Post pandemic life is more complex, more technical and more emotionally challenging.  In our conversations with business leaders we often hear the refrain,

‘No one cares,’

and observations that the workforce is ‘disengaged’ and ‘burnt out’. Leaders experience their staff to be wary of workplace change which, in the wake of the pandemic, is necessary to continue to transform, adapt and respond to the changed ways in which we do business.

When COVID-19 hit, society was faced with uncertainty, fear and danger. Unlike other natural disasters where we come together to respond to the threat,  we were encouraged, and then compelled, to isolate ourselves from others. As our usual in-person relating was greatly disrupted, the social connectivity of society was significantly altered. No longer could we interact in person at businesses, schools, shops, restaurants, cafes, clubs, or sporting facilities. We suffered grocery shortages and the media revelled in publishing footage of divided shoppers fighting it out for toilet paper, reinforcing the image of every person for themselves.

Overnight workforces were sent home and companies scrambled to connect with staff in order that they find new ways to keep doing business. Suddenly we all had to flex to working through video calls, solving our own  IT issues, negotiating for quiet work space and for many, becoming a home-school teacher as well.

For most of us during the pandemic we related to the world through our devices. We logged on, Zoomed, emailed, shopped, binged and zoned out, and for many, our devices began to keep us up late and disrupted our biological sleep rhythms. The boundaries between off-line and on-line, and work and home, were blurred and while some welcomed this new flexibility,  others struggled to find their new tempo and establish workable systems and routines.

Following the lifting of lockdowns and the opening of the state and international borders, life has not returned to pre-COVID days. Our way of life and ways of working have developed and changed, and continue to change. Most workers have a hybrid mode of working between the office and home and parents have more complex lives juggling work and child care, with women doing an even greater share of the caring. Many businesses such as cafes located within business hubs struggle to be profitable, and many office blocks are near to empty. At the same time interest rates on home loans have risen dramatically, while house prices on average continue to rise.  A recent university study of over 300 post pandemic work-life research articles identified three themes in

post-pandemic work-life changes: The boundaries between work and personal life have become increasingly permeable, leading to the rise of behaviour and time based conflicts between these two domains. Second, there has been a noticeable escalation in the demands of technical work, characterised by challenges such as technological intrusion, overload, and complexity. Third, work has become more psychologically and emotionally demanding.

When we operate for extended periods of time under increased uncertainty, pressure and strain, to manage our fatigue we seek to conserve energy, find shortcuts and switch to autopilot. Our emails can become shorter and less nuanced, we don’t put in the work preparing for meetings, we leave our video off during meetings, we don’t check out misunderstandings with others, or perhaps we spend more time consulting ChatGPT than our colleagues. While this all feels like it makes sense from a conserving energy point of view, in reality, it is just kicking the can down the road and creating problems for our future selves.

To find a way forward let’s take a quick detour into the science of the mind. Humans have two systems of thinking; one is like the hare and the other is like the tortoise. The Hare thinking system is quick and efficient, it operates automatically with little or no effort, and is the intuitive, emotional, and unconscious mode of thinking. It handles tasks like recognizing faces, driving on familiar roads, and making quick judgments. For efficiency this style of thinking relies on its first impressions from a glance, but accuracy is the tradeoff and it is vulnerable to biases, distortions, inflexibility and overconfidence. The Tortoise cognitive system is slower and more deliberate and requires conscious effort, which makes it more accurate. In this mode we are conscious of our thinking and can be analytical and logical to solve complex and difficult problems.

It makes sense that during a time of higher stress stemming from an increase in complexity, diffuse work-life boundaries and increased emotional pressures, our minds default to the reactive Hare mode of thinking and emotionality. However for most work roles, we need our teams to be operating in Tortoise mode: analytical, accurate, and responsive. A concrete example of the outcomes of thinking fast or thinking slow comes from a friend of mine, who is a highly experienced paramedic. He said whenever he arrives at a critical incident he feels a great deal of pressure from people at the scene to rush to the patient. He said if paramedics react to the urgency, run into the scene and begin to speak to the patient too quickly, their rushed speech and behaviour becomes contagious to those around them. Thinking becomes rushed and important details are omitted, leading to poor decision making.  As leaders, there are three influential strategies we can use to help ourselves and our teams to shift into the Tortoise mode of thinking.

Settle self to settle others

In the presence of threat we will collectively move into emotionally activated states to protect ourselves and others, and conversely, being calm and settled in ourselves prompts others to become more settled. Humans have thrived and adapted through cooperating in groups and co-regulating each other’s emotional states. As leaders, when we are emotionally settled and open to others, we send a powerful non-verbal communication to those around us that they are also safe in this moment. From this safe state, their minds are more able to be curious, creative and logical. From this state of mind, collectively we are most able to solve complex problems.

Listen to understand. 

When we are under pressure it is difficult to slow down and listen. We become impatient for the other to finish speaking so we can make our point. Impatiently listening with only half an ear and being quick to respond, keeps us (and likely, the other person) in Hare mode. The result is that we are vulnerable to falling into the trap of habitual thinking which is generally inflexible and more likely to contain biases and cognitive distortions.

To engage a deeper form of thinking and engagement, experiment with listening as if you don’t know about the topic. Listen with curiosity, and seek to find areas of common ground in discussions and debates. Careful and curious listening makes the other feel understood and this is an important leadership skill. Research tells us that if a person perceives that we have respectfully and carefully listened to their position, they are then more likely to negotiate and make concessions. As a leader we can influence and guide others, as much through careful listening, as through speaking.

Say what you mean, Kindly. 

Practice taking your time to formulate your thoughts and the messages you use to express your thoughts and wishes with clarity. Keep in mind Pascal’s famous quote: I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter.  Under pressure some can become too preoccupied with how the message may be received, and in a bid to avoid all possible conflict or offence, will be too indirect and include too much detail and then fail to communicate the essential aspect of their idea or request. But conversely, don’t then use an oversized hammer for the communication job, as being too heavy handed or direct can also be a pitfall. If we become too direct and don’t spend sufficient time to reflect on how the communication may be received by others, it can lead to unnecessary misunderstandings or disharmony.

Take your time to think about the point you want to communicate, reflect  on whether it is based on reason, think about  how it may be received, reflect on whether the emotional tone of your message is measured and how it may impact on your work relationships, beyond the current moment.

Please reach out to Optimal Minds if you would like to develop your skills in responding rather than reacting, to deepen your leadership skills or to improve the psychological safety of your organisation.