Blog

Troubled times give birth to individuals with valuable personality profiles: the « positive deviants ». They are known to transgress the rules and push past established norms for the good of all. They contribute enormously to innovation by deviating from existing habits without knowing much about why they were so ineffective.

The period we are going through gives us the opportunity to innovate around our approach to work. But we don’t innovate by doing what we’ve always done. We innovate by seizing this opportunity to put aside standard management processes in favour of valorising positive deviants.

[accordion title=’By Adrien Chignard’]

[/accordion]

I’ve often been asked if I have any advice on how to structure the psychological approach to post-lockdown. I hereby invite you to utilise the « RARE » method:

– Recognize: sensitize teams to be able to detect weak signs shown by people in psychological distress (a secondary prevention technique)

– Act: teach teams how to start a conversation with someone showing signs of distress – using the right tone – and if necessary, direct the person in distress toward appropriate support services (secondary and tertiary prevention)

– Recognise: prepare your organization for recovery by practising the Four Forms of Recognition [see below] in the office, on site or in telework (primary prevention)

– Encourage: develop sensemaking skills, modelling your approach on organisations with a strong focus on cooperation (primary prevention)

Is this method exhaustive? No, not necessarily. Does it allow you to make progress towards recognising distress in the workplace? Yes, it certainly does.

The Four forms of recognition (recap):

1. Existential recognition: recognizing the employee for who he is as a person including his character strengths and life experiences.
2. Recognition of work competencies: making sure to acknowledge all professional qualities, however subtle and manifold they may be.
3. Recognition of effort: including time and energy invested in a project or an excessively long workday etc.
4. Recognition of results: ensuring that the employee is appropriately recompensed for meeting important objectives or deadlines.

 

[accordion title=’By Adrien Chignard’]

[/accordion]

Many people will be experiencing painful emotions in the times to come. For some this will manifest as fear and guilt; for others, shame at not being able to meet performance expectations.

Asking these people to « make an effort » or « smile a little » has a name in psychology: surface acting. Very damaging, this request to act « as if » everything was going well creates emotional dissonance and weakens commitment, well-being and motivation.

To imagine that holding back tears is all it takes to be less unhappy is to forget that sincerity is an important source of serenity.

[accordion title=’By Adrien Chignard’]

[/accordion]

At the end of a webinar a manager told me: « Some of my employees feel guilty for not being able to manage everything at once: teleworking, their children, household tasks… I would like to help them, but I don’t know how ».

Guilt is an emotion that is as unpleasant as it is useful: it appears when we feel we have caused harm and urges us to remedy it. However, it is sometimes excessive or undue. It can be felt in the current situation as a pressure to do everything at once when we simply don’t have the attentional capacity. Managers can help here. Rather than trying to convince a team member that he is wrong to feel guilty, they should work on restoring his self-confidence by highlighting all of his previous successes.

The effect is immediate: the employee’s guilt will be soothed and replaced by a renewed sense of efficiency and confidence.

[accordion title=’By Adrien Chignard’]

[/accordion]

We haven’t all experienced lockdown in the same way. Some have felt indispensable, others useless. And others have lacked recognition because teleworking has rendered their contribution invisible. These differences naturally give rise to tensions like mutual stereotyping, disintegration of teams and declining performance. How can these be avoided?

Psychology’s solution is the « superordinate goal”, i.e. a goal that can only be achieved through the active participation of each member of the company. By setting common objectives and emphasizing cooperation over competition we will get through this time with our work connections intact.

As it happens, it is now less important to find similarities in our experiences than it is to unite around what it is we want to become.

[accordion title=’By Adrien Chignard’]

[/accordion]

Have you ever heard of the “bystander effect”? In psychology it is the phenomenon that the more people there are in a place, the less likely any one individual is to help someone in trouble. It is basically due to a dilution of responsibility (there are lots of people; someone else is bound to help on my behalf).

When coming out of lockdown, many employees will experience bouts of intense anxiety and need help. In these moments of unallocated responsibility, I encourage you to remember that your brain plays tricks on you and that this is the time to move from being an apathetic spectator to an empathetic actor.

[accordion title=’By Adrien Chignard’]

[/accordion]

Are you familiar with the concept « locus of control »? In psychology, it’s the way we determine the cause of what happens to us. We can divide ourselves into two categories:

– The « internals »: what happens to me depends on me… if I fail it’s my fault. These people progress more quickly in their careers but go through intense phases of guilt and self-questioning.

– The “externals »: what happens to me depends on the outside world (chance, others, the environment…). These people have an easier time during serious events and accept them more easily by attributing them to fate.

While you may be tempted to blame yourself for being less successful than you would like during this time, it is helpful to know that this is simply your locus of control guiding you in your explanation of causality.

[accordion title=’By Adrien Chignard’]

[/accordion]

The current situation is exceptional for everyone and that includes managers. Assuming one’s managerial responsibility means explaining the reasoning behind decisions that are misunderstood or poorly received by one’s colleagues whenever possible, and apologizing wherever mistakes have been made.

While it is normally legitimate to expect exemplary behaviour from managers, calls for excellence in the current crisis are as futile as examples of leniency are essential.

[accordion title=’By Adrien Chignard’]

[/accordion]

We’re not all going to come back with the same emotional charge at the end of lockdown. Some will have spent their time enjoying the first rays of spring sunshine while others will have been cooped up with their children and stifling workload. Still others will have been exposed on the front-line on a daily basis.

Taking time out at the end of lockdown to ensure a coordinated response to a broad range of individual reactions (so as to avoid misunderstandings and conflicts) is not an option. Sensemaking is thus unavoidable, being less a matter of goodwill and more a question of managerial lucidity. It is also the starting point of courage.

[accordion title=’By Adrien Chignard’]

[/accordion]