Information Overload at Work: Anxiety, Communication, and Coordination

We discuss information and data overload, when people over or under rely on data, and how information behavior affects decision making.

Episode Transcript

Dr. D. (00:05):
Hello, and welcome to the realm. I'm Dr. D, I bring
the strategy.

Dr. K (00:09):
And I'm Dr. K, I bring the psychology, we are business
psychologists and your guides tothe executive realm where we
bring strategy and psychologytogether

Dr. D. (00:18):
so you can bring your best to your C suite, your teams
and your customers. Today, we'retalking about information and
data overload when people overor under rely on data and
information behavior anddecision making. So let's get to
work. Dr. K, I bet most peoplehave been overwhelmed with
information I know I have,whether it's email or reports,
or even, you know, large changesin an organization or when

(00:41):
people have to make a bigdecision, they weren't quite
sure where to start, it can feelvery overwhelming. What is the
common response for peoplefacing information overload? How
do people usually react?

Dr. K (00:52):
In my experience in this last year, working with people
that were lucky enough to beable to keep their jobs during
the pandemic, it has beenanxiety driven, as well as a
little bit of anger, annoyance,frustration, and, you know,
people, you know, someone mightthink, well, they're just

(01:13):
getting all the information thatthey need. And that is
absolutely true. However, nowthat we are sitting at home, and
the commute has been taken down,and you have the ability to have
your computer, your laptop, yourcell phone, all of these
instruments that can bring youtechnology in a split second,
people within the organizationare inundating people with

(01:36):
information. And a lot of timesit's information that is not
really necessary, it'sinformation that could have been
combined with the other threeemails that someone received in
the last five minutes, is toomuch information that we feel
that people need to have,without giving them the chance
to see if they already

Dr. D. (01:56):
have it. I think in business, people can be accused
of not sharing information thatthey should have. And in our
environment where we've becomeso reliant on instant
communication, whether that'stexting or instant messaging at
work or email, there, there isthis almost compulsion to share
every little bit as it becomesavailable, it's really easy to

(02:18):
fire off a quick text and say,Hey, I just learned this, or I
just learned that but thereality is, you could be
creating an information overloadwake around, you have the people
who are receiving thatinformation. And conversely,
people are responding to you, orcould be pushing that
information to you in a waythat's just piecemeal, where it
probably makes some more senseto stop, take a pause, make sure

(02:43):
that you're understanding thewhole picture. Rather than
firing it off in an email, ifit's important, have a
conversation, you cancommunicate a lot more in a five
minute conversation, then youcan add 30 email back and forth
in the same amount of time thatit takes to construct that that
number of email, it can, it cancreate a lot of stress and
anxiety.

Dr. K (03:01):
With that stress and anxiety, the potential of
disengagement can be therebecause you know, it was a rapid
fire of emails being sent out.
And you might have missed onebecause you quickly got this new
one and information can be lostin there. So there and then
there might just be too muchinformation. So in addition to
the disengagement, productivitycan also go down if you're

(03:24):
trying to work on this project,and you turn around, you've got
170 emails, which one becomesmore important, this projects
due in five hours, but all theseemails that are popping up
urgent, urgent, you know,immediate response, and it's
becoming overwhelming. It istaking the mindset of employees
in a direction that takes awayfrom the company's goals.

Dr. D. (03:49):
Yeah, the challenge is, if I have a bit of information
that I need to share, or if Ihave a question that I need
answered, I need to be asthoughtful about making that
request of somebody else.
Because it's really easy toshoot somebody a instant
message, or shoot them an email.
If they're in a flow state, andthey're working and they're

(04:09):
being super productive. You caninterrupt their flow state and
it takes seven to 10 minutes toget back into a flow state
again, if you can, and thenthere's fatigue when you change
tasks too quickly. So there area lot of psychological elements
that can influence and degradeproductivity. And it's important
for leaders in particular to beas thoughtful about the way that
they communicate and sendingcommunication via electronic

(04:33):
means as they do when they'repreparing to stand up and
deliver a town hall or post ameeting. And often with
electronic communication,particularly email. The
intention is I'll put it inemails so that the person can
respond when they're available.
What some senior leaders fail toremember and we talked about
this a bit in our ivory towerepisode. There is a power

(04:55):
dynamic that when a seniorleader sends in Email, there's a
perception, it needs to stop andbe looked at right away, it
doesn't matter if they'reworking on something more
important or more productive,there is a sense of obligation
to look at it and respond andprobably act on it right away.
It's important to think aboutwhen you're sending your email.

(05:16):
So one thing as a leader that Iwould do, I would write the
email that I needed, I would puta timer on it to be delivered at
four o'clock in the afternoon.
And then if I learned more abouta topic, I could either edit or
not send that email because Imay, it may have come up in a
meeting, or I may have had awater cooler conversation with

(05:36):
somebody, it really cut down onthe number of email that I was
sending. And if it really wastruly important, I wouldn't put
it in electronic communication,I would pick up the phone, I
would call, I would say I thisis really important. I'm so
sorry to interrupt you, I couldhave that personal conversation
with somebody I know you'rereally busy. I'm so sorry, I'm
working on this thing. And I'vegot a really tight deadline. I'm

(05:58):
trying to figure out x, y, andz. Can you help me with that? If
you're working on something witha higher priority, I'm happy to
go to somebody else has set thestage to say, I'm not asking
because I'm more important thanyou. Here is my priority. What
are your priorities, let'sreconcile those two things and
be thoughtful about how I'musing your time.

