29 Dec #WFH – Band aid solutions or a brand new perspective?
The research is out. Its findings are troubling. The era of working from home or living in the office is taking its toll. Surviving remotely is a far cry from thriving and growing. The badges of corporate wokeness we first wore as survivors of the zillion Zoom calls attended, have begun to tarnish. The designer leisurewear ordered online that we once believed would soften the mental fatigue, have begun to look tacky. While the cool factor has departed, the pressure to perform hasn’t. In fact, it’s only increased!
Meanwhile, expert advice on how to combat digital burnout keeps coming at us, as water from a fireman’s hose. Listen to calming music. Indulge in frequent breaks. Focus on cleansing your chakras. Cultivate a Zen garden at home. The list is endless. Everybody’s rushing in with band aid solutions to alleviate the symptoms. Virtually nobody is attempting to address its source. A fear, despair & helplessness, leading to host of presenting issues like insomnia, fatigue, attention-deficit symptoms and burnout.
Clearly what’s called for is a paradigm shift in how we view the pandemic, its and implicit outcomes. This in turn will help curate a vision of what the post-pandemic future will look like.
Let’s park this thought and consider a story that I read aeons ago, in Steven Covey’s book: Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
“I remember a mini-paradigm shift I experienced one Sunday morning on a subway in New York. People were sitting quietly – some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful scene. Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway car. The children were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climate changed. The man sat down next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers. It was very disturbing. And yet, the man sitting next to me did nothing.
It was difficult not to feel irritated. I could not believe that he could be so insensitive as to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt irritated, too. So finally, with what I felt like was unusual patience and restraint, I turned to him and said, “Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more?”
The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly, “Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.”
Can you imagine what I felt at that moment? My paradigm shifted. Suddenly I saw things differently, and because I saw differently, I thought differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently. My irritation vanished. I didn’t have to worry about controlling my attitude or my behaviour; my heart was filled with the man’s pain. Feelings of sympathy and compassion flowed freely. “Your wife just died? Oh I’m so sorry! Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?” Everything changed in an instant.”
Cultivating the right perspective could change everything. Specially the way we deal with impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Going by the data, it’s possible, but highly unlikely that the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant #wfh situation will magically disappear… though I personally wish it would. On the contrary, we’re currently in a second wave.
The pandemic and its aftermath, is the elephant in the room. Presenting issues like anxiety, anger, listlessness and loss of peace loom large. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Hidden deep within are the subconscious human emotions like fear, inadequacy and hopelessness that call to be addressed.
A game-changer for me was reading Simon Sinek’s great book, The Infinite Game. The book is all about having a long view of life, seeing things as larger than short-term goals and playing the infinite game. One that continues on without end. It calls for an ongoing perspective renewal, because the point of the game isn’t winning; it’s about keeping the game going while you succeed.
This perspective enabled me to stand in a place of empathy. First towards myself and then towards the people I’m called to lead. Seeing my own battles differently, allowed me to look at the situation through the eyes of those whom I’m called to lead. Suddenly a doorway to freedom opened up, to truthfully address and counter leadership barriers while building audacity, capability and abounding hope for the future.
Victor Frankl in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, recounts that the prisoners in the Nazi concentration camps who lost hope or purpose, didn’t make it through to the next dawn. While those who found hope and meaning in life, could endure unspeakable horrors and live to tell the tale.
Developing new perspectives through which we look at the Corona virus and its implications is transformative and humbling. It calls forth collaboration, courage and the risk of failure. But it also opens up unexplored realms of possibility, with little to lose and a brave new world to gain for posterity! Comments welcome…
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