We’ve all been living and working under the shadow of coronavirus for over a year. We’ve all adapted to deal with it and have settled into a new rhythm after the initial burst of adrenalin fuelled energy in the first few weeks and months.

As the vaccination program takes effect and the possibility of international travel creeps a little closer, my wife and I were talking about the idea of maybe booking a trip away. We asked our daughter who is six, ‘how would you like to go on holiday soon?’

Here face lit up. She replied, ‘you mean like on an aeroplane?”

‘Yes’, we said smiling, ‘a real holiday on a plane!’

I was taken aback by what happened next.

She burst into tears.

We asked why she was crying, was it joy, sadness, fear? She couldn’t articulate the feeling, which she is normally quite good at doing, she was just overwhelmed by emotion at the very thought of getting back on a plane.

Living in the UAE away from both sets of family, mine in the UK and my wife’s in Australia, means that flying has been very much part of my children’s lives since birth. But I had completely underestimated the impact that not travelling for a year has had on us all. I felt a sense of excitement and relief, and my daughter obviously did too, but was unable to process the emotional impact at the thought of actually being able to travel again, hence the tears.

Living with Coronavirus

The pandemic has forced us to adapt, and we’ve settled into this long game in our families and work teams of living under its shadow every day. We even call it the ‘new normal’ due to the familiarity bred over months of living with our new rhythms, rituals and routines. But don’t underestimate how that shadow is affecting the family members and teammates around you.

We are used to dealing with events in our lives that are sudden, one offs. Death. Losing a job. Moving house. Identifiable, quantifiable, and obvious. We are not so good at dealing with the subtle, the invisible and yet equally as powerful.

This is not a normal existence. We didn’t choose it and most of us don’t want it. Life has been restricted and even though we’re all getting by on the surface, when something happens that gives you a glimpse of a return to ‘normal’, of a life out from under the shadow, you can really see how living in these times has taken its toll.

The same impact that we are noticing in our family and with my daughter will be happening in your team at work, too. The initial panic and fear may have given way to everyone just getting on with it, but there is this ‘thing’, this event that is coronavirus that is lurking every day in the life and minds of your team.

The Pandemic’s Impact on your work team

In my coaching work recently, I have been encouraging teams to take a conscious look back at the past year, to look from the outside at themselves and their team, at the impact that coronavirus has. This has been tremendously revealing about how much of an impact it is having and gives them the opportunity to deal with it in a way that they haven’t been able to due to the busyness of day-to-day life.

It also allows them to mourn. We are familiar with the concept of mourning loved ones who pass away, but it is also necessary to mourn the passing of other things that have gone from the team. People who have had to be made redundant. Full salaries. The office. Team lunches. Many things have had to go, some permanent, some temporary, which it is important to be able to consciously let go.

These sessions have been almost ritualistic, to let go of the past in the same way we use funerals to mark the passing of people. We have also used them to look forward. We spend time visualizing their best hope for the future, but also their worst fears. This allows the team to become aware of the possibilities, to know what they want to avoid and to actively plan for how they can achieve their biggest dreams.

What to do next

We will all still have to live with coronavirus for a while to come. But it’s so important to spend even a little bit of time consciously dealing with its impact, both at home and at work. Even if you think it’s not having an effect, it is. Ask your people, and especially the little people in your life. You’ll be surprised by the conversation.

I help teams address the reality of their existence, so they can consciously and intentionally design their future. If you would like to talk about how I can do this for your team, please get in touch andy@theteamspace.com.