In search of the Zoomitis cure!
It’s exactly 1 year ago this week, here in the UK, that we were instructed by the government to work from home, wherever possible. A year later and the stress of this on some people is abundant, especially for the extroverts in society.
I’m a very strong extrovert. By that, I need a good deal of face-to-face interaction with people to charge my batteries; to energise. I really don’t do well with long periods on my own. I’ll be frank that since the UK went into this latest lockdown phase, just before Christmas, I have been feeling especially frustrated and very often tired. My energy levels are depleted, no matter how much sleep I do or don’t get. It turns out, like so many other people, I’m suffering from what I call Zoomitis!
At OND, we help organisations harness the natural strengths and talents of individuals and build high performing, winning teams. When we analyse people’s strengths and talents, we easily identify extroverts who not only want to be with people a majority of the time but are also highly motivated to help others and great at sensing and reading other people. These individuals are natural networkers. We have found that many extroverts are struggling with the isolation that lockdown brings because there is no connection with people. “But we’ve got Zoom!” I hear you shout! Sadly, Zoom, despite it and other variants being excellent tools, just doesn’t count. They don’t provide real face-to- face with other people time and don’t help the extroverts recharge their batteries.
It used to be the introverts that often found themselves depleted of energy at work, because they’d been involved in what seemed to them like endless face-to-face meetings all day. While many introverts are very good at interacting directly with people, they do, ultimately, also need to have time on their own to charge their batteries. The world of lockdown and Zoom really does generally favour the introvert but can leave the extrovert stressed.
I’m fortunate that I have other people in my house who I can accost for a coffee and a chat during a break, after running a series of Zoom calls or webinars. This relieves my Zoomitis. The other thing I do is make sure I get outside for an hour’s walk every day where I try to take myself to busier places to have the experience of having people around me and maybe bumping into someone I know for a 2m distanced chat. Even with social distancing, I find this helps a lot.
So, my big question is this, “Do you feel you are suffering from Zoomitis too?” In which case I’d love to hear any remedies you might have that combat this condition!’
A final thought for business leaders and influencers. Over the coming months, we will unlock more and more and, no doubt, offices and other workplaces will start to fill again. This will favour the extroverts greatly because of face-to-face contact with others. However, we have seen over the last year the efficiency that video calls have brought while, at the same time, favouring the introverts. The challenge as we go forward is, can we work better with a blend of both. If we can optimise that path, we will find the efficiency, quality and speed of our businesses will improve as we motivate and engage introverts and extroverts alike.
To overcome Zoomitis, Contact Us
