Written by: Roberto Patricolo, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
Business organizations and smart working. Today we are living in a transitional time, I would say a time of "deep transformation" in which, in some way, our brains, our thoughts, and behavior patterns are continually challenged. In this article, I want to make you aware of some factors that affect the way we behave in the era of smart working.
Some factors are immediately identifiable, others less and all of them contribute to influencing the way we think, our relationships with other people, our way of achieving results, and the time we take to achieve these results.
I was directly involved in some consulting projects for teams’ growth, where time management and organization were the main two missing elements, precisely because of a relational way that was not adequate for what every person needed.
If we are not in harmony with my colleagues at work, if we do not have the possibility to create a moment of personal and empathic confrontation, we will hardly create a relationship of productive trust; in return, everything turns into a slowdown.
In the historical period we are going through, companies must necessarily exploit this situation turning it into an opportunity. A company unprepared to manage unexpected events will turn out in a generalized demotivation, an increase in costs and a reduction in returns for the employees, a rise in stress levels, and an overall malaise.
The key elements in the era of smart working
Below I am summarizing the elements which we must put our attention on and which, in my view, are fundamental for the success of companies.
1. The first aspect is communication, which reflects a paradigm shift in the way of communicating which now includes a virtual way that comes with a series of considerations.
The "coldness" of a monitor compared to a meeting room where there is human warmth; this coldness tends to push away;
the use of adequate tools and connections suitable for the purpose. Being in the middle of a project and being interrupted by a malfunction of the communication tool means slowing down the project;
the times of the communication; if before we communicated during working hours, today working hours have been extended to 24 hours. Very often we read e-mails sent late in the evening or during holidays;
communicating remotely can increase conflicts, as it lacks the empathic and emotional aspects that we cannot perceive in person.
2. The second aspect is related to security and it is very often underestimated. Security generally requires investments against a "potential risk". It is precisely the word "potential" that does not allow us to invest in security. The aspects related to security are to be associated with the leak of information and the possibility of unwanted access to corporate networks, with the always “potential” risk of blocking operations.
This requires an important effort, first of all in the mentality of people, something that still happens very little also because of the increasing stress, which limits proactivity. Under stress we are reactive, we even run away or we "freeze"; therefore, in situations like these, it is much easier to keep things as they are, since, after all, we have to work.
3. The third aspect includes emotions, empathic relationships, and cooperation, all three are closely connected and the most important ones.
Let's start with the most immediate. Indeed, we are living in a time when the risk of contracting a disease or even losing one's life is real. The human being, like all animals, has a survival instinct that implements behavioral policies of conservation, the exact contrary to proactivity. Even in a comfortable and homey environment emotions have an impact on behavior, thoughts, and decisions.
The second of these elements is obvious in its description, less so in its consequences. Missing, or in the best case scenario having reduced relationships in the place of work make us a bit like automatons that connect with each other only to carry out their own activity, follow a virtual meeting, perhaps looking at the mobile phone. We have greatly reduced the exchange of views, the famous chit-chat, and small talks in front of a coffee. While we are all aware that these connections are decreasing more and more, we are less aware of the “asociality” aspect that comes with it. The brain is getting used to not sharing and, for all those people who made their expressiveness or their extroversion their battle horses, today not being able to do it, can feel frustrating and even depressing. Are we still convinced that smart working is really functional?
The third of these elements is cooperation. Yes, it is one thing to speak of "forced cooperation" in the sense that we have to work with our colleagues, another is to speak of "managed cooperation", linked to the corporate vision, to the success of the company for which each of us works. Lacking empathy, cooperation is automatically affected.
4. Overall, the fourth aspect to take into account is the one about attention and care for the environment, something that is not easy to evaluate.
According to the latest cognitive theories, cognitive processes are not limited to the operations that reside within the cognitive system but also include larger bodily structures and processes of interaction with the environment. According to several experts (Lakoff, Johnson, 1999 and Mallgrave, 2015) “we are embodied beings, in which minds, bodies, environment, and culture are connected to each other at different levels". Why is embodied cognition so important? When carrying out work-related activities at home, we tend to be comfortable.
Let’s admit it, we all wear pajamas and slippers while doing online meetings (with the video switched off). Nice from a comfort point of view, but how is the brain interpreting all of this? For our brain, staying at home in our PJs means a day off and relaxation. This happens because the brain has created, for years, over centuries, a close correlation between the way we dress and the environment. How can we expect to perform if our brain does not produce hormones useful to increase performance?
5. Finally, the last element, streamlining of procedures is again something concrete and measurable. It seems almost obvious but often overlooked, that streamlining procedures leads to improvements in time management.
To complete a project, we have to define discrete and sequential steps that maybe been fast a few years ago due to direct relationships but today these represent a slowdown and source of stress.
Today, company leaders, managers, and executives are required to be even more efficient in time management, emotional skills, and stress management, to make better use of technical skills in communication and safety, and, above all, to be more agile and mentally flexible; in addition, they must ensure that these skills are shared with the employees.
Actions to be taken in the smart-working era
So, what to do in your company?
Implement a training and growth policy on all these emotional and behavioral aspects that go in the direction of self-realization of individual employees;
develop pathways for the development of neuro agility (I will write about neuro agility in another article) throughout the company, starting with the managerial areas and ending with the various teams and work groups;
work to optimize company procedures, limiting their consumption;
implement a company security policy, in order to ensure that workers' access is safe for themselves and the company;
introduce or extend a stress management policy that will allow mitigating the effects of the "emotional" distance and the "cold" use of digital;
making employees and collaborators increasingly an integral part of the company as this allows them to increase their motivation and cooperation between themselves.
Roberto Patricolo, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Roberto is an experienced business coach who applies neuroscientific paradigms in the programs created for his clients. Roberto has the passion to work with people and for people within companies, to ensure high levels of performance and a degree of job satisfaction that makes them accomplished and successful and improves the total productivity of the company.His vision is to see his country (Italy) better than it is now, through the success of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) which represent at least 70% of the national economy. He says, "'I want to leave our children and our grandchildren a better country". For this, he contributes in improving the success of companies through his business coaching program (“PerFormare”) and through his neuroscience expertise, working on the balance of four human beings variables: Mind, Body, Emotions, Relationships.""PerFormare"", the innovative business coaching program proposed by Roberto, leverages an assessment based on neuroscience, done at the beginning and the end of the program; He can make the intervention with clients, who choose to work with him, very precise, accurate and effective. Roberto is an expert in NLP (Master Practitioner), Mindfulness, Personal Trainer, Nutrition, Neuroscience, Leadership and collaborates with different experts according to the needs of clientIf you want to know deeply how to best use the skills and talents of the people who are part of your team, if you want to know the relational modalities and behavioral patterns of your collaborators, if you want to know how to best organize your team and make it perform at its best please, take a look at https://robertopatricolo.com/ to learn more about Roberto his work and his innovative approach.
