Lou uses the SARA model (Shock, Anger, Resistance, Acceptance) to explain how people adjust to remote work, then introduces the Zeigarnik effect: unfinished tasks create stress, but finishing them or planning next steps helps. He recommends breaking work into finishable units and using video to preserve the non-verbal cues that keep teams connected.
Chapters
Hey, I'm Lou, and this is Adjusting to Working from Home with Lou, AWFHL, awful for short. Wait, no, not awful, AWFHL. Okay, geez, never mind. The COVID-19 pandemic has had an immediate impact on how people live and practice business. Many changes have occurred. For example, I'm not wearing any pants, and I couldn't do that when I worked at the office. As much as I enjoy it, there can be a lot of negative effects from working from home. Many people have reported feeling stressed, isolated, and more irritable, and that's just my own family. To understand how we respond to change, like how we've reacted to COVID, I'd like to introduce the SARA Model. And no, Sarah is not the girl you sat next to in 3rd grade, whose name was spelled Sarah without an H. SARA stands for Shock, Anger, Resistance, and Acceptance. When we receive new information, initially we respond with shock or denial. "What?
Coronavirus? Sounds fake.
No one's gonna take that seriously. Fake news." Then the shock turns into anger or anxiety, when we realize the implications of it. There's no way I'm missing out on that Miley Cyrus concert tonight! If the circumstances indicate we need to change, we may experience resistance since change can be difficult or uncomfortable.
Please let me go to that concert tonight! All I want to do is sing "Party in the USA"!
And finally, as we come to understand the process of change, we experience acceptance. Which leaves us in a better place than where we started. I guess I can play my favorite Miley videos on repeat from home. So how do you maximize effectiveness now that you've accepted the changes and are adjusted to working from home? In other words, how do you avoid watching Breaking Bad for 12 straight hours? Bluma Zeignark has an answer. She was a Russian psychologist who posited that unfinished tasks create a lot of stress and anxiety. For example, when you listen to a song that's unexpectedly cut off in the middle, your mind will repeatedly attempt to remind you that you're not done listening to it yet. <LYRICS>Yesterday, all my troubles—</LYRICS> How badly do you want me to finish that lyric? Well, research shows that once you've finished the song, your mind is able to move on in peace. As long as you leave a task unfinished, your brain is in an uncomfortable position. Both your unconscious and subconscious mind will ruminate over the task repeatedly until it's completed. This takes a lot of energy. That's why it's good to either complete a task or formulate plans to do so. Even if you don't finish the task, just having a clear plan to finish it will alleviate your anxiety. Not having a plan will make you feel lost and anxious. Well, kind of like when your cell phone battery is at 3% and you don't have a charger. While working from home, many workers have reported feeling isolation and a lack of connection to their peers. Since we are physically disconnected, we need to create emotional connection and resilience to achieve peak performance. Even though you are remote, it's important to remain connected with leaders, managers, and employees. And yes, that includes Janet in accounting. Nonverbal cues make a big difference when understanding communication. For example, if we're on the phone and I say, "Great idea!" You may think I think your idea is great, but if you were to see my body language, you'd realize I hate your idea and I think it's disgusting. Simple, right? That's why it's important to use technology in the right way, like video conferencing, to maintain connection, understanding, and build resilience. What happens next? Will this change how we go or don't go to the work in the future? Some employees have enjoyed staying in their cocoon of their homes, and many groups are formed on LinkedIn promoting the remote way of doing things. That's why it's important to co-create, and enrich our lives now, because there could be a sea change in the near future, a remote sea, if you will, in which we're all remotely rowing our boats in the same collective but remote sea. Well, you, you get what I'm saying. In my experience, employees want to contribute and make a difference, but they're finding it difficult because of the new stressors being placed on them. Help them out by creating a compelling and exciting vision together, and they will be far more willing to accept it. Help them take part in the creation of their own futures.
