Since the outbreak of COVID-19 became a serious health threat all over the world and everyone was forced to lock up at home in self-quarantine, it was clear that everyday routine – going to work included – was abruptly interrupted for an indefinite period of time.

In this moment of discontinuity and need to forcedly reorganize our own daily activities, many of us have started reading, studying, participating in trainings – activities that until this very moment have been frequently neglected – to fill up all that time that suddenly is free.

Everyone at Awair thought of what their extended community must have been feeling and the need to do something to virtually shorten the distance grew stronger. A webinar series was eventually born to share some knowledge on psychometric tools and Hogan Assessments with a focus on the uncertainty and the stress that comes with it, packed with practical tools to cope with the emerging crisis.

Awair’s series of webinars aims at taking a pause within the pause, to breathe and grow awareness of what is happening around and within us; to reflect and to equip ourselves to cope with the crisis and get ready for the future.

With the support of the Hogan tools, this series represents an excellent starting point to learn more about our own personality, or how we handle stressful circumstances, or how we can re-focus on our deepest values to realign ourselves with our motivations to go on. However, it is also a valuable opportunity to learn new methods to keep “hanging on” in complex situations, or to develop our own way to make sense of an experience and tell the “right” story.

The first episode of this series is “Personality 101”

Dimitra Kakaraki, Senior Consultant of Awair, Psychologist, and Cognitive Behavior Therapist, gives us an overview of Awair’s leadership and potential assessment model based on Hogan’s assessments. She shares the principles of Hogan’s personality analysis applied to the organizational context with strong emphasis on the concept of reputation. This is the kind of evaluation that facilitates growing self-awareness and a deeper understanding our own individual journey.

The second episode is “The Dark Side of Personality: Self-Analysis at the Time of COVID-19”

Andrea Facchini, Partner of Awair, Business Psychologist, and Executive Coach, guides us through the dark side of our personality. Using Hogan’s HDS model, he highlights and illustrates behaviors that emerge in stressful situations that respond to the primal instincts of flight, fight, and freeze and that might derail our business relationships and impact our careers negatively. The COVID-19 pandemic is currently a significant source of stress, and it is good to have someone who helps us navigate them and grow more self-aware.

The third episode is “What Really Matters: The Relevance of Values and Preferences”

Andrea Facchini, Partner of Awair, Business Psychologist, and Executive Coach, gives us a compass so that we do not lose sight of what matters the most to each one of us. Using Hogan’s MVPI model, he facilitates the understanding of what gives us satisfaction and energy or, on the contrary, takes the wind out of our sails and demotivates us.

Under pressure and in wearing times such as these, we might give more importance to basic priorities and to survival instincts, pushing our values and preferences to a far-off corner of our mind, but these represent the beacon that guides the decisions of our lives and wellbeing, of our careers and our relationships, helping us make a sense of everything.

The fourth episode is “Mental Toughness & Resilience”

Andrea Facchini, Partner of Awair, Business Psychologist, and Executive Coach, explores two concepts borrowed from sports “mental toughness” and “resilience.” They echo that kind of attitude that helps champions emerge exactly when everyone else is “slacking off.” He shares some practical tools to develop a mindset able to keep the performance level high, even in the most unfavorable circumstances.

The fifth episode is “Storytelling: A Journey to Self-Discovery”

Alberto De Biasi, Executive Consultant of Awair and Learning and Leadership Expert, starts from an interesting premise: from new challenges, we can always learn something about ourselves, the others, and the world. These times are accelerating the collective process of learning and discovery that needs words to really sink in. Yet, it is not always easy to name emotions, to shape thoughts, to straighten them up, and express them in a clear, engaging, and memorable way. He provides insights on storytelling principles, elements, and techniques to help us tell our stories.

A new season is currently in the making, with more episodes available soon on Awair’s website and social media accounts.

All the episodes are available on Awair’s YouTube channel.

*This is a guest post provided by Awair, Authorized Hogan Distributor.