Psychological health has become essential in the current socioeconomic situation. Covid-19 is causing a series of human reactions that have an impact on the organization and on the profit and loss account of retail businesses. As well as on the mood of retail professionals. Stress situations are reproduced in stores that remain open and in merchants who have temporarily closed. If intersubjective relationships have characteristics of extraordinary complexity, intrasubjective relationships are no less.
Psychological health for retail shops
There are two factors of force majeure that have suddenly appeared in the retail sector: isolation and uncertainty. Both psychological illnesses manifest in physiological expressions such as difficulty sleeping, lack of appetite, anxiety, sadness, irritability, fear or panic. To help us deal with this situation of isolation and uncertainty, psychology, in its therapeutic, neurological and social aspects, stands out as a crucial resource.
Therefore, CapKelenn offers you a psychological health service applied to commerce. We want to anticipate psychosocial risks and accompany managers, franchisees and retail staff who are facing situations of tension and insecurity. Firstly, we offer management care for the couple and children for those who remain at home burdened by professional and family responsibilities. Moreover, we help dismissed employees using emotional management techniques.
Listening by a Retail Coaching professional allows the person to vent their fears and frustrations. First of all, to get out of the loop. Secondly,to be able to positively rebuild a personal and business strategy. Psychological support in retail has become a necessity to seek corporate wellness.
Current stress situations caused by the Covid-19
In his book The Art of Becoming Bitter, the psychologist Paul Watzlawick collects a multitude of harmful attitudes to ourselves. We still reproduce because they are apparently unconscious. These are behaviors that harm us, hindering our emotional development and, thereby, having a negative impact on our mental health. They do not seem to have a positive solution. Here are some reactions that retail professionals may be experiencing.
Situations of tension in open chain stores
The shops that remain open during the health alert are those related to basic goods and services (food, telecommunications, health, transport, etc.). In addition, those whose functions can be performed by employees at home. The main causes of anxiety are fear of contagion, pressure from managers and the influence of negative client emotions. Some of the stress situations generated by the Covid-19 can be:
- “Clients convey their anxiety and fears to us, so I end the day with morale on the floor”
- “The incivism of clients crushes me”
- “We are working and exposed when our bosses give us orders from their homes, teleworking”
- “We fear for our health because we are exposed daily to a huge number of clients”
Situations of tension in closed store chains
A high percentage of the business fabric corresponds to shops and restaurants forced to close while the health alert lasts. Both store and restaurant chain owners and employees are facing numerous adversities. That creates a climate of tension, insecurity and fear:
- As regional director
- “It is difficult for me to keep my team motivated and focused, who is working at home”
- “Our product (fashion, luxury) is not essential. And although we could sell online, the team does not consider it appropriate” (cognitive dissonance)
- “Our peak of activity occurs precisely on these dates. It’s frustrating to give up the year for lost and not being able to do anything”
- As an employee or store manager
- “I feel lonely, isolated and without perspective”
- “With my children at home, I feel overwhelmed. I only have moments of 10 minutes to communicate. My bosses can communicate in a shocking way in just 10 minutes”
- “I have been fired, I fear for my income and how to face the expenses that still follow”
Therefore, these examples are illustrative of a generalized feeling of panic. It affects the cognitive level and paralyzes our positive reactions. As we observe, this psychological crisis transversely affects the entire retail sector: shops, restaurants, hotels, banks, etc.
Logotherapy
First of all, it is necessary to identify those actions that we produce or those inputs that we receive that undermine our self-esteem.Then, it is convenient to go to the conscious root to make sure that we ourselves are responsible for our happiness and our balance. Nothing is powerful enough to sink our morale.
In his monumental book Man’s Search for Meaning, the neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl recounted the brutalities he suffered in various Nazi concentration camps. Following these painful and traumatic experiences, he studied the human being’s attitude. Even devoid of everything, he transcends his difficulties because his dignity and freedom are indestructible.
Frankl developed a psychotherapeutic method, logotherapy, based on the search for the meaning of existence. So that we take responsibility for ourselves and for others through a positive perception of the world. It is time, therefore, that the managers and employees of chain stores face this negative situation caused by an external agent and take responsibility for their actions.
Psychological health in Retail
For the neurologist and psychiatrist Boris Cyrulnik, “pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” After trauma such as that caused by the pandemic we are experiencing, a new personal and professional development must be rebuilt based on resilience in commerce. This concept refers to the ability of Retail professionals to overcome a difficult situation.
At CapKelenn, we want to accompany you and your team to manage a process that goes from initial panic to a vision for the future. We want you to take back the reins of your business. The phases that follow in this psychological development vary in intensity and duration according to people. But the ultimate goal is the same: to prevent professional exhaustion caused by emotions of stress and vulnerability to guarantee corporate well-being.
Through online or face-to-face workshops, we promote the sincere expression of emotions. This is the first step to unblock the atavistic fear that becomes resistant in our psyche. We drive the coach’s stance at key moments, including recognition, empowerment, and personal consideration.
The anticipation of psychosocial risk is intended for managers and employees alike. So that the retail coaching training acquired by the manager will help them apply it with their staff. In times of crisis, solutions have to be collective and psychological health in retail is essential to save the team and, with it, the store.
“If it is not in your hands to change a situation that causes you pain, you can always choose the attitude with which you face that suffering”.
CapKelenn in luxury retail
CapKelenn is the primary certification in Retail Coaching worldwide, certifying managers in Retail to really become coaches for their sales teams, facilitating the transition towards a supreme clienteling savoir-faire. CapKelenn delivers the certification in 12 languages on all the 5 continents. CapKelenn accelerates change, thanks to people, with results that are fast, visible and sustainable, contributing to fertilize a client experience that is memorable and personalized.
Viktor Frankl
