In any period of uncertainty, challenge or crisis, the human brain is easily overloaded.

At the best of times, the workplace is full of a number of stressors that can push all our emotional buttons; and exhaust all our cognitive abilities. Those stressors are many and varied, but ultimately play to the brain as THREAT.

Add to that any period of prolonged crisis: and it’s no wonder we’re so quickly overwhelmed. Because that crisis alone is (subtly, but profoundly) taking a good chunk of our available cognitive capacities, in order to stay aware of and manage that threat.

With awareness and threat levels on constant mid-alert, even when we’re seemingly “at rest”, our capacity for all else is significantly impaired. And in my own opinion and experience, continually maintaining that mid-alert level is its own fatiguing challenge. (Something of an accumulative impact, over time.)

Periods of challenge and uncertainty will always be with us – or just around the corner.  It’s a part of what it is to live life.  So, what can we do to manage out cognitive resources and stay focused and productive?  Here are 6 brain-friendly approaches that might help:

Respect your new cognitive capacity baseline

We can only do so much. Our brains can only do so much. And those limits of our “thinking brain” are more pronounced, in times like these. Perhaps obvious to say; but have you recalibrated your workload accordingly? Have you done the same for your team? Take a fresh look at what you’re asking yourself and those around you to do, and by when. Where you can: relax the demands.

Promote certainty, choice and connectedness

Let’s imagine you’ve recalibrated on workload and priority to better suit our cognitive capacities. Now, let’s promote certainty, choices and connectedness: a few brain-based hot-buttons we can push (in ourselves and others) to achieve the kind of positive states that make it easier to focus. Create and maintain a daily routine to give a sense of normalcy amongst the chaos. Acknowledge your opportunities to make choices throughout the day (and give plenty of choice to those around you) to raise autonomy, dampening our feelings of no control. And set more team goals to promote greater collaboration and connectedness.

Shorten periods of concentrated work

75-minutes is my favoured baseline for a period of uninterrupted work. Something of a sweet spot between enough time to descend into a piece of project work, but not so long I tax my brain. But perhaps that’s too long for the current climate? Our brain needs regular breaks, more so when the pressure is on. And it needs those breaks to be actual downtime. So, schedule in more breaks than before. Make meetings shorter than before. And when you take a break: have it be break. Not checking email or surfing social media; but quiet reflection and rejuvenation time.

Set near-term goals and regular reviews

In any period of uncertainty and volatility, whilst a long-term vision is super-helpful (definitely keep that), the planning and execution horizons need to shorten. And this is not a principle to be applied merely at the global, organisational, strategic levels. We can incorporate this into our own daily habits and practices. Resist the temptation to plan too far out and instead make goals near-term, with plenty of regular reviews and opportunities to learn and course-correct.

Make optimisation the new watchword

When circumstances become challenging, you’ll notice some interesting behaviours we all like to indulge in. Busy work is one I’m sure you’ve experienced: both in yourself and from your team. Speeding-up, to the point of losing perspective. Adding way too many things to the task list: just to look at it becomes overwhelming. And meetings. Too many. Too long. Wrong people present. Right people absent. Prep not complete. A bit of an easy tactic to pass the time. Challenge every one of these unhelpful behaviours with a thought for OPTIMISATION. No busy work: only meaningful outputs. Consciously slow yourself down, throughout the day. Have SINGLE ITEM task lists, at any given moment. And practise a whole new level of meeting discipline.

Be part of the solution

The emotional energy we bring to every conversation, meeting and exchange has a profound impact on the brains around us. And that’s true, whatever your role. So, a wonderful challenge to ask ourselves, at any time when we’re all under pressure: am I part of the solution? Or part of the problem? Consider now: are you leading by example when it comes to being focused and productive? Are you demonstrating a wonderfully adaptive mindset to deal with the current challenge? Are you bringing imagination, creativity and ingenuity to every initiative? Are you showing-up to meetings ready to make meaningful advances on the meaningful projects? If not: what small shifts could you make – for the benefit of all.

Thanks for reading!

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