I've recently suggested the imminent transition back to our workplaces, after the many #COVID19 restrictions, has been met with a large measure of ambivalence, given the uncertainty many of us are still experiencing. Nevertheless, the wheels of market economics continue to grind and many of us are compelled to return to our place of work fearful that, if we don't, those wheels will eventually fall off for all of us.
Much of the current discourse around our #returntowork seeks to unpack what a #newnormal might look like (we've already taken for granted the assumption work will not be the same). In turn, this 'new normal' has mostly been defined in terms of resetting work practices and policy - #socialdistancing, #remoteworking, #hygiene and #flexibility, to name a few.
..as many of us transition back to our workplaces we are being asked to balance two irreconcilable truths...
When it comes to #mentalhealth and #wellbeing however, we are mostly still talking about the "importance of remaining connected, kind and compassionate during the coronavirus outbreak." It highlights an intuitive (and, may I add, evidence based) understanding that this pandemic is not yet over. We are still in it. And that's an important point because returning to work (returning anywhere, really) is a psychological, as much as it is a physical, marker. It encourages us to view the return as either a new beginning or a resumption of a prior modus operandi, with whatever relevant modifications might be necessary.
As many of us transition back to our workplaces we are essentially being asked to balance two irreconcilable truths: the pandemic is still going on around us, and our return to work is a collective declaration we are leaving it's destruction behind and resuming 'normal' operations.
Our reclaimed and sustained well-being in the workplace is therefore predicated on the assumption this 're-entry' will be spearheaded by clearer, perhaps more flexible, work processes, policies and procedures that will somehow inoculate us and our colleagues from whatever unearthly event we have all just lived through.
Like a cold wintry morning, the fog of PTSD may have already descended on all of us.
Beyond Blue broadly defines Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as "...a particular set of reactions that can develop in people who have been through a traumatic event which threatened their life or safety, or that of others around them."
I don't mean to be alarmist, but I think it's important to point to the very real possibility that, like a cold wintry morning, the fog of #PTSD may have already descended on all of us. We are all affected. And our ability to navigate our way out of this will depend on the capacity and willingness of all players in a workplace or organisation to connect in ways which raise the bar of trust and authenticity way beyond the reach of entrenched fear and cynicism.
Why trust and authenticity? Because we are going to have to [metaphorically] hold each other's hands through this terrain, under conditions of extreme low visibility of the path in front of us. I need to know you are as invested in this outcome as I am. Even those 'in charge', those with the duty of care resting on their shoulders, are pretty much suffering from the same trauma, perversely reinforcing the ubiquitous pithy truism, "We are all in this together."
A potential case of the blind leading the blind, then? Perhaps, but it's also an opportunity to redefine terms like 'duty of care' to encompass a responsibility carried by each and every one of us to attend to the other. To care beyond the truisms, beyond the annual inquiry of "R U OK?" and beyond the misguided notions that "everything will be alright" if we just agreed on new practices, without any need to engage with the mysterious (and messy) inner lives of our selves and others.
Without a doubt it's an exhausting proposition. That's why it's so much easier to cross our fingers and hope new work practices will sustainably lift us up to face the brave new world. They won't. They just won't.
...empathy, understanding, hope and courage will allow us to create the types of connections that can bend in adversity...
Now, more than ever, we need skills and virtues that will enable us to navigate these interminably uncertain times. We need to equip ourselves, our colleagues, our leaders and our teams to wrestle with ways to exercise productive #humanconnection - a type of #connecting that clearly champions #empathy and #understanding as we navigate our ways out this collective trauma, but also #connection that displays #courage and #hope.
Hope will equip us, our leaders and our institutions to define a set of goals, forge new pathways and exercise a measure of agency as we embark on a new journey. Courage will allow us to have the uncomfortable conversations as the inevitable pressures of uncertainty continue to threaten our sense of safety. In combination, empathy, understanding, hope and courage will allow us to create the types of connections that can bend in adversity without the fear of leaving us isolated by snapping at the mere thought of 'conflict'. These are #resilient connections - often uncomfortable but ultimately rewarding and regenerative.
I believe the ability to cultivate these types of connections in our relationships, workplaces and institutions of power will be the most valuable currency of any 'new normal'. They may not fully wipe the impact of trauma, but they will certainly help us see a little more clearly through the fog.
Comments