What is strategy? A mental tapestry of changing intentions for harmonizing and focusing our efforts as a basis for realizing some aim or purpose in an unfolding and often unforeseen world of many bewildering events and many contending interests.

<ul><li>Military leaders and strategists invest a great deal of time in developing and teaching decision-making processes.</li><li>Developed by strategist and U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd, the OODA loop is a practical concept designed to be the foundation of rational thinking in confusing or chaotic situations.</li><li>OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act.</li></ul>For example, fighter pilots have to work fast because taking a second too long to make a decision can cost them their lives.

The OODA Loop

John Boyd developed his ideas during his own time as a fighter pilot. He earned the nickname “Forty-Second Boyd” for his ability to win any fight in under 40 seconds. Boyd spent his career observing people and organizations. How do they adapt to changeable environments in conflicts, business, and other situations?He deduced that these situations are characterized by uncertainty. Dogmatic, rigid theories are unsuitable for chaotic situations. Rather than trying to rise through the military ranks, Boyd focused on using his position as colonel to compose a theory of the universal logic of war.

Forty-Second Boyd

OODA stands for Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. The description of it as a loop is crucial. Boyd intended the four steps to be repeated again and again until a conflict finishes. Although most depictions of the OODA loop portray it as a superficial idea, there is a lot of depth to it. Using it should be simple, but it has a rich basis in interdisciplinary knowledge.

The Four Parts of the OODA Loop

The first step in the OODA Loop is to observe. At this stage, the main focus is to build a comprehensive picture of the situation with as much accuracy as possible.A fighter pilot needs to consider: What is immediately affecting me? What is affecting my opponent? What could affect us later on? Can I make any predictions, and how accurate were my prior ones? A pilot’s environment changes rapidly, so these observations need to be broad and fluid.

Part 1: Observe

Orientation is frequently misunderstood or skipped because it is less intuitive than the other stages. Boyd referred to it as the schwerpunkt, a German term that loosely translates to “the main emphasis.” In this context, to orient is to recognize the barriers that might interfere with the other parts of the process.Without an awareness of these barriers, the subsequent decision cannot be a fully rational one. Orienting is all about connecting with reality, not with a false version of events filtered through the lens of cognitive biases and shortcuts.

Part 2: Orient

Orientation isn’t just a state you’re in; it’s a process. You’re always orienting

Four main barriers prevent us from seeing information in an unbiased manner:<ul><li>Our cultural traditions.</li><li>Our genetic heritage.</li><li>Our ability to analyze and synthesize.</li><li>The influx of new information — it is hard to make sense of observations when the situation keeps changing.</li></ul>

Moving Beyond Our Cognitive Bias

One needs to note incorrect assumptions and biases and then replace them with fundamental, versatile mental models. Only then can we begin to garner a reality-oriented picture of the situation, which will inform subsequent decisions.Example: A snowmobile comprises elements of different devices. The caterpillar treads of a tank, skis, the outboard motor of a boat, the handlebars of a bike — each of those elements are useless alone, but combining them creates a functional vehicle.We have to build a metaphorical snowmobile by combining practical concepts from different disciplines.

Tune Out The Noise, Find What Is   Fundamental 

Having gathered information and oriented ourselves, we have to make an informed decision. The previous two steps should have generated a plethora of ideas, so this is the point where we choose the most relevant option.First-conclusion bias:  We cannot keep making the same decision again and again. This part of the loop needs to be flexible and open to Bayesian updating. The implication is that we should test the decisions we make at this point in the loop, spotting their flaws and including any issues in future observation stages.

Part 3: Decide

While technically a decision-making process, the OODA loop is all about action. The ability to act upon rational decisions is a serious advantage.The other steps are mere precursors. A decision made, now is the time to act upon it. Also known as the test stage, this is when we experiment to see how good our decision was. Did we observe the right information? Did we use the best possible mental models? Did we get swayed by biases and other barriers? Can we disprove the prior hypothesis? Whatever the outcome, we then cycle back to the first part of the loop and begin observing again.