Dr. K (06:18):
And it's important for leaders to understand with us
being on our computers, youknow, whatever device that we
are using, in addition to justthe information that is being
provided to us a little youknow, all our tabs that are
open, it becomes additionalstimuli, our brains are trying
to process we may not realizethat our brains are trying to

(06:40):
process so as you and I aredoing this right now, I can see
that the background on mycomputer changes. And sometimes
I'll be like, Oh, did I misssomething when I'm in the middle
of doing something, and that's astimulus that is not necessary,
but yet my brain takes it into,into play with everything. When

(07:00):
this became a research focus. Itused to be called information
overload. And as time has goneon, and we started using the
web, and our brains refocusedand new neuro pathways came
about neurologists actuallytermed it as a cognitive
overload. Because we are takingon all the extra stimuli. And

(07:21):
our brain is trying to processeverything.

Dr. D. (07:22):
Absolutely it is it is literally wired into our brains.
And there are people who believethey're exceptional
multitaskers. But study afterstudy after study has
demonstrated people are reallypoor in multitasking. And that
is why you can be on a phoneconversation with somebody and
you can hear literally hearsomebody zone out and start to

(07:43):
look at the signs are so evidentto another person that oh, this
person's not paying attention tome and the natural responses, I
must not be important to them, Imust not be a priority to them.
And that can be reallydevastating to an employee who
maybe is talking to a seniorleader multitasking does not
work, it's wired into our brain,being focused and prioritizing

(08:06):
the way and how and when youcommunicate can alleviate a lot
of the tension that you couldcreate in the team and the
people around you.

Dr. K (08:14):
And I feel it's important for the leaders to understand
this because you know, they'rethe ones that tend to pump out
all this information. And weneed this and we need this. If
there is too much information orcognitive overload, it can lead
to moments of in decisivenessbad decisions, as we said
earlier, stress and anxiety thatin decisiveness, it has

(08:35):
potential to put anyone into abrain pause. And then we have
that moment where like, Oh, mygosh, I have to make a decision
and we just go with, okay,that's the decision I'm going to
make, and that can be animpulsive decision. And then
that's where even more stresscomes about.

Dr. D. (08:50):
You touched on people using intuition to make
decisions. People are on aspectrum of how intuitive their
decision making style is, versushow fact based how data oriented
their decision making style is.
There's so much so manyoverwhelming choices of
information to choose from, whodo you listen to? Where do you
get it, it can feelexceptionally overwhelming. I

(09:11):
call it the data chasm where youseem to fall into this realm
where Everywhere you look, thereis an option for where you could
get information and you're you'dnever really fully trust
yourself in which direction yougo. But eventually you start to
consume that information. Youbecome more educated and you
claw your way out of that chasm,you figure out which information

(09:33):
is relevant, which direction youwant to go, you prioritize, and
you work your way through it ina systematic step by step bite
by bite basis, that sense ofoverwhelming. I'm not quite sure
where to go. For some peoplethat's very energizing. For me,
that's very energizing. I likedipping my brain into a pool of
information that I've never seenbefore and that sense of look at

(09:55):
possibilities here. But thereare people where that is
crippling, where you throw toomuch information at them too
quickly, or you set them looseon a priority and say, research
it and figure it out. And theybecome exceptionally
overwhelmed.

Dr. K (10:11):
Totally agree. And with the people that become
exceptionally overwhelmed, it'sunderstandable. You know,
sometimes, you know, workingwith clients, people, they get
mad at themselves, they getfrustrated with themselves. And
what I try to work with them isthese are things that you can
always help that there's allthis information out there, and
you get lost, you know, it'sthe, it's the multiple rabbit

(10:34):
holes that people tend to fallin my advices. If you have the
start of something that's kindof like your it could be your
base, or it could be you know,the top of your mountain. And
what's everything underneaththat you need to add to that,
what's the important informationso that you can stay on topic,
stay focused on that, make achoice, make a list and stick to

(10:58):
that those rabbit holes can getvery dark, very deep, and you
can slide down and quickly whenyou're in the rabbit hole. It
seems like it's never ending,

Dr. D. (11:06):
it can be very discouraging. Absolutely.
Because Yeah, it does. It makesa person feel inadequate, out of
control out of control. And itis not a comfortable place for
for many people and seniorleaders often forget how finely
tuned, their ability to navigatenew information and decision

(11:27):
making is the more senior youbecome an organization, the more
consequential the decisions, andthe more people you have to
support that information search.
When you want to understand anew topic, you can bring in
consultants, you have otherexperienced leaders with
expertise, you have networkingrelationships, all of those
things that senior leaders cando are a support mechanism, it
took time to develop all ofthose support mechanisms.

