Thanks to its sudden onset and the dire degree of threat it posed, the pandemic prompted rapid behavioral changes on the parts of workers and organizations. While Covid certainly has not gone away, circumstances have changed significantly: we are now living what was predicted to be “the new normal.” But are we living---and working--- as well as, or better than, before? Have we made good choices? And how are they working for you (pardon the pun)?

The pandemic was a shared societal event. No one was exempt from its threat. While a subset of the population opted out of taking public health-recommended actions, most people chose to respond with masks, social distancing and working from home when possible. In fact, some of our current daily behaviors, such as popping on a mask in crowded places when reports indicate that the virus numbers are rising, reflect adaptations of behaviors that we began when under extreme threat. The variable use of masks by some now is an example of an adaptation of an early pandemic-prompted behavioral change. And, while not at early pandemic levels, an increased frequency of hand-washing seems to have become a new norm for many of us and offers benefits for minimizing disease spread beyond the Covid virus. 

But not all behaviors adopted during the earlier stages of the pandemic have evolved into new or hybrid behaviors optimized for how we are living and working today. SmarterWisdom has observed that this seems especially true around activities which were virtually halted by the pandemic but which have now returned to routine status in our daily work lives, such as business trips. Airplane travel, in particular, seems to be the site of some frequently noted behavioral choices that can have a distinctly negative implications for both workers and their employers. 

The Economist recently featured an article about this very topic. Not unexpectedly, it points to certain less than ready-for-prime-time behaviors that some of us likely adopted during the pandemic when we spent most of our time functioning alone and unobserved. Taking off one’s shoes and socks during a flight, and, worse, propping bare feet on the back of the seat in front of you, was cited as an example of poor airplane manners; another is aggressive hogging of middle-seat armrests. The point in the article was not only that during lockdown, business travelers adopted some insensitive behaviors which might best be left in our own living rooms or other solitary situations, but, more centrally, the fact that business travelers are representing their company to others has lost its top-of-mind status. The author pointed out that, given the amount of logo-covered swag many folks travel with, one’s affiliation is often obvious, and makes the organization that employs you very accessible information to those you are offending around you. Remembering that others are taking note is what has fallen by the wayside. 

The silver lining to the pandemic’s very dark cloud is that many of us successfully learned to face new threats, see new opportunities (sourdough bread, anyone?) and understand our world in a different way. As a result, even the change-averse among us learned that we can successfully change at least a selected set of our behaviors. Now that the world has rebounded in many areas and shifted to permanent changes in others, it is worthwhile to review our current choices in light of the present-day context. If we don’t identify and articulate our changed work-related behaviors, we are not optimizing our ability to adjust and adapt.

SmarterWisdom believes it is a prudent investment to step back and create a mental “pre-pandemic vs current state” comparison of one’s work-related attitudes and behaviors. This “audit” allows us to articulate and enhance our awareness of things that have changed in ourselves and how we work; we are then able to reflect on changes and decide if they are now beneficial.  It is worth noting that if we are unable to identify and articulate our behavioral choices, we cannot reflect on them. The first step in correcting problematic beliefs or behaviors related to work is to recognize them in yourself. 

Here are a few SmarterWisdom prompts to get you started on your pre/post pandemic work-related audit: We suggest creating a four-column format, putting the item being considered in column one, the answer to question a in column two and the answer to question b in column three. Leave column four blank for now. Use a 1-7 scale, as described below, in responding to each question, using 1 as most negative and 7 being the most positive. Now create your columns and try tackling these questions:

1.  How are you feeling about your job overall (1= extremely negative; 7= extremely positive)

(a) How did you feel about your job overall most days pre-pandemic?  

(b) How do you feel now? (Put the category “my feelings about my job overall” in column 1, the answer to question “a” in column 2 and the answer to question “b” in column 3.)

2.    What is your estimate of Your boss’s perception of your level of engagement in your job: (1= not engaged; 7= highly engaged)

(a) How do you think your boss would have rated your level of engagement in your job pre-pandemic? 

(b) How do you think your boss would rate your current level of engagement in your job? (1= not engaged; 7= highly engaged)

3.    What do you feel is the general level of regard in which you are held as a contributor to your organization’s success? (1= regarded poorly; 7=regarded highly)

(a)    Pre-pandemic, how did you feel regarded as a contributor to your organization’s success?

(b)    Currently, how do you feel you are regarded as a contributor to your organization’s success?

Now, for each question, go back and compare your column two answer to your column three answer. In column four, for each question, note the difference between your response about your pre-pandemic and your present-day status and whether your answers have gone in a positive or negative direction. (A positive direction is benefitting you and your career, a negative one is working against you.)  After you complete this exercise, review column four and identify any changes you noted and whether any of  them are things which it would benefit you to reflect upon and, perhaps, reconsider. You don’t NEED to make any change; just consider where you believe a change would bring positive results. For those items, jot down what that change could be and/or what it might look like. 

You get the idea. You can add new/different questions as they occur to you; we suggest keeping a running list of new questions and setting a timetable for responding to additional questions periodically. You may also want to ask others to respond to some of these probes to get external feedback. If you lead a team, consider setting this up as an exercise for your team and let people ask each other for feedback on their list of questions. 

There is no absolute best way to proceed: the point is to surface assumptions, challenge them and the choices they prompted, then to evaluate if your new normal behavior is beneficial to you in the current context. If you are not happy with your personal assessment of your behaviors, you can begin the process of re-setting your behavioral goals. One thing for sure: behavioral choices are definitely NOT an area where ignorance is bliss!

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