Sharing our Varied Perspectives During Uncertainty

I’m at Starbucks. 4 sets of hands  touched the cup by the time the cappuccino was nestled in my hands.  Not a lot of social distancing going on; for the fewer people that are here, are they irresponsible? Are the people not here panic stricken for no reason. Offices of different firms had the range of response; tech happily at home, waitstaff worried about tips and contracting the disease or no income from not working at all, engineering firms of 5,000 staff continuing the work onsite.   

I worked to  design and issue a policy on pandemic work practices this week. A CEO mused whether it was important to meet with the staff or whether an email was sufficient.  I suggested that the opportunity for people to interact with him, with each other and to express to each other whatever was on their minds might be of greater value.  The simple message of: “If you can work from home, do it. If you can’t, wash your hands and we are going to reduce the number of staff in the office at any one time and clean it at least once a day,”  didn’t seem to match the vibe in the office.  

What I noticed was pulling 50 people together was a great opportunity to learn about how we react to vague and uncertain information and how we manage it better if we can have a safe dialogue. It’s a young office, so they could all agree that old people are most at risk.   I also learned who never touches their face and who quotes facts by starting with the qualifications of the person who wrote the online article. They were able to agree with the consensus of action even with general disagreement on facts. The only real fact is that no one seems quite clear of the risk. The PhD’s scientists argued we would have thought this was just a bad flu season 40 years ago. The germaphobes were waiting for the meeting to end so they could head for the door. 

Best in my mind; it was a chance for people to share perspectives that were varied. There was room for individuals to suggest additional action, and to express their own needs. More of that interaction might be better than broad policies and emails; people are likely compliant with the policy; but more trusting of leadership if it comes with a chance to connect as a group of colleagues and leaders that still need to drive value in an enterprise during a pandemic.