Popping into a webinar on the neuroscience of thriving during crisis from @atd. SCARF analogy to think about threats in our environments

Status
Certainty
Autonomy
Relatedness
Fairness

Leaders can help in all of these areas. Give people more autonomy and stop micromanaging when we are experiencing a shared threat to our environment. Work hard to manage relationships.

Leaders need to make work more sustainable. Rethink work practices, schedules, and meeting structures.

"Why do we need to work five days a week if we are working 40 hours Monday-Thursday?"

Giving people autonomy about when people work during times of crisis is a huge determiner of success and motivation.

"People do their best thinking when they aren't thinking." When you are not wrapped up with meetings, conference calls, and committees, you are able to be more creative, more productive, and make better progress towards institutional goals.

Because of this neuroscience, the presenter doesn't allow meetings on Monday or Tuesdays until after lunch so people CAN ACTUALLY DO THEIR JOBS. #SAchat are you listening???

Ask your employees to set up their camera far enough away to be able to see people's hand signals while they talk. These are neurological cues we miss by only seeing shoulders up. Also allows for quick hand cues like thumbs up or down that allow for full participation.

Conversations will expand to fill the time available. If you put an hour meeting on the calendar, but get done in 30 minutes, there is unspoken pressure that people may feel to continue to talk or discuss to feel like the time was "useful."

Critical components to thriving:

-Stay okay: What buffers do you need to be healthy?
-Make work sustainable: Rethink work practices, schedules, and meetings
-Leverage the moment: Re-imagine the big things like institutional culture and learning

This moment is literally once in a lifetime. We will never have a months-long slow-down again. This is an opportunity to rethink long-cherished beliefs, practices, and traditions. #SAchat

What "magic of the moment" do you want to maintain? Flexibility of working from home? Increased communication? Speed and agility of decision making? Prioritizing worker wellness?

There is something known as "distance bias" where if top leadership does not physically SEE their employees, they think they are not being productive. Work from home data says we gain a full DAY of productivity by working from home. #SAchat

-Create coherence, versus obsessing about novelty
-Think about habit activation, not distributing content
-Shift to essential habits in any domain, not an exhaustive approach
-Develop capabilities for high-impact learning in short bursts, not full-day training.