Feel the Fear. Then Use It.
Like coronavirus, emotions like fear and anxiety are contagious. As a social psychologist, I know this—I wrote my dissertation on emotional contagion. Still, I feel fear. I feel the collective anxiety. And I should; Coronavirus has shown us that we are interconnected and vulnerable. As we see all of Europe on lockdown, it is normal to feel emotions like fear, anxiety, and sadness.
I have a decade of experience in teaching psychology in the classroom and applying it in my work with organizations as a consultant. From this, I know that being aware of our emotions is a good thing. Without awareness, we are prisoners to our emotions--we are on lockdown in our inner houses, isolated and afraid. With awareness, we can mindfully take the necessary step forward.
In Hawaii, Coronavirus may soon force organizations to adapt to virtual work if a statewide quarantine is put in place. Organizations will need to functionally adapt, quickly putting into place teleworking procedures and allowing employees to work from home. Some organizations have teleworking policies and practices already in place, but many don’t and will need to learn quickly. The good news is that there are clear steps these organizations can take, and help is available for that (see my one page summary of how to prepare your organization for teleworking).
The bad news is that making all the necessary logistical and procedural changes, what I call functional adaptation, is stressful and hard enough in itself—but it is the easy part. The harder part is dealing with the human side of adapting to change, and dealing with emotions. As anyone who waited in line for toilet paper at Costco knows, we are emotional creatures (preparedness is rational, but those early folks who bought a palette of toilet paper sufficient for years, well, I hope you have the space for it!)
Emotional adaptation will differentiate the organizations that not only survive this difficult time, but grow stronger from it. The best will learn to thrive through challenge. The trouble is that when an individual (or an organization) is gripped by fear and in panic mode, he won’t want to hear words like strength, resilience, and thriving—he is only trying to survive. This is natural. But I am here to say that we can do better than that, and we must.
If/when we go on extended quarantine measures in Hawaii, functional adaptation for organizations means having the logistics, procedures, and policies in place for teleworking; allowing people to work from home to slow the spread of the virus. Again, this is systematic, doable, and requires calm assessment and planning—I and others can help here in providing direction and process.
Emotional adaptation is more difficult and means attending to the human side of change, so that employees are actually motivated and productive while working at home. When I say we must do better than just panic mode, I mean that organizations must attend to individuals and to teams as human and emotional entities, and although it’s messier, it’s also doable through psychological principles.
For example, in his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation,” American psychologist Abraham Maslow laid out a hierarchy of needs, depicted as a five-tiered pyramid. Simply put, an individual’s motivations are determined from the bottom of the pyramid moving upwards and first start with the fulfillment of physiological (air, water, food), and then safety needs (personal security, employment, resources). These two baseline needs must be met before an individual can attend to needs higher up, like love and belonging (friendship, sense of connection), esteem (respect, status, recognition, freedom), and self-actualization (the highest realization of one’s potential). We see this theory in action as we all run to Costco for toilet paper, or when organizations scramble to functionally adapt without thought to the emotional adaptation of employees—satisfying basic needs first.
How does this relate to emotional adaptation? Learning about this theory of motivation is just like becoming aware of our emotions; it allows us to take a step back and not be a mindless slave to our fear and anxiety. That doesn’t mean we don’t feel fear or anxiety, or that we don’t take care of our basic needs first. It means that we are able to first pause and take a mindful breath. To have compassion for ourselves and for others who are all scrambling to feel safe and secure. To take practical steps to meet basic needs while being open to practices that build connection, strength, and resilience too.
Organizations that can attend to emotional in addition to functional adaptation will be a step ahead from others. Being aware of employees as humans—and the mental processes, emotions, and behaviors that psychologists have long studied—is not an easy practice, it’s messier and non-linear and requires more ability to stay present with discomfort. But if COVID-19 can teach us anything, it is that we are all interconnected and we all must adapt to change.
