The Anniversary We Could Do Without: A review of local Comms learnings from a crisis year

Our community of communicators, like most desk workers in Basel, is approaching not one, but two anniversaries that we could and would happily do without: Fasnacht falling flat – again –, and what some might call, WFH Day; that day in March when we were sent home with our laptops and told to stay put to keep the virus at bay. That is exactly what we did, save occasional office or canteen visits over the summer.

So yes, it has been almost a year, and this is getting old. The days of funny Zoom hats, quarantinis and secret joy over doing this workshop facilitation thingie in yoga pants are definitely over. Instead, we feel tired and confused by everybody’s and our own ever-shrinking attention span that seems to correlate with an ever-increasing grumpiness.

As communicators, while we can’t make any of this go away, we can make it a lot more bearable for our colleagues and ourselves. One year into Covid-19, our first responsibility is still to inform, to clearly explain how, when, and why the rules and priorities relevant for us change. We have learned that too much information can be quite stressful for many colleagues. We must admit transparently: We cannot foresee certain things at the moment, but we are aware of them, and our companies, governments etc., are working to find solutions.

Interestingly, this situation has led many of us to think more about the bigger questions: What are my goals in life? what do I want? What do I stand for? Being able to see this crisis as an opportunity can give some an energy boost … but put additional pressure on others.

Some people draw more energy from personal contact with colleagues than others. Very introverted people may enjoy and prefer the opportunity to work from home, even after a year. The current situation acts like a magnifying glass that further intensifies existing challenges. People who live alone might suffer more than usual from loneliness, while anyone who previously had difficulties mentally detaching themselves from work, may hardly relax at all anymore.

I have observed that a healthy attitude towards work can help to keep those mood swings at bay.  “I do my job as well as I can – no more and no less” is actually not a bad mantra. Doing our best every day is important. But the “best” is not a constant: on the days when we were less successful, we probably did our best anyway. Aside from our own performance, there are many other factors that play a role in corporate communication success or failure. Too many of us feel responsible for things that we cannot influence on our own.

Let’s be clear: communication is important, but it also has limits. As communicators, we can have a stellar day, but will not be able to pick all our colleagues up from where they are in their heads and hearts. And that’s perfectly ok.

P.S. First day of spring in 2021 is Saturday, March 20. Just sayin’.

Christiane Becker, a Science Communicator with training in Psychosocial Health, has been an invaluable source of reliable, comprehensive and non-inflammatory COVID-19 information for the Basel expat community. Christiane is an experienced, bilingual strategic communicator, focused on the hot topics of the life science and pharma sector: digital & data, research ethics, sustainability, and COVID-19.