Is Pandemic Professional Overwhelm The Elephant in the Room?

More frequently, I hear about pandemic professional overwhelm. Because my colleagues and clients acknowledge how overwhelm and exhaustion are taking a toll on how they show up for work. How about you?

At this point in our epic journey together, ponder how pandemic professional overwhelm becomes an elephant in our virtual meeting rooms. And in physical workplaces. As we all struggle to do more with less, amidst uncertainty and ambiguity.

Our hybridized work environments continuously change day-to-day. As a result, our teams represent a mixed bag of daily energy throughout the work week. Ultimately, whatever energy you bring to the table impacts critical thinking skills and levels of innovation and creativity. Which, in turn, impacts overall productivity and performance.

Consider whether, as a manager and leader, you power through meetings ignoring this elephant in the room. Or whether you make the intentional choice to start meetings by asking “how are you feeling?” before you inquire “what do you have to report today?”

Because conducting today’s business according to yesterday’s formats, mindset and habits is not in sync with our mid-year pandemic professional realities.

Ask yourself:

1. Does every team member bring an equally high-level of energy to the project? Or is team input increasingly impacted and eroded? Due to distractions and disruptions caused by family and financial concerns. Even though everyone sitting around the table does their best to hide their overwhelm.
2. Is your team choosing increasingly comfortable and complacent solutions? Because they are too exhausted to consider more innovative options. However, unless this cause and effect topic is introduced, they are not aware of why they feel like they let everyone else down.
3. Should today’s and tomorrow’s meetings focus on doing more, with less on the agenda? Rather than doing less with more on a jam-packed agenda? So the focus becomes maintaining consistent, and potentially moderate, levels of energy. So your team continues to maximize the high level of collaboration and innovation they are used to delivering: to each other and clients.

Each day, make small professional changes together. These add up over time. And have a big impact on getting you to where you really need to go. Together. One millimeter at a time. That’s One Millimeter Mindset™.

Consider the biggest drain on team productivity is the energy people spend trying to hide their pandemic professional overwhelm. As a result, each team member feels they let down everyone else because they operate sub-optimally today. Compared with how they performed yesterday.

Then ponder the impact of focusing on shorter sprints of highly focused innovative output. Together. When everyone contributes to getting everyone to where they really need to go, together, professional overwhelm and exhaustion morph into engagement and energy. One tiny millimeter at a time.

My One Millimeter Mindset™  virtual and in-person keynotes, workshops, coaching and mastermind programs translate across strategic communication and collaboration disconnects between people and professional disciplines. Contact me here to get started.  Build trust. Retain employees and clients. Optimize strategic business and human capital value in your organizations. Get everyone to where they need to go. Together. One millimeter at a time.  My playbook of communication tools and methods, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Image source: iStock/Getty Images.