Part 4: Act

Fighter pilots must make many decisions in fast succession. They don’t have time to list pros and cons or to consider every available avenue. Once the OODA loop becomes part of their mental toolboxes, they should be able to cycle through it in a matter of seconds.Speed is a crucial element of military decision making. Using the OODA loop in everyday life, we probably have a little more time than a fighter pilot would. But Boyd emphasized the value of being decisive, taking initiative, and staying autonomous. These are universal assets and apply to many situations.

Why the OODA Loop Works: Speed

Uncertainty does not always equate to risk. A fighter pilot is in a precarious situation, where there will be gaps in their knowledge. They cannot read the mind of the opponent and might have incomplete information about the weather conditions and surrounding environment. They can, however, take into account key factors such as the opponent’s nationality, the type of aeroplane they are flying, and what their manoeuvres reveal about their intentions and level of training.

Why the OODA Loop Works: Comfort In Uncertainty

Gödel’s theorems indicate that any mental model we have of reality will omit certain information and that Bayesian updating must be used to bring it in line with reality. Our understanding of science illustrates this.In the past, people’s conception of reality missed crucial concepts such as criticality, relativity, the laws of thermodynamics, and gravity. As we have discovered these concepts, we have updated our view of the world. Yet we would be foolish to think that we now know everything and our worldview is complete. Other key principles remain undiscovered.

First Principles: Gödel’s Proof

This principle describes the limit of the precision with which pairs of physical properties can be understood. We cannot know the position and the velocity of a body at the same time. We can know either its location or its speed, but not both.  If a pilot focuses too hard on where an enemy plane is, they will lose track of where it is going and vice versa. Trying harder to track the two variables will actually lead to more inaccuracy! Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle applies to myriad areas where excessive observation proves detrimental. Reality is imprecise.

First Principles: Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle

In a closed system, entropy always increases and everything moves towards chaos. Energy spreads out and becomes disorganized.A  fighter pilot must be an open system or they will fail. They must draw “energy” (information) from outside themselves or the situation will become chaotic. They should also aim to cut their opponent off, forcing them to become a closed system.

First Principles: The Second Law of Thermodynamics

Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.

Using the OODA loop should enable us to act faster than an opponent, thereby seeming unpredictable. While they are still deciding what to do, we have already acted. This resets their own loop, moving them back to the observation stage. Keep doing this, and they are either rendered immobile or forced to act without making a considered decision. So, they start making mistakes, which can be exploited.

Why the OODA Loop Works: Unpredictability

We can’t just look at our own personal experiences or use the same mental recipes over and over again; we’ve got to look at other disciplines and activities and relate or connect them to what we know from our experiences and the strategic world we live in.

Ideas should be tested and then, if necessary, discarded.OODA is a feedback loop, with the outcome of actions leading back to observations. We can incorporate testing into our decision-making processes by keeping track of outcomes in <a href="https://www.farnamstreetblog.com/2014/02/decision-journal/">decision journals</a>.Rather than guessing how our decisions lead to certain outcomes, we can get a clear picture to aid us in future orientation stages. Over time, our decision journals will reveal what works and what doesn’t.

Why the OODA Loop Works: Testing

Make decisions using strategies from the best fighter pilot.

Learn the 4-step process fighter pilots use to make split-second decisions when the stakes are at their highest.

productivity

Productivity

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

problemsolving

Problem Solving

leadershipandmanagement

Leadership & Management

OODA LOOP: What You Can Learn from Fighter Pilots About Making Fast and Accurate Decisions

Have you ever tried to relax, only to find yourself overwhelmed with feeling stressed and having negative thoughts? Turns out a lot of us experience this—which is why some have coined it “stresslaxing.”Even though stresslaxation is a new term, it describes relaxation-induced anxiety, which has been studied for years. This is shown to happen to between 30% and 50% of people when they try to do relaxing things, causing symptoms of stress (such as rapid heartbeat or sweating).

