I am a lifelong learner, creator, explorer, and tinkerer. This is a collection of my experiences.
When COVID hit in March 2020, we went remote almost overnight. We lost spur of the moment lunches, happy hours, team outings, and in-person brainstorming sessions.
We lost spontaneity when we went online. No longer could we stumble into a conversation in the break room. We stopped lingering after meetings to chat. We lost these random opportunities to connect with our coworkers. Both literally and figuratively, the water-cooler ceased to exist.
It's been over two years since the start of COVID. We've moved beyond the initial disruption to our lives. We've found ourselves in a new “normal” when it comes to work, life, and the balance of the two.
The life side of things has been, for the most part an improvement.
The work side of things, not so much. We developed unhealthy work habits. We stopped taking breaks. We stopped socializing with coworkers. Spontaneous activities that used to lead to strengthening bonds with coworkers disappeared.
For a long time, we were able to lean on the relationships developed before COVID. Some of them withered. Others we were able to maintain. We developed less new relationships overall.
Then we started new jobs. Getting to know coworkers in this new environment was near impossible. There was no chance to hang out in the break room, no casual introductions. Every interaction was scheduled. A meeting to welcome the newbie. A meeting for happy hour. A meeting to chat about a project. Everything was a meeting. Every interaction became business.
We need shared experiences with our coworkers. We need psychological safety. Solid relationships form the foundation for healthy teams. From there we can do do our best work.
There are now teams consisting only of folks hired after the start of COVID. There are entire companies that are fully remote. As time progresses, this will become the new norm.
Will we disconnect and silo ourselves? Will every interaction be formal, superficial, businesslike, and bureaucratic? Will the bonds that holds relationships, teams, and the company together break? Without a course correction, we're headed down a dark path.
I see three ways from here. The first is to change nothing and continue down that dark path. The second is to force a return to office. While we fix the work issues, employees will long for the life perks they lost.
From the ashes, create anew. To recreate what we lost, would be a fool's errand. To move forward, it is best to start from scratch, with new ingredients, new methods, and build a new way of working.
We're all in this together and it's one large experiment. It'll be a long time before we have tried and true methods of building strong bonds with coworkers online. Some of the things we try will fail. Things that work for us might not work for other teams or companies.
Throughout my career, I have been the organizer of activities and outings with coworkers. I continued to do this as we went remote. I attempted to move those in person activities online. Some activities persisted. Most failed. Replicating what we did in the office, online, was not working.
Spontaneity is almost nonexistent online. Yet, with some planning, we can create opportunities for something similar occur. Encourage folks to show up before a meeting starts or stick around after it ends to chat. Or use apps that encourage 1 on 1 conversation pairings across the company.
The office was the place where everything happened. Now it isn't. This isn't an opportunity to reduce the budget. Redirect that money and use it to strengthen employee bonds. Turn offsite gatherings into a chance to bond with coworkers. Rethink what the office is and what it could be. Could it be more than a kitchen and an open floor plan? It could be a place where employees want to come hang out once or twice a week.
We need to reassess our tools. When COVID started, we had to make do with the tools that were available to us. However, they were not suited as replacements for in office experiences. We're now over two years away from the start of COVID. There are lots of great tools that enable us to work much better online. Have we adopted any new ones since COVID hit?
What worked then doesn't work now. How will we adapt? Will we rush back to the old ways of doing things? Or will we embrace what we have and create anew?