Building teams in a WFH ‘new normal’

I was talking to a friend over the long weekend about all we’d gained and all we’d lost by working from home. The gains seemed obvious, to us, while the losses were all about human connections.

In fact, some people working today completed their studies in lockdowns and went straight to work-from-home settings. They never worked alongside their teams in a physical setting, never had a chat at the coffee machine or enjoyed after-works drinks, a chance to get to know everyone better. Their opportunities to connect in person were severely restricted in the pandemic years and continue to be limited.

Is this the new normal?

While WFH is increasingly the norm (I like it too), I am concerned we might also cement as normal that we no longer need to interact with each other much, that our current circle is enough; perhaps largely limited to family and existing friends. We might begin to convince ourselves that we don’t need those random conversations, serendipitous very human moments of interaction.

Except studies show that humans, like us, often yearn to belong, to build meaningful connections within our families, our communities, our workplaces.

Does your workplace offer opportunities to connect? Not just to communicate digitally, via email or socials but rather, to converse? And not just on Zoom.

We may be at a critical moment in history where we ought make some serious decisions; should we take steps to grow and encourage a sense of belonging in our workplaces. And what steps might we take?

Of course, there are many options available to build networks and teams.

My specialty, as many of you already know, is imagination. It’s a joyous way to create bonds, build teams, come up with new ideas, some that might actually lead somewhere. My sessions invite attendees to get to know each other in a unique way, through laughter, joy. To create a sense of belonging to one another, to their teams and the businesses where they work. They help them to develop the skills to negotiate, collaborate and communicate through collective imagining, often a path to laughter, optimism, hope and sometimes, new ideas, the seed for innovation, a start, a beginning.

I believe any opportunity to encourage conversation, friendships, community is a good step to build wellbeing in a workplace. Before we make normal the idea that we need not connect so much, I think we should try connecting more right now and see how that feels, whether it changes, in any way, the shape of our lives. And the shape of our futures.

Dawn runs experiential workshops through Imagination Session® to connect people with their imaginations to touch joy, optimism, hope; to build professional skills; and to discover the ideas that seed innovation.