Relaxation Causing Stress

Pretending that a problem doesn’t exist—also known as denial—is one of the least effective coping strategies for stress. In the case of stresslaxing, this might be denying you’re stressed to begin with.Short periods of denial can actually help us adapt to change. For example, denial can help a person cope with their emotions after experiencing the death of someone close. But when denial is used frequently to deal with daily stressors, it can leave people feeling perpetually stuck in a rut.

Reason For Stresslaxation: you’re Denying You’re Stressed

Acknowledge that the stress symptoms can be helpful. Your body is trying to alert you that a problem needs fixing, so it’s activating all its physiological resources to help you do this.Write down your deepest thoughts and feelings associated with your stress. This will help you understand the source of your stress so you can tackle it. Think outside the box. When we’re stressed, we might think only certain activities (such as meditation or exercise) can help us relax.

How To Fix Stresslaxation Denial

Most of us have something we’re passionate about—whether that’s our work or even a hobby. But the reason you’re motivated to do these things is important.Some people pursue their passion because they want to—whether it’s to improve themselves or learn a new skill. But others may only pursue their passion because they want recognition from other people. People with certain personality types may be more prone to obsessing over their passion. Others may simply follow a certain pursuit to get praise from their colleagues or even to prove their worth to friends or family.

Reason For Stresslaxation: Worrying About Others

When making a decision, some people can’t help but explore all possible options available to them—known as maximizing thoughts. This can even happen when trying to pick something relaxing to do. Even after picking something, you may instead think about the other options, wondering if something else would’ve helped you feel more relaxed. So instead of relaxing your mind, you’re stressing yourself even more.Unfortunately, maximizing leads to self-blame regret, no matter what option we choose. It’s also sometimes associated with lower well-being.

Reason For Stresslaxation: You Can’t Make up Your Mind

Limit the number of decisions you need to make on the day you want to do something relaxing. Or even plan when you’re going to do something relaxing (such as watching a movie or meditating) and how long you’re going to do it for. This may make it easier to relax when the time comes as you’ll know you aren’t putting other things off.Remember why you’re trying to relax. Your health is important, so remembering this may help you feel less stressed while trying to do a relaxing activity.

How To Make Up Your Mind

Relaxation-induced anxiety is shown to happen to between 30% and 50% of people when they try to do relaxing things. This is a practical guide to help deal with it.


Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

career

Career

mentalhealth

Mental Health

entertainment

Entertainment

‘Stresslaxation’ is real. Science explains why it happens and how to get past it

People think stupidity is the opposite of intelligence. In fact, stupidity is the cost of intelligence operating in a complex environment.
Stupidity can be defined as overlooking or dismissing conspicuously crucial information.
It’s crucial information: You better pay attention to it. It’s conspicuous: It’s right in front of your nose and yet you either overlook it or you dismiss it.

Defining Stupidity

<ul><li>Being outside your normal environment or changing your routines.</li><li>Being in the presence of a group(social pressure).</li><li>Being in the presence of an expert or if you, yourself, are an expert.</li><li>Doing any task that requires intense focus, or fixating on a particular outcome.</li><li>Information overload. </li><li>Physical or emotional stress, fatigue. </li><li>Rushing or urgency.</li></ul>The probability of missing key information (stupidity) increases the more the above factors are present.

Seven Factors that Lead to Stupidity

Most of the factors are ubiquitous in modern-day life such as stress, rushing, and information overload. Therefore, our modern life is already susceptible to missing key information and making stupid mistakes.All factors are present in US hospitals. Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.

Modern Life And Stupidity

<ul><li>Recognize and know that you are in ”the stupid zone”</li><li>Pause. Just sit. Stop, before leaving your environment. If you can’t sit still for a minute, you don’t have the time not to!</li><li>Have a buddy whose job is to watch us. That is their only task, and can’t have the same responsibility as us. Have your own “pit crew”.</li><li>Don’t make decisions or do anything when in the stupid zone. For example, don’t sign a contract or drive.</li></ul>

The Solution

Stupidity is not the opposite of intelligence.

