At best, these are uncertain times. Although uncertainty can be fruitful because it can motivate us to be curious and exploratory to reduce said uncertainty, it can make us anxious and hesitant. One hardly wants to risk trying new things when the uncertainty and its associated risk for loss are perceived to be too high. Further, uncertainty can bring about fear of the unknown, particularly when it concerns not only the safety and health of our families and ourselves but also our jobs and ways of life. Indeed, these days, it is hard to find solace and reasons for optimism when daily headlines are crowded with dire news related to the coronavirus disease‐19 (COVID‐19) pandemic.
Our leaders know all‐too‐well how uncertainty and the fear it generates has riled the world's stock markets and wreaked havoc on our private and professional lives. Medical professionals, the heroes of our time, are fighting valiantly to save peoples' lives, and with much success, albeit it is rarely reported. Still, they are facing the pressing reality of the unknown. They risk their lives daily not knowing if a small slipup in safety protocol will expose them to the COVID‐19 virus and concomitantly their families. Moreover, colleges and universities are confronting the real possibility of decreased enrollments and crushing budget shortfalls. With no idea when relief might be in sight, higher education administrators are constructing budgets for the upcoming academic year that include worst case scenarios where they fear enrollments might drop up to 25%. Faced, too, with the unknown, businesses in almost every sector, especially restaurants, department stores, barbershops and hair salons, gyms, and entertainment venues such as theaters have been hit hard by forced closures. Business owners rightly fear that they may not be able to reopen and remain viable. To top it all off, as working adults, parents and grandparents are being required to “home school” their children or grandchildren, often with unfamiliar media. In all these instances, the unknown and the fear it generates can be calamitous.
Notwithstanding, there are grounds for optimism and hope because as we accrue new knowledge about how to deal effectively with COVID‐19 and its consequences, in many walks of life, the unknown seems just a little less daunting. Fear fades as uncertainty is replaced by research‐based knowledge. There is evidence our leaders are working cooperatively to sponsor research and find means to stop the spread of the virus. Medical researchers are reporting promising new research‐based strategies to deal with those who have been infected, as well as encouraging advances in developing a vaccine. Admittedly, a vaccine or cure may be far off, but there is a sense of “We can do this” from our medical experts. In higher education, administrators, faculty and staff, and students are learning ways to cooperate for the sake of facilitating student learning, despite the daunting challenges. Whereas business owners are extremely concerned about being able to reopen and maintain the long‐term viability of their respective businesses, they too are jointly cooperating with community leaders, unions, employees, vendors, and customers to learn from each other and find ways to operate safely and viably. Similarly, at home, parents and grandparents are cooperating with principals, teachers, and neighbors to teach our precious children.
As human resource development (HRD) researchers and practitioners, we have much to add to the emerging conversation about how to reduce uncertainty and fear through cooperating and learning for the good of all. Our research, for example, informs how to teach and facilitate learning best in online settings. Refreshing new research could be designed to investigate best strategies to reduce anxiety and fear for our neophyte online learners who are not online learners by choice. HRD research also can clarify how to maintain an optimal work/life balance. Perhaps ethnographic research could clarify understandings of a “new workplace” where so much more is being done from home. What happens to that delicate work/life balance in current times? Further, our research could enlighten career development efforts in our new workplaces where market stability seems less likely and employees are left to their own devices as to how to grow both professionally and personally (i.e., protean career paths). Mixed‐method, longitudinal designs could examine career trajectories in these times and how they are linked to short‐ and long‐term career‐related outcomes. In addition, in such a time of profound change, HRD researchers, as change experts, would have much to say about how best to handle and manage organizational change. New research could be implemented, for example, to investigate how so much change related to safety (e.g., maintaining social distancing, wearing face masks) has bearings upon individual, team, and organizational performance. There is so much more to add and I call upon HRD professionals to step up and lend their research and practical expertise to finding effective ways to help us adapt to the new workplace.
The point of all this is that together “We CAN do this.” Obviously, it will not be easy, but we as human beings are a resilient species, one that has surmounted the seemingly impossible over the millennia to learn, adapt, and prosper. As citizens and HRD professionals, we must all do our part to defeat uncertainty and fear of the unknown through leading cutting‐edge research and taking what we have learned and applying it for the betterment of all.