What We Need to Know About Post Traumatic Growth (PTG)

As a leader in your personal and professional life, what do you know about post-traumatic growth (PTG)? Reflecting on the following two questions might be quite revealing.

• How has the past year changed you?
• How have you changed since the beginning of the pandemic?

I know that I have changed significantly: What I believe. What I value. How I respond to uncertainty. How I respond to differences in perception and opinion.

We certainly have had plentiful opportunities to experience deep reflection and perplexing insights. The past few years has been a period of extreme transformation for individuals, businesses, and society. Hopefully, we are moving toward higher wisdom and equanimity.

Post-Traumatic Growth and Well-Being

The topic of post-traumatic growth is coming up more frequently in my coaching conversations as people begin to return to in-person work and pre-pandemic routines. While some are struggling with trauma recovery, others are reporting an increase in their well-being. As I explained in a previous blog, emotional trauma is a life-altering experience. 

In one study of 10,000+ trauma survivors (linked below), researchers found that trauma survivors (those who have experienced serious injury, combat, or the loss of a loved one) experienced increase in their well-being through PTG. They reported a greater sense of purpose, stronger social connections, and/or deeper spirituality. If you follow my work with emotional intelligence, you will recognize that this finding reflects the areas/realms of Self-Perception and Interpersonal.

What Great Leaders Care About

When the topic of trauma or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) comes up in discussions with women business owners and executives, I ask about their understanding of PTG in their leadership capacity and capability. I have found that great women leaders care about the physical, psychological, and emotional health of those they lead. Over my decades of assessing women-owned businesses and coaching women entrepreneurs, I can confidently state that this level of caring is not a newly developed leadership skill for them. It was evident before the pandemic. My belief is that it’s part of their leadership DNA in response to and aligned with wanting to lead in a different way.

These women leaders are now showing interest in the science of trauma and the insights that they can gain during individual and collective recovery from the pandemic, racial violence, global conflict, and economic uncertainty. These women help others affirm their individual values and strengthen community for individual and collective post-traumatic growth.

What Is Post-Traumatic Growth?

Post-traumatic growth occurs through the struggle with adversity and results in transformative positive change. Part of our struggle is our quest to make meaning from the trauma. Again, we have had plentiful opportunities and time to reflect on meaning.

Based on the research published by Lawrence G. Calhoun and Richard G. Tedeschi in The Handbook of Posttraumatic Growth (linked below), people who make meaning out of trauma:

• Deepen their sense of purpose and appreciation for life – Self-Perception
• Increase their sense of personal strength and ability to prevail – Self-Perception
• Improve their relationships and sense of belonging - Interpersonal
• Experience greater compassion – Self-Perception and Interpersonal

Note my reference to specific areas/realms of emotional intelligence: Self-Perception and Interpersonal.

While I am not advocating trauma, I do advocate focussing on silver linings such as the benefits of small support groups and group coaching.

Benefits of Small Support Groups and Group Coaching

Women, in particular, tend to prefer small support groups and group coaching. I personally participated in small support groups during my recovery from cancer treatment. Women regularly request group coaching in my THRIVE at Work After Cancer coaching program. They thrive with the support of other women. The opportunity to share our stories is an invaluable experience in PTG.

I will expand on the concept and effect of sharing our stories in weekly blog posts that follow.

If you are interested, reserve your seat for the next scheduled group coaching session of the THRIVE Plan Coaching Program with no obligation.

What has been your experience with post-traumatic growth? Is this a conversation you would like to continue?

Would you like to explore the connections I make with this topic and emotional intelligence? You can reach me on LinkedIn. Or click to Get in Touch. 

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• Check out the online mini-course Your Building Blocks to Emotional Well-Being and Resilience.
• Follow connections and references to emotional intelligence by investing in your own copy of The EQ Edge - Emotional Intelligence and Your Success, Steven J. Stein, PH.D. and Howard E. Book M.D.

Resources:

Managing Loss and Grief: Maestro's Encore Series

The prevalence of moderate-to-high posttraumatic growth: A systemic review and meta-analysis, National Library of Medicine, Epub 2018 Sept 12

The Handbook of Posttraumatic Growth Lawrence G. Calhoun and Richard G. Tedeschi in (Routledge, 2014