Stupidity is overlooking or dismissing conspicuously crucial information. Here are seven situational factors that compromise your cognitive ability and result in increased odds of stupidity.

How Not to Be Stupid - Farnam Street

Expanding diversity in the workplace is often seen as a good way to inject fresh ideas into an otherwise stagnant environment, and incorporating new perspectives can help members tackle problems from a number of different angles. But few have looked into exactly why or how this is so.While homogenous groups feel more confident in their performance and group interactions, it is the diverse groups that are more successful in completing their tasks.

The Premise

New research finds that socially different group members do more than simply introduce new viewpoints or approaches. In the study, diverse groups outperformed more homogeneous groups, not because of an influx of new ideas, but because diversity triggered more careful information processing that is absent in homogeneous groups.The mere presence of diversity in a group creates awkwardness, and the need to diffuse this tension leads to better group problem-solving.

Diversity Improves Decisions

Though people often feel more comfortable with others like themselves, homogeneity can hamper the exchange of different ideas and stifle the intellectual workout that stems from disagreements. People would prefer to spend time with others who agree with them rather than disagree with them.In diverse settings, people tend to view conversations as a potential source of conflict that can breed negative emotions. This can blind people to diversity’s upsides: new ideas can emerge, individuals can learn from one another, and they may discover the solution to a problem in the process.

Diversity in the Workplace Can Produce New Ideas

When a newcomer comes in, it interrupts the group. It changes the flow of the process and makes people stop and pay attention to the person.Whether they stop and pay attention to the newcomer is up to the group. But if they do, the pain will probably be worth the gain.

Paying Attention To The Newcomer

Heterogeneity can boost group performance

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

artsandculture

Society, Arts & Culture

Better Decisions Through Diversity

Like all animals, we know what we need. Nourishment, safety, sex. Our needs are limited. Instinctual. Natural. And in today’s world – almost guaranteed.Our wants, on the other hand, are more complex. Whimsical. Time-consuming. We create them by choosing from a menu of possibilities that changes along with our environment. And boy, has our environment changed. For millennia, we foraged in the wild. Today, we’re being suffocated by abundance.This abundance makes it fair to expect individual desires within a modern tribe to be totally random. Unique, even.But they aren’t.

Our Needs And Wants

Everywhere you look, you’ll see groups of people who want the same things. The newest iPhone. Gucci handbags. Yeezys. Expensive degrees. And lately ­– pixelated JPEGS.Like a bunch of neighbouring metronomes that spontaneously synchronize, our desires coalesce with those of our social group. We desire what other humans desire. In other words, our desires are mimetic.

Keeping Up With The Joneses

Firstly, our wants are confusing. It is impossible to know what to want when there’s an endless, ever-changing list to pick from, with no reference point provided by evolution.
Secondly, we are wired to play status games. High status had evolutionary advantages in our time as hunter-gatherers – it gave us easier access to resources for survival and mates for reproduction.
Thirdly, we’re signalling machines. By imitating the desires of a person we look up to, we signal to others that we possess some of the qualities of that person

The Reasons For Our Mimetic Desires

Mimetic Desire is the reason we become like the people we spend time with or look up to. They shape what we choose to want, often unconsciously.  Since our time is limited, it pays to pay attention to our desires. Escaping them is a futile endeavour for those of us that aren’t monks. Reordering them is more realistic.So find desires that stand the test of time. Those that don’t result in zero-sum games where you compete with your peers. Those that aren’t in conflict with other desires. Find desires that can create a journey you will enjoy, for the destination is never guaranteed.

The Reason For Living

Like all animals, we know what we need. Nourishment, safety, sex. Our needs are limited. Instinctual. Natural. And in today’s world – almost guaranteed. Our wants, on the other hand, are more complex. Whimsical. Time-consuming. We create them by choosing from a menu of possibilities that changes along with our environment. And boy, has our environment changed. For millennia, we foraged in the wild. Today, we’re being suffocated by abundance.

