Minimizing #zoomfatigue should be on every leaders radar because #zoomfatigue is no joke. Many of my clients report spending the majority of their day in back to back video meetings—and it’s a recipe for burnout. New research confirms what is obvious: being “on” close up video all day and forced to stare at a computer screen is hugely fatiguing and has a physical, emotional and mental cost. Zoom limits our mobility and forces our close-up prolonged eye contact which is exhausting! Most interesting from the research is being forced to stare at ourselves turns out to also be stressful. I find my own self-reflective view to be highly distracting. I notice things that shouldn’t matter like bad hair or worse wrinkles! I work hard to look at others and “show up” as someone engaged and connected. But all of this takes energy, focus and concentration. It’s like being “on” for a TV interview—there is an undeniable stress factor to it.
Zoom and other video meeting platforms have been important communication tools in this trying time. But like all tools they should be used consciously and for the right reasons. If fatigue is an issue –and I would challenge any leader who thinks it isn’t, here are a few suggestions to minimize #zoomfatigue.
#1 Minimize or hide the “self-view” to avoid obsessing over your reflection.
#2 Mix it up with old school conference calls which allow people to move around when talking or listening. Or try audio only calls that give people video relief.
#3 Facilitate a discussion with your team about their team meeting preferences and needs. What works and what doesn’t? How can we adjust to the changing needs of the team for information, collaboration and input gathering? Make time for stretching and breaks. Any meeting that runs for 2 hours should minimally include a 5- minute break midway. Encourage time for icebreakers and small talk to help team members feel more connected. Most importantly, #virtualteams should make time to discuss meeting norms that facilitate what is best for the team–and figuring out how to minimize #Zoomfatigue should be on the list.
Leaders- Focus Your Attention Currency
Most leaders don’t pay enough attention to where they focus their attention currency. Attention is invisible but critically important in our daily workplace experience. I have been an Executive Coach for over 20 years and have never experienced leaders more distracted than now. Working from home means greater reliance on information coming in from multiple avenues (Slack, Zoom/Team meetings, emails, text etc). Phone notifications pinging, Alexa sounds an alarm for a child’s online school sessions, another email urgent request pops up —it’s a dizzying, crazy making environment absolutely full of distractions. We end up ping ponging all day long, like Pavlov’s dog, from one distraction to the next.
We don’t start each day with an infinite amount of focus time. Our focus time each day is limited. Think of your attention as currency. Everything you unconsciously take action around is an expenditure transaction—calling someone, reading an article or scrolling through your phone notifications. You are spending out of your expensive attention bank account. What I am suggesting is to become protective about how you spend your precious focus time. How you spend your daily very limited attention chits matters. Remember when you chose to pay attention to one thing—something else is being ignored.
3 coaching tips to guard your attention bank account.
#1 Be mindful and intentional about where you put your attention. One of the questions I ask leaders regularly is what is your current #1 most important priority? If you are a leader, your people must be an attention priority. Do your people have what they need today to be successful? Are they aligned with the right priorities and goals? Leaders should prioritize creating and supporting clarity and order for their direct reports and teams. Too many leaders get sucked into their own task execution or distraction minutia vs. supporting their team’s success. If you have a one on one with a team member, give them the benefit of your full attention when on the call.
#2 Start your day with a 10-minute check in with yourself. Write out what you most need to accomplish today. Ask yourself what is that you can’t put your head on the pillow tonight before accomplishing? Schedule time to complete anything that is a must do for the day and prioritize these tasks.
#3 Schedule uninterrupted thinking time each day. For most professionals, any time we are generating content, presentations, strategy and/or putting a plan together we need uninterrupted thinking time to accomplish it. Research says we need blocks of 45 minutes in our day when a task requires our focus (30 minutes isn’t long enough to get the most out of your internal brainstorming and creative functions and most people naturally start to fatigue after 45 minutes of concentrated focus).
You are the only one who can control where you spend your attention currency. Choose wisely about how you spend out of your attention bank account. Leaders can bankrupt it if leaders don’t focus their attention currency .
Leaders –Emotional Intelligence is What Matters Now
2021 is off to a rocky start leaving many Americans stressed, fearful and angry following recent events. Emotions are strong drivers of decision making and behaviors—impacting our workplaces. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is a critical leadership and team competency. How we deal with our own emotions and the emotions of those we interact with are part of a daily complex human equation.
Leaders must be conscious and aware of their own emotional triggers (like political assertions) and work mindfully to self-regulate in times of division and stress. We bring our emotional selves into meetings when we work with others. We don’t check them at the door (or at the computer before virtual meetings). Emotions can’t be “managed” – you feel what you feel. What you can manage– is how you respond to them. What action or behavior you choose to express.
When we allow ourselves to be swept up in our emotions, we often fail to think critically or about the consequences of how we are “showing up” with others. As a coach, I am concerned the raw emotional state many are in during this troubling time in America. I urge everyone to find ways to ground or find calm each day (outdoor walks, yoga, deep breathing, meditation etc) to counter the effects of feelings of anger and fear. And just because a “hook” appears in a meeting or interaction, doesn’t mean you have to bite the hook.
