Due to this pandemic, people have lost their jobs, businesses. It has seriously influenced financial and emotional well being. Every day we are hearing that this second wave of COVID 19 is more dangerous. In some article I have read that this virus is air borne. And all these things have influenced us negatively. It is high time that we should take coaches seriously.

We are living in very challenging times. COVID-19 has become a pandemic requiring many coaches to self-isolate, quarantine, and cancel our daily work. It is important to all of us coaches to assist others to get through difficult events. We are joining together to support and to coach others in times of stress. 

For organisations and leaders coping with the uncertainties of the COVID-19 crisis, coaching offers a structured and tailored framework enabling them to set goals, develop new ways of working and support growth.

Challenges for leaders in the immediate and long term

We are living with great uncertainty – so much more than usual is unknown. We know from research that living with uncertainty may be more challenging than coping with a known catastrophe. It is difficult to plan and be strategic. The pace of change is also very fast. This can be overwhelming. Many circumstances now facing organisation leaders are unprecedented, without reference points or previous experience to draw upon.

Leaders and managers face pressure to continue performing their roles, perhaps not knowing how their usual leadership skills and styles fit with the new circumstances. How do they stay in touch with, motivate and support their workforce? How do they decide which staff to furlough, when and how to do it and when and how to bring them back and how does being furloughed impact on individuals and the team dynamics?

Human resources departments may be coordinating furloughs while operating on reduced staffing within their own team and may find that other HR issues can’t be addressed. For organisations that have increased working from home there may be a wide range of concerns, including pressures on staff with young children, structuring the working day and week and establishing new collaborative links between departments. On an individual level, some staff may feel their workload has increased while others may be feeling under-utilised or disconnected.

In the private sector, many small and medium enterprises will be battling to keep afloat and even avoid closure.

Public and third sector

Organisations in different sectors are coming to terms with restructuring their businesses, supporting staff and responding to changing situations during the COVID-19 pandemic. While each face unique challenges, there are common themes emerging within sectors.

For the education sector, there may be lack of expertise in delivering education remotely in schools, colleges and universities. There will be need to evaluate and learn from the initial rapid response which saw a drive to e-learning, which may also be causing concerns for the future among teaching staff. Head teachers and senior leadership teams will be managing the continuing attendance at school of children of keyworkers and the diverse parental response to the easing of the lockdown restrictions and next steps for pupils.

The NHS is facing huge pressures to cope with the day to day treatment of COVID-19 patients, while still delivering other clinical activities. There is ongoing uncertainty about the disease trajectory and how changes to government guidelines will impact on disease transmission, making planning difficult.

Mental and emotional wellbeing

Mental health issues are likely to manifest as people are stressed, isolated and at times traumatised. Many people may be in their “threat” or “survivor” responses which are less conducive to positive engagement and good thinking. Stress is quite contagious. How do leaders enable teams to rebalance and recharge?

Leaders wrestling with big decisions and organisational issues are themselves vulnerable to negative impacts on their mental health and wellbeing both from the stresses of work and wider personal concerns over life during the pandemic.

How coaching can help leaders meet these challenges

In times of crisis, coaching offers support to organisations, to leaders and to individuals. In the current COVID-19 crisis the landscape has changed for many organisations and their staff. Some organisations may need radical rebuilding and changes of function. Coaching is a crucible within which reflection, learning, innovation, adaption and planning can take place and new opportunities forged.

Many coaches use a contracting model focusing on three areas:

• business results
• leader interpersonal behaviours
• team interactions1

From this foundation each of the following can be shaped to meet the need of the organisation and its staff:

Space and time to think and process

Coaching provides much needed time to think, to process own thoughts and feelings and make short term and strategic decisions. This enables leaders to listen more effectively to the information coming from them, their teams and the wider world.

Leaders have a confidential space with a coach who will both support them to do their own best thinking and who can provide information from their own experience and knowledge about managing change and stress and supporting and engaging teams. Thoughts and feelings can be normalised and accepted and processed. Imaginative and strategic thinking can be encouraged. The unthinkable can be faced.

Dual trained practitioners can support as well as enable leaders to think about strategic ways forward. They can work at an emotional depth that is the most relevant to the coachee’s internal landscape.

During the COVID-19 crisis and working with its aftermath, coaching has great value in acknowledging and enabling individuals to acknowledge and manage their own trauma reactions and triggers – coaches seek to connect with and further develop the healthy self which is then better placed to mediate survivor behaviours and mobilise appropriate support in the self for trauma.

Opportunities to learn, plan and respond strategically

Working well with short-term issues can enable better longer-term strategies, so there is an opportunity during this crisis to strengthen abilities to rebalance and increase resilience.

There are learning opportunities in crises, for example strategies for working remotely in teams can lead to better habits in team meetings if done well.

External coaches work across many different organisations and with different leaders so there is opportunity for cross fertilisation in terms of ideas and strategies. Organisations can benefit from this and for individuals there may be opportunity to experience a slower pace of work and to step off the treadmill and plan a different less stressful and demanding future.

Strengthening emotional and mental health

For any leaders that may previously have doubted the value of compassionate leadership there is now an urgency to pay attention to relationships by listening and valuing the other(s). Given the mental health extent of the current crisis, more leaders will need to urgently adopt a more compassionate style, listening to and valuing their colleagues. This will focus on protecting people’s mental health and enable the best recovery for them and the organisation.

The use of the therapeutic approach promotes multi-layering which holds, supports and nourishes clients, and by attending to and owning our vulnerability we add to our resilience.2 There’s also an important opportunity to enable self-care and to promote wellbeing as an outcome, not simply as a means to an end - this might include reconsidering work life balance.

Supporting engagement within an organisation

Coaching can be deployed to enable leaders to stay connected in relationship to their people who in turn stay connected to their organisation while working remotely. This can be particularly effective for people working across silos who benefit from being more “agile”.3

Supporting leaders with engagement of the team contributes to a more effective support for the vision of the organisation; each person recognises their contribution and accountability – work is more satisfying.

Exploration of purpose and meaning

At a time of uncertainty it is common for existential questions of where we are in life to arise; is this how we want to continue? Clients may be starting to ask themselves bigger questions, for example what do I want from life? Does this job still work for me? What’s it like to have an enforced break from the long hours at the office and direct pressure of office life? Do I feel things are changing; am I changing? How do I want to live my life when this pandemic is over or has abated? What have I learned about myself in the process?

At this time of great need and uncertainty there is a pressing need for support for organisations, leaders and individuals. Coaching can be highly effective for leaders, organisations and individuals during and beyond the COVID-19 crisis.