Mimetic Desire explained in exactly 500 words

If aliens were to visit the Earth and observe us living our lives, perhaps what would baffle them most about our species is not our struggle to co-operate with each other, but our struggle to co-operate with our own selves. You’d think a sentient organism should at a minimum be able to adhere to its own decisions — to leave in time to catch the early bus, to do the lunch dishes right after lunch, to refrain from eating the entire sleeve of Oreos, especially after making explicit vows to do precisely those things because they make perfect sense.

We Don't Keep Promises We Give To Ourselves

For whatever evolutionary reasons, part of the game of being human is to wrangle ourselves into acting out the choices we’ve already determined are the right ones, and the resolution is our first-order tool for doing that. You make a promise to yourself – whatever that means exactly — that you will indeed do the thing you worry you won’t do

No Self-Control

Resolutions are kind of pathetic if you think about how they’re supposed to work. We fear that we won’t act wisely when the time comes, often because we’ve just let ourselves down, so we simply assure ourselves that we will act wisely next time, and we mean it. This is more a gesture of hope than anything — that a moment of gathered resolve and earnest vows now will somehow cause us to possess the necessary wisdom and discipline later, in some future moment of truth when that promise is tested. The resolution is an attempt to control our future selves from the present, by simple decree.

Resolutions We Don't Follow

the Future Self has its own feelings and concerns, and it will conduct itself as it sees fit. If we have any direct control over whether we keep a given self-promise, it is only in that sole Moment of Truth, when the choice is finally made for real – the moment the crinkly blue Oreo package is being slid over to you, or the moment you begin to contemplate postponing today’s run. Resolve can only be exercised there, in the Moment of Truth itself. If it’s not present then, it doesn’t matter how much of it you had earlier.

The Future Self And The Moment Of Truth

Instead of harnessing your guilt and frustration to create a spontaneous personal transformation, you can play a different game, one which can actually be won: learning to recognize the approach of the Moment of Truth, and executing a simple plan to take Action B at that moment rather than the usual Action A.

A Different Game

Action A is the reflexive, habitual response – to grab the chips, to argue with the internet trolls – and it might always be the easiest thing in the world. But if you know you’re in the Moment of Truth, and you have an alternative move prepared, that alternative move can be pretty easy too – to say “No thanks” and go get a glass of water, or to click the browser tab closed and stand up.This simple strategy of replacing a reflexive action with a more conscious and empowering one, is the way human beings train for any skill or activity.

Action A And B

And it always feels funny at first. Action B – the new, more effective way of responding to a particular moment — always starts out feeling unintuitive, and Action A starts out feeling so compelling it’s hard not to do it. But each instance of doing B over A reverses this difference a bit. The game is in recognizing the signs that the Moment of Truth is approaching, and knowing the new move you’re going to make when it arrives.

Play The Game

We don't keep the promises we make to ourselves. Having a plan is a better option than a vow.

I sleep better when I don’t eat snacks after dinner, especially junky carbohydrates, so last week when I visited a friend’s house I made a specific resolution to decline all such snacks. Sure enough, as though the scene was a […]

You Don’t Need a Promise, You Need a Plan

When employees are on the clock, most managers expect them to keep busy throughout the workday. This may mean either completing tasks within their remits or finding ways to make sure their hands are in some work-related project. Even when workflows deliver some downtime, the message from management is generally clear: find a way to keep working.  Managers step in with ‘busywork’ to keep their employees occupied. Busywork is something that doesn't have a purpose. It doesn't lead towards reaching any goals, it doesn't improve the person, the operation or the culture.

