In these times of Corona Virus and the gloom surrounding it, what with job losses, small businesses facing closure, etc, MediaNews4u spoke to a few Industry leaders across sectors on how they are motivating their staff to stay positive in the time of crisis.
Let’s all make the Positivity Pandemic!
I have always believed in the practice of “Control the Controllable“ and this philosophy has always helped me in the toughest of times. What we are facing today is an unprecedented situation and it will be sometime before we are out of the woods completely. This has massive ramifications on consumer-facing and retail-oriented businesses like us and we cannot sustain this massive loss on account of the pandemic. I cannot say more about what the outcome entails because it is self-explained, but like we always say “Sar Salamat to Pagdi Pachaas” and hence health and life are above everything. And like every other challenge, this too shall pass. It’s an uncontrollable situation but I am doing the things that I can directly control which is to stay positive and spread positivity.
From a professional point of view, this is a great opportunity to display leadership which is empathy led and can create a situation of hope. I keep telling my team to stay positive, stay cautious and stay the course by doing the things essential for survival. It is very easy to have this huge amount of time on hand and do nothing but OTT binging at home, but all that will do to you is make you lethargic, fat and disoriented. Rather use this time to commit to fitness, keep a strict diet (easy access to food at home can put your health into disarray) and do things that can take you to a happy place. This could be anything from spending time with your kids to reading to writing, but please commit to it. Make those phone calls to friends that you haven’t spoken with for a while, go for walks in the park, cycle with your kids…Do whatever it takes to keep you in that positive space so that when things come back to normal, you are in an absolutely fresh and ready to go mode.
Our business is in shutdown mode so work from home does not apply much besides some basic routine follow-ups and similarly, most of our partners are in the same mode so work routine has slowed down drastically. I am using this time to speak regularly with my team through calls and WhatsApp to keep them motivated and while we are all at home, still give them a sense of “team” so that when we all get back to work, its work as usual. Thanks to the massive urban commute challenges over the last 6 months, commitment to fitness was reduced so am committing more to that by giving one hour every day to fitness. Like I was telling my team, let’s all get back to work 4-5 kilos lighter
On a personal note, my son Vivaan is very happy that I am at home so we end up doing a lot of activities together like playing board games, reading, cycling and I have promised him that I will teach him how to make Maggi & tea. I have been writing a children’s fiction book for the last year, so maybe this is the time where it gets some dedicated time & energy from me. There are a couple of start-ups that I have been mentoring and I intend to spend more time with them. Let’s see, pretty much the idea is to fill the day with so much work and positive activities that there is no space in your mind for any negative thoughts. Let’s all “Control the Controllable” , do what is in our hands, be at our absolute best during these trying times and believe that “this too shall pass” ! And please don’t forget to keep washing your hands and maintain social distancing.
