Post-Traumatic Growth: is it possible to emerge from a pandemic year fighting fitter than before?

By Richard Freeman, CEO, always possible

It was mid-February 2020. One of my non-executive directors sent me a text: ‘Apart from ensuring the team are safe and well, what do we need to do to manage any risks from COVID-19?’. Nothing, I said. We’re a small and agile consultancy, staff can work from home if they need to isolate. We’re cool. As long as our clients are still managing to trade.

Naïve is generous. With people only starting to get their heads around social distancing and the prospect of a few weeks, maybe months, of disruption – I’ll admit I was not even remotely entertaining the complete shut-down of our clients in the arts or hospitality, or that our upcoming programme of 1,100 events across summer and autumn would be, um, illegal.

My nonchalance quickly became anxiety, and I don’t think I have ever worked as hard in my life as I did in April 2020. But, we know we are one of the lucky ones – we are small enough to pivot, but big enough to pool expert brains and the patience of some brilliant clients. For many others, this hasn’t been the case.

In the mid 1996, US psychologists Richard Tedeschi and Lawrence Calhoun published a paper in the Journal of Traumatic Stress that detailed a phenomenon that they had observed in some war veterans and in survivors of major accidents or life-threatening illnesses. They called it Post-traumatic Growth (PTG).

With instances of Post-traumatic Growth, “…people develop new understandings of themselves, the world they live in, how to relate to other people, the kind of future they might have and a better understanding of how to live life,” says Dr Tedeschi.

There are lots of reports, memes and blogs circulating the internet right now, about PTG in mental health and education, families connecting and in other parts of public life.

But what might this look like in business?

Once I had figured out how to stabilise the always possible team, we put 100% of our time into understanding what the real impact on businesses was going to be. From April 2020 to Feb 2021, we ended up delivering 1:1 or small group support to over 180 small and micro businesses across the UK; 25 webinars and 18 engagement sessions around adaptation and innovation in a digital market-place. We’ve published six insights reports for UK regions on what different sectors need, and why, with recommendations for action.

We’ve helped SMEs to launch online services, secure grant and innovation funding and pivot their business plans. We’re managing the South East Boost grant programme in East Sussex, enabling 157 SMEs to draw down £1.6m in business grants – and we’ve designed and delivered the Reset. Restart programme for Brighton Business & IP Centre running workshops on digital pitching, pricing, marketing and resources.

It has given us an aerial view of the challenges and opportunities affecting all sorts of enterprises, and it is clear that there are universal trends but it is not a level playing field. Businesses will fold, but I’m not so sure that the enterprising spirit will. Viable retailers, events businesses and venues are badly bruised – but they’re not out. And when you scratch away at tech, engineering, construction and professional services – you don’t have to go far to see the impossible become possible, and some radical ideas starting to bear fruit.

It has been so, so exciting. Sussex businesses are innovating hard.

If we are to distil the path to PTG into a process of five skills or mindsets, it might look a bit like this:

1.Think big

What you know and what you do right now, might not be enough for the future

2. Listen hard

Find some space to find out what your customers really need, not what it is convenient for you to sell

3. Plan with clarity

The best thing you can do is give yourself permission to get rid of the noise and the baggage – go back to basics, start simple, and be pragmatic

4. Wing it with style

We’re all in new territory – and you don’t need all the answers; own your exploration, be clear that you’re trying things out and take your customers on a new adventure

5. Collaborate, radically

Businesses that pulled up the drawbridge are the ones that have failed – you’re surrounded by experience and expertise; find some partners and you can achieve more

By plotting out our own Post-Traumatic Growth journey, we’ve been able to create a transformational approach to our work. And we want to share it.

The always possible team are now on a mission to help transform one hundred businesses in 2021. We’re seeking ambitious entrepreneurs, creatives and business teams to join The 100, working with each business to create a bespoke, practical, visual 12-month roadmap that clears the fog and nails some big decisions.

Post-Traumatic growth is what some teams are ready for, emerging from the Brexit and COVID-19 disruption with the energy, ideas and opportunity to do things differently. Better. Bolder. Grabbing 2021 by the horns.

This might be you. This might be someone you know.

Because we’re trying something new, all the support we’re providing for The 100 will be affordable for most budgets – some will be given away for free.

Interested?

alwayspossible.co.uk/The100