The Management And Downtime: Keeping Workers Busy For No Reason

The Busywork might include compiling a pointless report, colour-coding a spreadsheet or proofreading a presentation that has already been checked. One 2016 study of 600 knowledge workers showed they spent just <a href="https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/new-study-your-employees-are-probably-spending-less-and-less-time-doing-their-ac.html">39% of their workdays</a> doing their actual jobs, with the rest dedicated to meetings, emails and busywork such as writing status reports for managers.

Busywork

Part of the busywork problem is some managers equate busyness with productivity. The perception is not just that a busy worker is engaged and making an effort, but even that their industriousness gives them a higher moral value than their less busy colleagues. This sets up a dynamic in which two office workers completing identical tasks can be judged on their busyness, rather than their results. Who appears to be more engaged: the busy worker who skips lunch to get things finished, or the efficient worker who finishes early and uses the time saved to buy groceries online?

Controlling The Worker Bees

The Busywork problem is heightened in organisations where work culture dictates that managers operate in a more traditional, authoritative style, discouraging autonomy among employees. In these organisations, managers may also feel under pressure from their own superiors to prove that their team is busy and productive. Managers are saying, ‘I need my employees to keep generating work so that I know they’re earning their salary, because somebody is watching me to make sure that I'm managing them well'.

The Problem With Old School Organizations 

Remote work has, in some cases, exacerbated this pressure. When employees first switched to remote work, many managers found the inability to visually monitor their employees unsettling. In the immediacy of Covid, bosses felt that if they couldn’t see employees working, then they weren’t working. They didn’t think employees were being productive, even if they were still delivering results.A 2020 study showed that 41% of managers questioned their employees’ motivation, and almost a third doubted that their employees had the right knowledge or essential skills to make remote work successful.

Remote Work And The Eroding Of Trust

When higher-ups doubt employees’ work ethic, one solution is to micromanage their time with an endless list of tasks to keep them chained to their desks – even if some of those tasks are pointless. Managers may not even know if an employee has finished their core work, but they are giving additional busywork to ensure that they don't finish for the day. This is to ensure that employees are working, so the manager has a sense that they are still in control.

Giving Work To Maintain Control

It is not just managers who equate industriousness with good performance, however. One study showed knowledge workers spend an average of 41% of their time at work on self-assigned busywork that could be delegated to others, in order to appear busier and more important at work.Online, the pressure to look busy remains, even if that means adding extra tasks to the workday, like sending messages to prove we are logged on. And even though many workers are able to complete their work in less time in remote-work environments, many still feel the pressure to assign themselves busywork.

Employees Know They Have To Look Busy

Some managers report lulls in work during remote set-ups have made employees uneasy. These managers start to assign busywork just to ensure that workers don't feel a void, and remain occupied.But assigning too much busywork to mitigate guilt might mean swapping one set of negative feelings for another. A 2018 study showed 42% of workers were spending half of their time on busywork, and 71% said that doing too much busywork made them feel as though their lives were being wasted.

Managing The Lull

In the long-term, frequently assigning tasks designed primarily to keep workers occupied can damage the relationship between managers and their workers. It can be very demotivating to the remote employee. It's a sign of lack of trust and lack of care. The real tragedy of busywork is in the opportunity that is lost. There’s so much that could be done within that time that would be beneficial to both the employee and the firm.

Wasting Countless Hours

Some alternatives for busywork: Assigning the worker meaningful tasks or opportunities for growth that often gets put on the back burner, such as training. A great way is to let employees take a breather. Numerous studies have proven the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2165079916653416">benefits of taking regular breaks</a> during the workday. Among them are reduced stress and <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110208131529.htm">improved focus</a>, creativity and productivity – all positives for employees and their organisations.

Taking A Break Is Good

When remote workers are putting in increasingly long hours, piling on endless busywork will have the opposite effect. The primary risk is that employees burn out and their mental wellness is impacted. This Great Resignation is the result, in part, of exhausted people who are not managed effectively in their remote work because it wasn't flexible enough.