(11:51):
There's also a concept calledheuristics, which is shortcuts
in decision making. It's acommon term in behavioral
economics and decision theorywhere over time people develop
shortcuts in their mind. Andthose can be very helpful
because they they get tuned overtime where they become a danger
is when you over rely on thoseheuristics and don't challenge
yourself on the underlyingassumption. Because those

(12:12):
heuristics end up leading tobias, whether that's in
interpersonal relationships orpoints of view, or bias in
decision making, thoseheuristics can be very damaging
to your decision making. Butthey're necessary to decision
making. It's very important aspart of the wiring in that brain
that but as a senior leader, youhave had experience in making
decisions and choosing whichavenues of information you're

(12:35):
going to select. And you've madea lot of mistakes along the way
that you've learned from askinga junior person to evaluate some
new bit of information might bevery overwhelming for them,
because they don't have thehistory and experience that that
you do. They don't have thesupport network or structure,
they might not even know whatquestions to ask. I have often

(12:55):
thrown myself into a new topic,part of the challenge is you
don't have the intuition of whatthe right questions to ask are.
And that's usually the key. Sohelping a person navigate
decision making or passing achallenging project to a junior
staff member and asking them tofigure it out can feel very
overwhelming to them, perhapsbecause they don't have the same

(13:18):
level, even if it's an easydecision for you. Or it might be
an exit project or a way toapproach it for you, it can feel
very overwhelming because theydon't have that learn history of
how to approach situations likethe ones that you might be
asking them to do. So as asenior leader, it's really
important to be thoughtful ofhow you're asking your teams to
approach problems and challengesthat intuition that you have

(13:41):
might not come naturally to theperson that you're assigning the
project to.

Dr. K (13:46):
Absolutely, totally agree. I do want to shift the
topic just or not the topicitself, but to a different part
of it. And something that peopledon't always understand is water
cooler talk overload that cancome into play as well. So here,
you know, especially now that weare you know, we've been away
from our coworkers for a year,yes, maybe you've talked to a

(14:08):
few on the phone, maybe you'vehowever, as we get back into
into the offices and get backinto the workplace, something
that that is important tounderstand is not only the
information that we're gettingabout with the organization and
all the data that comes in withthat we also can be overloaded
with the workplace drama, orinformation that comes in if I'm

(14:33):
working on a project or if anemployee's working on a project
and then someone pops their headinto the office and says, Oh my
god, did you hear that so and somight be getting fired, our
brain is going to take that inand go could I be fired what's
going on within the company. Sowater cooler talk is also
something that is important tounderstand. There is no way that

(14:54):
that will ever be taken out ofan environment. There's always
going to be people talkinggossiping, but it is just a part
of who we are. We talk aboutthings, we want to get people's
information. And we want to becareful that you want to be
careful of not internalizing.
But all of that chitter chattercoming at you can become a part
of this information overload.

(15:15):
And it's important to kind ofstep aside from that, when it's
not necessary to be a part ofit.

Dr. D. (15:22):
It's a great point because even senior leaders need
to be aware of what's runningaround in the rumor mill, led a
number of m&a engagements in thevarious companies that I've
consulted for and worked formanaging the rumor mill is a
very important part of theresponsibility of any
communication plan. It's reallyimportant to understand what the

(15:43):
perceptions and the rumors arethat are floating around out
there. And that can feel veryoverwhelming. How do you tap
into that information stream tounderstand what people are
thinking about and what peopleare worried about, just like any
other information and data,having a plan and a strategy,
psychological safety in anorganization is important
because as a leadership team,and as a senior leader, or even

(16:06):
as a middle manager, or anaspiring leader, having a
connection with the team, andhaving a level of trust built up
with the team, where they feellike they can reach out and
share their concerns and theirworries or share the rumors,
Hey, I heard there's gonna be amerger and then then believe
your response. It's important tobe transparent, it is brave to

(16:28):
be transparent. And people areresilient and creative and will
work with senior leadership todo the right thing for an
organization. It's important tobuild that level of trust so
that you can understand whatcollectively your teams and what
individuals are thinking andhearing so that you can craft

(16:48):
your communication effectively,the most skilled senior leaders
demonstrate exceptional abilityto deliver information in the
way that the receiver needs tohear it.

Dr. K (16:59):
Be concise. And you also want to be precise, on what
you're saying. So condense it,take the fluff out.

Dr. D. (17:09):
And if you are over a very large organization, set the
expectation of how you want theleaders who are leading the
teams that you support on how tocommunicate and be very precise
in what your expectations are.
You expect people to communicatewith prioritization with clarity
with purpose, communicating inthe way that the receiver would

(17:31):
understand. Well, I reallyappreciate the conversation, Dr.
K. And to all of you joining uson this journey to the realm
Thank you so much. I'm Dr. D.

Dr. K (17:42):
And I'm Dr. K and we are looking forward to your next
visit to the Executive Realm.