20 Jan Neuroscience Helps

A lot of neuroscience horses are being harnessed to try to address the challenges posed by remote work.

While working from home didn’t result in any loss of productivity, innovation has plummeted and corporate culture and collaboration are taking a major hit.

Not surprisingly, because we are social animals and most of us crave the company and interaction with others, when those stimuli are taken away we lose the urge to collaborate and cooperate, lose the sense of brain synchrony that supports those things, and everyone suffers.

Now, I’m no neuroscientist but it’s not a stretch to see how the lack of social contact and interaction has resulted in the lack of civility, the increase in aggression and anger and the flat out nastiness that is witnessed every day.

The early days of the pandemic made us feel we were truly all in it together, perhaps for the first time on a global basis but as our normal social circles tightened, then went away almost entirely we began to feel stressed and lonely.

Well, one way is to seek out more interaction: we all have to shop for food and even if you are ordering online and receiving the delivery at your door, make the effort to have an extra conversation.

While you’re doing it, make eye contact.

Especially now when most of our faces are covered, we are relying so much more on physical cues and eye contact.

If you’re lucky enough to go to a restaurant, make conversation insofar as the server has time for you.

Bear in mind that most businesses are going to be operating at lower than normal staffing levels thanks to the wild spread of omicron and the ensuing isolation orders.

It’s not over but it will get better.