Busywork Leads To Burnout

Apart from giving meaningful work, another approach is to give teams autonomy, which is motivating and creates a virtuous cycle, where people want to do a good job.Managers need to think harder about the kind of tasks they are handing out. The idea is to keep employees busy during work hours, but avoid busywork. Instead, they should plan for slow periods, and look for tasks they can give that will add value.

Breaking The Cycle

Ultimately, managers who feel caught in a cycle of assigning busywork should take a step back and think more broadly about what their managers want from them – rather than scrambling to keep people busy. They're probably looking for you to generate good results and, hopefully, retain people who are happy working for you.If the flexible schedules now in demand swap work hours for outcomes, they could take busywork with them, and leave healthier, happier workers in their wake.

The Bottom Line

Stop giving superficial and useless work to employees just to keep them busy.

Many managers fill up employees’ plates with inane tasks, just to keep them working. Why are higher-ups so afraid of downtime?

timemanagement

Time Management

The managerial obsession with 'busywork'

The psychological toll of the pandemic has challenged workers and managers in a variety of ways.
As we head into the third year of the pandemic, a new issue has sprung up: “splitting,” a mental defence mechanism that allows us to tolerate difficult and even unbearable emotions by seeing someone or something as either heroes or villains, good or bad, “with us” or “against us.” This can result in tension and conflict.
Leaders need to focus on three areas: identifying splitting triggers in themselves, spotting splitting behaviour on their teams, and focusing on reuniting and reintegrating relationships.

Crisis Turns Into Conflict: Key Takeaways

Splitting is a <a href="https://tavistockandportman.nhs.uk/about-us/news/stories/early-response-covid-19-psychoanalytic-and-trauma-perspective/">mental defence mechanism</a> that allows us to tolerate difficult and even unbearable emotions by resorting to black-or-white thinking. We identify others as either heroes or villains, good or bad, “with us” or “against us.” This frees us from the burden of having to face our own shortcomings and missteps while allowing us to cast our opponents as purely and fully bad, instead of looking for nuance and common ground.

The Split

The Big Split is a multi-layered mental conflict. Behind it lies a complex psychological cocktail: delayed gratification, feelings of injustice, and a race to fill the emotional vacuum created by years of living with restrictions.For leaders, the point is to recognize that this phase is not a collective sigh of relief and a joyous reunion, but rather one filled with conflict and confrontation

Understanding the Big Split

<ul><li>In March 2020, when the pandemic emergency became clear, many of us felt an energy rush.</li><li>Leaders became the best version of themselves.</li><li>Then, a regression phase hit: people got tired, lost their sense of purpose, started fighting about the small stuff, and started to neglect their relationships.</li><li>Next came the recovery phase, where we started to move out of the lull.</li><li>This phase was filled with lots of new ideas, and we saw friends, family, and colleagues embracing the new future.</li><li>However, the slow recovery tested our resilience.</li></ul>

When The Pandemic Hit

Realizing when you are falling prey to splitting, whether a little or a lot and taking note of what triggers you to react in out-of-character ways is a good first step.A few instances of "bad behaviour" is not the same as deeming someone a "bad agent." The key is to reject absolutes and categorical thinking.

Understand and Monitor Your Own Triggers

Call out splitting behaviour as soon as you notice it playing out.In order to resolve differences of opinion, instead of letting them fester, leaders can scale up the frequency of team meetings but shorten their duration drastically.

Spot Splitting Behavior in Your Teams and Intervene

<ul><li>Leaders must emphasize that it isn’t shameful to experience splitting and that it’s okay to direct time and resources to resolve the fundamental conflicts.</li><li>To offer perspective, leaders should fully understand colleagues, employees, and peers by letting them talk about the turmoil they’re going through, and then search for long-term and constructive ways to move forward</li><li>Building mutual support, remember that a strong emotional connection between teammates, teams, and stakeholders last a long time.</li></ul>

Aim to Reunite and Reintegrate Your Relationships

We’re in a new psychological phase of the pandemic, which is manifesting in increased confrontation on many teams.

remotework

Remote Work

communication

Communication

business

Business

When Crisis Management Becomes Conflict Management

Sometimes, getting your team out of quicksand will require you to be more directive than empowering. Don't worry: we can still approach this in a way that drives buy-in and helps your teammates feel heard, and know they have autonomy. Sometimes, being directive is the most empowering thing you can do.