Negative Feedback Can Make Even the Strongest Perfectionist Suffer
High achievers are driven to succeed and some can suffer in pursuit of perfection. Type A, drivers who expect success can have great difficulty when they are presented with anything that even remotely sounds like “failure”.
Adults are creatures of habits and brain hard wiring from early childhood. We “react” particularly when strong negative emotions are stirred. These reactive responses are default modes of behavior. I consider myself a work in process. When I hear criticism or perceive I have failed in some way, I must be mindful of my intention to show up differently or I can easily get hijacked by my childhood “perfection” anxieties related to having a parent demanding a 4.0 GPA. It’s a lifetime journey trying to unhook the emotional baggage we drag behind us.
Workplaces are minefields for emotional hooks. Any boss by the very nature of their role is an authority (parental) figure. Bosses judge direct reports when hiring, firing, bonusing, promoting and through reviews. Performance reviews can feel distressing—mirrors of report card days. Challenging 360s and feedback can feel punitive and painful. It’s not uncommon for me to hear clients threaten to quit (often good) jobs because they are smarting and ruminating from feedback they receive. I often suggest they reconsider.
I remind them perfection is the enemy of good-and unattainable. Also feedback can be highly subjective, depending on the lens and skills of the person offering it. It is unwise to allow yourself to be defined by someone else’s perception or hijack your life by it. Better to try to understand the potential nugget embedded in the feedback to learn and grow from –or let it go if you are convinced it’s not accurate. Ask others for their candid perceptions to identify if this view is shared by others. And work hard at not showing up defensively if they concur. Similar feedback from multiple sources is likely something you would benefit from working on.
Feedback can be a double edged sword. Its information not definition, however professionals should seek feedback to identify growing edges as team members and leaders. Once you get the information, you get to decide what you want to do with it. If you are confused by feedback or wanting help with those edges, call me at 425 736 5691, I can help.
Make A Decision! Or Risk Losing Respect
I love the meme: Be Decisive. The Road of Life is Paved With A lot of Flattened Squirrels That Couldn’t Make a Decision. Ok so we aren’t talking about life or death decisions here but the consequences for failing to make decisions can be dire.
I have served as an Executive Coach for nearly twenty years and in that time I have heard many candid reviews about leaders from those they lead. One of the #1 complaints? Leaders who can’t make decisions.
I can assure you, if you are a leader that hems, haws and drags your feet making decisions you are causing great frustration for your team. Leadership means providing direction and order for people to do their work effectively. Part of that responsibility is making decisions that impact their priorities, resource allocation and clarity of expectations and goals. When leaders take too much time making these critical decisions, they hold up progress from every layer under them in the organization.
Leaders must make decisions every day. The best leaders are transparent in their decision-making. They communicate how decisions will be made and make clear to those who report into them what levels of decision making authority and autonomy they have within their areas.
Context matters in decision making. Different situations call for different styles of decision making. Leaders have several to choose from — there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Here are four primary decision making styles to consider:
Authoritative: The leader decides and then communicates a decision. This style is best for scenarios with urgent tight time frames (a crisis) or when the leader is the only person with the insight or information necessary to make the call. Wise leaders avoid overuse of this style. They know using it means risking little or no buy-in to their decision.
Consultative: This style is about getting input from the team prior to a leader making a decision. A leader might begin from scratch with this style, saying “I am going to make a decision but I want your input before I do, what do you think about…?” or, “I have narrowed my decision to two options, but before I decide I want to run these two options by you to get your input.” I encourage leaders to use this style generously. Why? It allows for influence and input from others (thereby increasing buy-in, commitment and reducing risk) but keeps clarity around who is making the decision (you, the leader) intact. A word of caution: If you aren’t open to influence, don’t pretend you are. It’s a huge mistake- I have stories about how it can backfire. Be prepared to disclose your rationale for not following recommendations or suggestions and don’t take too long to make the call once you get the input.
Consensus: With this style (FYI you lose your right to veto as the leader), essentially the team agrees to support the decision of the group. The plus — this often results in buy-in and commitment. The minus — trying to achieve consensus can be difficult and time-consuming. One stubborn person can hold up the process thereby creating the “tyranny” of consensus. Trying to make all team decisions by consensus is a recipe for team frustration and struggle. Consensus shouldn’t be attempted with challenging decisions that require responsiveness and timely action.
Delegation: With this style, leaders give their decision-making authority away to others. This styles builds individual and team confidence/satisfaction (autonomy is a huge motivator for people) and it makes sense when someone clearly has more experience, skill and understanding required to make the call. Make sure to provide clear parameters when delegating.
I frequently observe and coach team meetings and often ask the question, “Who has decision-making authority over this?” Too often, no one knows. Meetings are a tremendous investment in resources; having clarity around decision-making authority, commitment and accountability are critical to bottom-line results. For critical or complex initiatives, or if the majority of your meetings are spent wasting time, getting expert help to achieve results may be in order.
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