Corona Virus Disease simply called COVID-19 affects more than 200 countries of the world, there is possibility of recession. It started as an epidemic in Wuhan province in China started in December 2019 before spread to the other part of the world through human contacts. COVID19 has been declared pandemic by World Health Organization based on the rate of damage cause by the disease to human race and the failure to find a vaccine to cure patients at the moment. COVID-19 is not only affecting the health of the populace, it also has negative impacts on the other sphere of life like economic, social, psychology, religion, education, and so on.
According to Worldmeter, as at today, 27th April 2020 the COVID-19 has global total of 3,065,756 cases, 211.658 discharged, and 923,046 deaths, and my country, Nigeria has 1337 confirmed cases, 255 recovered, and 40 deaths after an Italian index case in February 2020, precisely 27th February 2020
According to Harvard Business Review Insights titled CORONAVIRUS+BUSINESS (April,2020) in one of its article titled RECESSION: The Coronavirus Crisis Doesn’t Have to Lead to Layoffs by Atta Tarki, Paul Levy, and Jeff Weiss (MARCH 20, 2020), during a crisis, the path between corporate denial and layoffs is often a short one. For weeks, our corporate clients and contacts waved off concerns about a potential economic impact from the Covid-19 outbreak.
Did you experience career setbacks or failures recently in your career?
Are you envisaging one in the nearest future due the Covid-19 Pandemic?
If your answer is Yes, how best are you prepared to wither this psychological trauma.
Career setbacks simply means your out of job either temporary or permanently which can be through promotion, termination, dismissal, downsizing, rightsizing, re-engineering, mergers and acquisitions, name it. Career setbacks are things every employee must be prepared for like preparation for retirement because career setbacks are no respecter of career performance and attainment, be you the. Manager, superior or subordinates.
Harvard Business Review (HBR) The article is titled “Rebounding from Career Setbacks” by Mitchell Lee Mark, Phillip Mans, and Ron Ashkenas (October, 2014). They identified three (3) key tasks viz:
1) Determine why you lost
2) Identify new paths
3) Seize the right opportunity when its within your reach
1) DETERMINE WHY YOU LOST
This is the first key task in order to cope with career setbacks.
Can you give yourself a candid feedback about your commitment on the job? Or you are drowning with the classic stages of loss.
Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross defined classic stages of loss: They start with shock and derail about the events and move on to anger at the company or the boss, bargaining over their fate and then a protracted period of licking of their wound asking themselves whether they can even regain the respect of their peers and teams. Many of them never make it to the “acceptable” stage.
Self-pity won’t take you out of the psychological trauma of career setbacks except you avoid sympathetic friends, family members, and colleagues who reinforce their self-image (“You deserved that job”) and feed their sense of injustice (” You have every right to be angry”).
Those who rebound from career losses takes a decidedly different approach. Instead of getting stuck in grief or blame, they actively explore, how they seized up the situation correctly and reacted appropriately, and consider what they would do differently if given the chance. They are also gather feedback from a wide variety of people (including superiors, peers, subordinates), making it clear that they want honest feedback, not consolation.
2) IDENTIFY NEW PATHS
This is second key task in coping with career setbacks.
The better you let-go the idea of self-pity or blame apportionment will take you to the next level. This key task involves your objectively weighing the potential for turning your loss with a win, whether that’s a different role in your organization, a move to a new company, or a shift to a different industry or career. Refraining losses as opportunities involves hard thinking about who you are and what you want.
Research shows that escapism is a common reaction to career derailment- people may take trips to get away from their troubles, immerse themselves in busywork, drink, eat excessively, or avoid discussing their thoughts and plans with family and friends. While these behaviours can give you mental space to sort thing out, they rarely lead to a productive transition. It’s more effective to engage in a focused exploration of all the option available.
From the studies by William Bridges, a change management expert highlight the tension people feel when they are torn between hanging on to their current identities and expectations and letting go. Leaders describe entering a “twilight zone”. The status quo has been fatally disrupted, but its not clear yet what success will look like in the future.
That’s why it’s useful to take time to test out some ideas for what to do next. One option is to speak with a career counsellor or engage in therapy, both to clarify goals and to work on personal development. Another is to take a temporary leave from your job to go back to school or test-drive a career interest at a start-up or non-profit. Pausing a bit can allow you to find new meaning in your setback.
Remember, “some setbacks are blessing in disguise”.
3) SEIZE THE RIGHT OPPORTUNITIES
This is the last key task on how to cope with career setbacks. After you identify possible next steps, it’s time to pick one. Admittedly, this can be a little frightening, especially if you’re venturing into unknown career territory. Reimagining your professional identity is one thing: bringing it to life is another.
Remember, though that you haven’t left your skills and experience behind with your last job, and you’ll also bring with you the lessons learned from the setback.
You may also have productively revised your definition of success. Definition of success to you may mean: Job satisfaction, good pay, good welfare package, employee engagement, freedom, and the likes. After considering the above key tasks about coping with career setbacks, the success rate depends on individual difference.
Most times, our setback is a set up for a comeback!
Best of luck!
Rotarian TM Akeem Gbadamosi, M.Sc Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management
Chief Executive Officer, First-Goldmine Consulting (An Human Resource Management and Development Services Firm) and Convener, Centre for Human Resource Emancipation (C4HRE)- (An NGO focusing on SDG 8- Decent Job and Economy Growth).
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