Surviving the crisis | Why you should 'look to the helpers' in the wake of coronavirus

The coronavirus outbreak has caused a lot of stress, anxiety and uncertainty for both business leaders and employers; for leaders, there is understandably a lot of concern about the future direction of the business and, for employees, there is a lot of fear about whether they will still have a job in a few months.

While things are difficult at the moment, and it may be challenging to a see a light at the end of the tunnel, it is important to remain positive and take inspiration from those people out there who are doing good things. Take frontline employees for example: those health professionals that make ill patients better; the supermarket staff that stock the shelves to make sure there is enough food to go around, and the scientific researchers that are working tirelessly to develop vaccines.

A recent Financial Times article said that, traditionally, psychologist’s advise parents to tell their children to “look to the helpers” in times of crisis. So, who are people that are demonstrating great leadership within this testing and difficult period?

Looking for more

Guidance | How to maintain leadership during an outbreak

Look at Canada’s Provincial Health Officer in British Columbia, Bonnie Henry, for example. She earned a wealth of respect from her Twitter fan base for her pronouncements on coronavirus, which she had to intermittently stop to shed some tears. While displaying emotion in a professional capacity is rare, the Financial Times said that this felt like the right moment for this kind of emotional response. And, it is certainly a welcome change from the type of communication styles adopted by other leaders.