Managing A Team In A Directive Way

A manager has to ensure that the team has a clear roadmap with well-defined projects and deadlines.To check this, managers can start by asking themselves: When you think about how you want to lead your team at this moment, what are you optimizing for?

Identify What You’re Optimizing For

Describe your role in outcomes, rather than describing how you will do your work.Example: Ensure the team has internalized the project's timeline<ul><li>Ensure each team member has a clearly defined individual role in this project.</li><li>Communicate to stakeholders when there are surprises and changes to the plan within 24 hours.</li><li>Make sure the team knows who to reach out to when they have questions about progress.</li></ul>

Identify the Who, What, When, and How

<ul><li>Avoid the word "accountable". Use longer descriptors to describe what you actually mean</li><li>What's going to happen, or be different, as a result of me doing this thing?</li></ul>Example: "I facilitate standups on Mondays and Wednesdays."

Communicate the Who, What, When, and How to Your Team

<ul><li>Describing your role in terms of outcomes will allow you to make informed "how" decisions that always tie back to the primary goal.</li><li>Identify your teammates' roles and responsibilities.</li><li>Block out time for this work.</li><li>Find one person who will be good at giving you gut-checks as you develop the plan.</li><li>Let them know when and how you'll be sharing a project plan with them.</li></ul>

Define the Who and What for Your Team

If you need to communicate to particular individuals first: Prioritize communicating with different folks based on how much their reaction or input will affect your future messagingIdentify what's changing about how the team is doing their work and what's staying the sameRespond to pushback: Stay in coaching mode, help this person feel heard, and be clear about what parts of the plan can be amended versus which parts are firm

Nailing Down the When and How

Before getting defensive, arguing, or shutting your teammate down, try spending five minutes using open coaching questions to understand where they are coming from:What feels most important to you about this?What is your gut telling you? What one thing do you wish you could change about this?

Ask Open Coaching Questions

<ul><li>As leaders, it's our responsibility to choose the approach in each new scenario that will work best for the work, the team, and the organization.</li><li>It's important for every leader to learn how to adopt a directive approach when it's the most effective option while maintaining the trust and buy-in of their team</li></ul>

Empowerment Vs Direction

Last newsletter, I answered a manager’s question about helping their team break the cycle of going in circles, while still being as empowering as possible.



teamwork

Teamwork

You can be directive without being a jerk

Dreams are often the subject of novels and poetry.They are key to a character’s deeper promptings, the means by which an author sets a tone or creates a theme underlying his or her fiction, or expresses an intangible poetic concept. Take a peek at how dreams appear in literature….

Dreams & Literature

“When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. He was lying on his back as hard as armor plate, and when he lifted his head a little, he saw his vaulted brown belly, sectioned by arch-shaped ribs, to whose dome the cover, about to slide off completely, could barely cling. His many legs pitiifully thin compared with the size of the rest of him, were waving helplessly before his eyes. “What’s happened to me?” he thought. IT WAS NO DREAM.” Franz Kafka, Metamorphosis.

Frank Kafka

“I dreamed I had a child, and even in the dream I saw it was my life, and it was an idiot, and I ran away. But it always crept on to my lap again, clutched at my clothes. Until I thought, if I could kiss it, whatever in it is my own, perhaps I could sleep. And I bent to its broken face, and it was horrible….but I kissed it. I think one must finally take one’s life in one’s arms. Arthur Miller, After the Fall.

Arthur Miller

Un'idea di vita.: Dreams in literature

Find 100+ Facts about Leadership - Curated from inspiring sources like Books, Podcasts & Articles - Genuine Insights from like-minded Users like You!