Most of what we do at prospect involves social contact rather than social distancing. This is because our work is deeply social - about how human beings ‘be’ at work and with others - whether that’s leading yourself and developing self awareness and new behaviours or skills, leading others in teams and partnerships, or working in change and complexity.
Working one-to-one in coaching, in workshops or delivering courses, we pride ourselves on our ability to create atmosphere, rapport and trust. This creates conditions for people to reflect, learn, challenge and develop. How do we re-create this, or can we even recreate this in a world where we may not be able to be physically together in larger numbers for some time?
Our clients and partners are working with us to explore how we might best navigate this challenge. As a team we are using lockdown to experiment - we have been coaching via video-conferencing for sometime, and are using peer supervision and client evaluations to hone this further. So far, we are learning that time ‘on screen’ is working well, if it is focused and is mindful of zoom fatigue. We are experimenting with one of our cancer alliance clients for a future programme, to explore blended delivery of pre-work, our on-line learning platform, PRO_VE and Digital delivery. We are speaking with a partner organisation who deliver huge events and conferences, about technological impact - even creating virtual reality environments!
However, as much as we are seeing magnificent achievements in the NHS and other clients, we are highly aware this pandemic is bringing crisis, loss, challenge, stress and trauma to many - and that this is going to need considerable support as we all work our way ahead. We know that story-telling and sense-making are often important to allow people to process. Matt Worden, Prospect Associate and Arts Expert, has been helping people capture their ‘here and now’ sense-making by capturing live discussions via Zoom in illustration. Matt has excellent skill in observing and listening and translating this into a powerful drawing. See this recorded example below.
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