©2020 WorldatWork
Helping Employees
Cope with Crisis
Lessons from 30 Behavioral Experts
Kurt Nelson, PhD
Tim Houlihan

©2020 WorldatWork
Who we interviewed
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Authors, Researchers, & Academics
• Annie Duke – Author of “Thinking in Bets”
• Barry Ritholtz – Bloomberg Columnist and Podcaster
• Rodd Wagner – Author of “The Power of 2” & “Widgets”
• Caroline Webb, PhD – Author of “How to Have a Good Day”
• Liz Fosslein – Author of “No Hard Feelings”
• Christian Hunt – UK Risk Consultant
• Claire Bidwell Smith – Author of “Anxiety: The Missing Stage of Grief”
• Samuel Salzer – Author and Consultant – Sweden
Behavioral Scientists & Economists
• Aline Holzwarth – Director at Center for Advanced Hindsight
• Mariel Beasley, PhD – Director of Common Cents Lab
• Kristen Berman – Co-Founder of Irrational Labs
• Greg Davies, PhD – Economics & Finance in the UK
• Alessandro del Ponte, PhD – Economics-Singapore International U
• Anurag Vaish – Co-Founder The Final Mile - India
Business & Corporate Leaders
• James Brewer – Eli Lilly Marketing Director
• Michael Boden – VP Sales at Syngenta
• Chris Pfeiffer – Director of Analytics at Tegra
• Kaveh Yasdifard – Marketing & Innovation in Tehran, Iran
Neuroscientist & Psychologists
• Brad Shuck, PhD – Psychology at U of Louisville
• Wendy Wood, PhD – Psychology at USC
• Gretchen Chapman, PhD – Virology and Psychology at Carnegie Mellon
• Eugen Dimant, PhD – Sociology at U Penn
• Cristina Bicchieri, PhD – Sociology at U Penn
• Stephen Curtis, PhD – Neuroscientist
• Howard Friedman, PhD – NYU
• Jules Nolan, PhD – President Elect MN School Psychologist Association
• Ali Fenwick, PhD – Neuroscientist in the UK
• Elizabeth Gilbert, PhD - Research lead at Psychology Compass
• Margaret Robinson Rutherford, PhD – Psychologist and author
• John Bargh, PhD – Psychology professor at Yale
• Gary Latham, PhD – I/O Psychology, University of Toronto

©2020 WorldatWork
Poll #1: I would characterize my company’s
handling of the emotional side of the crisis as…
Answers:
1. We’ve nailed it
2. We’re doing pretty well
3. We’re coasting and could use some help
4. We need significant improvement in this area
5. Time to abandon ship
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Employees are
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“We know that we're emotional beings -
that a great majority of the decisions we
make on a daily basis is based purely on the
way we feel about something.”
Brad Shuck, PhD
University of Louisville

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Pandemic =
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Stress leads to:
 Narrowing our focus
 Limits cognitive ability
 Greater use of heuristics / habits
 Emotional fatigue

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Create an
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©2020 WorldatWork
Poll #2: Does your company have an Emotional
Playbook to help guide you through the
psychology of work in a pandemic?
Answers:
1. Yes, we have an Emotional Playbook that we are implementing
2. Not yet, but we are working on something like that
3. No, and not working on anything even similar to that
4. What is an Emotional Playbook?
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Playbook Components
1. Build a Human Interaction Charter
2. Implement Human Centered Processes
3. Craft Emotionally Proofed Communications
4. Develop Positive Habits and Routines
5. Chart a Clear Path Forward

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Build a
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“A charter is a list of things that
we value. These are the things that are
important to us.”
Jules Nolan, PhD
President-Elect Minnesota School Psychologists Association

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Implement
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“We're also going to have to be adaptable
moving forward. The same answers that we had a
month ago, aren't the same answers that we have
today. And today's answers, won't be the same
answers that we have a month from now.”
Elizabeth Gilbert, PhD
Chief Researcher at PsychologyCompass

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Craft
Communications
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“We will need more “how are you doing”
and less “did you get that done?”“
Michael Boden
Vice President of Sales, Syngenta

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Develop Positive
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“When we change our
environment, all of a sudden our
norms can change, our routines can change,
our habits can change.”
Kristen Berman
Behavioral Scientist, Co-founder of Irrational Labs

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Chart a Clear
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“Number one is that people are, are, are
searching for a level of certainty.”
Annie Duke
Decision Researcher and Author of “Thinking in Bets”

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What’s
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“Our legacy as an organization will be
defined in the way that we treat our people
today.”
Brad Shuck, PhD
University of Louisville

©2020 WorldatWork
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“Our legacy as an organization will be defined in
the way that we treat our people today.”
Brad Shuck, PhD – University of Louisville
Tim Houlihan
Tim@BehaviorAlchemy.com
612-386-5886
Kurt Nelson, PhD
Kurt@LanternGroup.com
612-396-6392