Staying Connected in Times of Crisis

The FACC-NY network is composed of a diverse mosaic of talented, experienced, and open-hearted professionals united by a desire to share their knowledge, nurture meaningful connections and succeed professionally. In this Member Insights series, we invite a guest member to contribute timely and relevant insight on the challenges happening in their industry and how to adapt for the long-term. 

Mathilde Bernard, FACC Ambassador and Executive Director of Sud de France USA, plays an influential role in bringing products and companies from the Occitanie/ Mediterranean Pyrenees region in the south of France to the American market.

Keep reading for Mathilde's advice for staying connected amidst these uncertain times... 

On March 16^th, the biggest lockdown in the history of the United States, and should we say, the world, began, caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Millions of Americans, suddenly deprived of their social needs, quickly became intimately familiar with a new concept: social distancing. This would have meant nothing to anyone only 6 months ago, but now it is a part of our everyday vocabulary. “Would you like to do a social distancing apéro?” – a sentence that many French people have uttered in these last few weeks. So how can we fulfill our social needs in this new “socially distanced” reality? How well can we stay connected with each other?

Increase the quality and the number of our interactions 

The idea is not to vigorously increase the number of emails exchanged in a day, but to pick up the phone more often than you would have done in a pre-crisis reality. Talking is usually a better way to fix problems than sending an email but it is even more relevant when you and your colleagues are severed from social interaction. Calling more often will also increase the quality of your discussion with others, you will probably take more time to also inquire about each other’s life and discover things that you would not have known otherwise. Understanding what others are going through; especially in times of crisis, will also improve your relationship with them.

See each other virtually

You probably think that there are too many video conferences in a day, however, what you do not realize is that it is important for your mental health. You may be surprised by the numerous studies showing the positive effects of video calls on our brain, mood, and emotions. One of the most recent studies from The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, which analyzed older adults in the U.S., who are more likely to be socially isolated, found that using video chats to stay connected can reduce depressive and anxiety symptoms by almost 50% when compared to audio and email connections. Staying alone can amplify negative emotions, especially if there is a problem that is eating at you. If you take a call with a video and interact with people at the same time as seeing them, it tends to help these emotions and have the same effect on you as if you were meeting them in reality. This can be particularly effective if you need to fix a problem with your boss, for example!

Create, participate and learn together digitally

You always dreamed of learning about wine, what if the isolation imposed upon you by this crisis was finally the time to do it? Digitizing content has been the number one priority for many companies in the last few weeks which has given us access to free content, classes, events, shows, etc. As a company, creating this new content will give you access to new targets and new geographical areas. As a consumer, it gives you the opportunity to connect with more people than before, and the benefit of learning as you engage with these new opportunities. It also creates a new way of learning, for example, you can buy a duck breast from a website that will deliver it to you and will teach you how to cook it through a live class. Or you can buy wines and open them in front of a live teacher that will show you how to properly taste them. And if you want to meet your friends, why not meeting them during a virtual museum visit of the MET?

Follow us on Instagram at Suddefranceny for free wine classes, virtual visits of beautiful wine estates in the South of France, and to participate in our weekly wine giveaways. Much more to come…