People need help dealing with CHANGE now more than ever!

There can be no question that Covid and the various stages of lockdown have had a major impact on all our lives, socially, personally and in the way we conduct business.  Many people have had to create a whole new working environment for themselves, which has in some cases involved working from home or remote locations for extended periods of time.  Clearly this has impacted on the way business has been transacted and several of us have had to get used to a whole new world of work.  Perhaps the biggest impact for most people, has been around the issue of communication.  Zoom and meetings over teams has replaced the traditional face-to-face get-together in a breakaway room or around a boardroom table.  On the social level, under Covid it has no longer been possible to pop into a colleague’s office to sort out an issue or just for a chat.  Smoke breaks, coffee and tea breaks now tend to happen by yourself and the joy of a quick chat around the vending machine or watercooler down the passage has disappeared. Clearly the curtailment of normal office routine and the social interactions that go with it, have affected individuals differently.  Many people speak openly of missing the social interactions of the workplace which previously everybody took for granted.  Some people, however, prefer to work alone and enjoy being able to work without the distractions of the office environment.

Many people’s ideas about coaching have also been questioned and come up for review because of Covid.  Coaching as we know is a very particular kind of communication tool, which in most people’s frame of reference is conducted on a one-on-one basis between the coach and the “coachee”.  What many people do not realise however is that in much of the world coaching is conducted less and less on a face-to-face basis.  Many coaches coach very successfully via electronic means, such as zoom in team meetings, or simply using telephones.  I have known coaches coach their clients while training for sports, conducting activities such as gardening, going for long walks or even sharing a meal or a cup of coffee.  The success of the coaching process is therefore not dependent on the communication method employed, but rather the content and the effectiveness of the connection with the client.  Although many coaches still prefer an initial meeting with a client to take place on a face-to-face basis.  This is by no means a pre-requisite during my coaching training, some of my best sessions were conducted with coaches across the Atlantic who I had never met.

Given the social issues and impact of isolation described above, which has come about because of the Covid 19 pandemic.  It may well be that many people who have been affected by social isolation and lack of communication will benefit more now than ever from a coaching programme.  A good coach will be well placed to understand and reflect to the clients on any issues and fears that Covid and particularly Covid isolation have caused.  Coaches will also be well placed to assist in addressing issues that people will have when it comes to the reintegrating into teams and workplaces when people are required to return to work.  I can also see a role for coaches in terms of the onboarding process for new staff members, who are perhaps joining an organisation for the first time and may from day one be required to work from home and never actually meet some of their colleagues and co-workers face-to-face.

Coaching therefore could fill the gap in communication and socialisation which Covid 19 has brought about in our various workplaces.  It has been said that unless we change certain of our behaviours, we can never expect different outcomes, coaching to a large extent operates on this premise and encourages people to make changes that they have always wanted to.  Based on this discussion it appears to me that coaching could fulfil a crucial role in assisting people deal with the changes which Covid has already brought about in their lives and help them deal with the challenges and realignment that is bound to follow as the world comes to grips with post Covid realities.