Since the start of this year, the COVID-19 pandemic has engulfed the entire world. Most of us have not experienced a health scare of this magnitude in our lifetime. It has brought the world to a halt – in terms of economic and business activities and even societal, quotidian practices where social distancing has become the key instead of social meetings and gatherings. With no medicine or cure discovered yet, the pandemic has propelled the entire world leadership towards a self-sustaining model with individual isolation, social distancing, and a worldwide lockdown.
In such times of uncertainty, Positive Psychological Capital (PPC) of a company, country and human race as a whole gets tested to its best. Companies that have invested significantly towards incorporating PPC into their DNA will survive and come out stronger from this crisis. In contrast, as we see around, with low PPC, attributes like fear, confusion, and consequently, wrong decision making will become excessive.
But, let us first understand what is Positive Psychological Capital (PPC) – it is defined as the positive and developmental state of an individual or organization, displayed with traits of high self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resiliency. It is part of the positive organizational behaviour (POB) framework. In the contemporary world, where uncertainty is the new normal and science has still not been able to invent a cure, PPC is the key to coming out of the crisis stronger, smarter and healthier. Over the last decade, global corporations and even governments have invested significantly in building organization-centric positive psychological capital.
COVID-19 has redefined the very concept of an organization model – from employees coming to work together in a designated place (head office, branch office, back office or manufacturing plants) to employees working in teams, groups, and departments. But, today suddenly, each one of us has got thrown into a solo-journey – the entire world is on a work-from-home (WFH) mode. Other than a feeble e-bridge of technology, whereby we still connect, every employee remains confined to their home with limited or virtual access to their organization. And this is a situation which employers and employees have never faced before.
Has the world stopped functioning? No. Rather organizations and professionals are recalibrating responses, business models and customer orientation in new ways.
The way we react to a crisis is, to a large extent, dependent upon the PPC. Human psychology talks about the power of mental-wellness during such times instead of mental illness, which can quickly grip us in such bleak scenarios. The losses from COVID-19 are by no means small and getting back to business will be an arduous task. How organizations ride out of this storm will be critical to their higher PPC quotient.
The best management strategy, risk evaluation or scenario planning has failed miserably in this crisis. In such times, organizations need to display a strong will-power and positivity to cope up with the situation – be it stakeholder empathy, doing the right things to protect the less deprived in the society or building alternate models of survival. PPC is a must to be able to make the right decisions, be morally fair and act humanely – traits which are needed now more than ever. Remember, any decision in haste that saves your company with immediate gains may create long-term damage in terms of talent goodwill and brand trust, which ultimately would make your business unsustainable.
Another important thing for organizations, that have a higher positive psychological capital, is their ability to drive better quality of employee engagement and motivation during the WFH environment. The need for engagement with your employees is highly important during such times. With fake news circulating in social media, it is easy for employees to get worried, or demotivated, which can lead to immature professional or personal decisions. An organization with higher PPC will have a much better engagement and trust with its employees which, in turn, will ensure that they display higher levels of commitment and work deliverables during such testing times.
Organizations need to remember that this crisis too shall pass. And we would be getting back to a world with a more competitive environment. Your employees, then, will be the most significant armour in winning back current or new market shares. Hence, the good physical and mental health of your employees and their families is the key to keep them ready to perform in the new world order. Here again, a strong PPC will ensure that employees remain steady and unfaltering for their organizations during such critical times. For any hard decisions, employees will have a better perception of the company rather than feeling abandoned or wronged during a crisis.
It is never too late. COVID-19 should be a reminder to corporations that alongside scientific or software-focused investments, building an organization’s positive psychological capital is critical, not only in regular times but more so during a crisis. Such programs are measured and deliver outcome-driven organizational improvement. They help build capability enhancement through optimal human functioning both during normal and ‘black swan’ events.
I would be happy to hear about your organization’s readiness and work in the areas of positive psychological capital for culture building.
For more insights on positive psychology and leadership, visit my website, www.sunil-deshmukh.com
