Achieving Personal Growth Through a Crisis

By Rose O. Sherman, EdD, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN

What can be learned from a crisis? We know from the literature that posttraumatic growth is possible. Our experiences with COVID-19, while challenging, also offer the possibilities of greater personal growth. In the current issue of the Harvard Business Review, Richard Tedeschi offers some expert professional advice on how we can facilitate our growth. The following are five elements of growth to consider:

Education – to move through trauma to growth, Tedeschi recommends that you reflect carefully on your core beliefs that have been disrupted. We may have believed that we could keep our nursing workforce safe. We may have thought that in the face of a pandemic, there would be a strong national response. We may have believed that treatments would quickly become available. We may have thought that we could continue other services when confronting a pandemic. We may not have been able to imagine a scenario where we would furlough nurses. We may not have considered that the public might rethink their old patterns of healthcare consumption. Part of growing involves educating ourselves about our old assumptions that may no longer be true. Tedeschi contends that accepting the reality of different truths is an this is an important step to growth. We can emerge recognizing that we are operating under very different ideas than we did before the crisis.
Emotional Regulation – an essential part of emerging successfully from a crisis is the ability to self-regulate our own emotions. It is too easy to fall into a pattern of anger, anxiety, and guilt. As we see these emotions emerge, we need to refocus them. We need to instead consider what this situation makes possible for us. We need to use resilience strategies that have worked for us in the past to help regulate our emotions. Acknowledging the frightening nature of the circumstances is important but should be tempered with hope.
Disclosure – talking about what is happening is a vital part of personal growth. We need to try to articulate what we are struggling with. Leaders, he suggests, should be more transparent about their struggles, and how they are trying to manage the uncertainty. We need to be able to tell our stories in supportive environments. We won’t grow unless we can reflect on what we are experiencing.
Narrative Development – Tedeschi urges that another key step in growing through a crisis is to produce an authentic narrative about what has happened. Only when we do this can we accept the chapters of the experience that have already been written can we move to the next ones in a meaningful way.
Service – the research evidence suggests that people who do better after experiencing trauma focus on servicing others who may have been through the same experience. Leaders can focus on the mental health of their staff as a way to improve their own mental health.

When we focus on personal growth and what we can learn from our experiences, we open ourselves to greater personal strength, new possibilities, improved relationships, a deeper appreciation for life, and spiritual growth. Tedeschi reports from his own work that we need to be patient in our own growth. You may remain in a negative place for quite a while. Personal growth cannot be forced, and it cannot be rushed. With crisis comes the opportunity for greater personal and collective growth. We should not squander that possibility.

Read to Lead

Tedeschi, R. G. (2020). Growth after trauma: Five steps for coming out of a crisis stronger. Harvard Business Review. July/August 2020. p. 127-131.

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