Keep the Connection Alive

Let’s talk about communication because that is challenging. It was a challenge before the pandemic and it seems to be an even bigger challenge now with the distributed workforce. In your opinion, what is the biggest barrier to effective communication in today’s workplace and how do you resolve that?

Yeah, the world is changing. We are starting to see that we may not go back to the office five days a week, like we were pre-pandemic, and I think that’s okay. We’ve just got to learn to adapt. So, I think that during the pandemic, it was very challenging to communicate with one another, but the technology around teams and this virtual environment is much better and it’s still quite effective. And so, again, learning to adapt, how to best communicate with the situation you have in place.
I think for my team moving forward, how are we learning to communicate in this new world we’re in? We’re trying to figure out what roles can stay remote, what roles really do need to come into the office, when do we come into the office? My guidance to the team has been come in when you have key in-person meetings. And don’t be afraid to have regular one-on-ones or just to ping people.
If you’ve got a question, you may not be able to walk down the hall and talk to that person next door or have that water cooler conversation, but there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to just send them a note on Teams or whatever tool you’re using, but just to say, “Hey, you’ve got a minute? I really need to talk to you about something.”
I think just that extra effort to stay in touch. And yes, it is harder in the virtual environment, but you just have to make the effort and figure out a way to constantly connect. It’s easier for those of us who are in the Bay Area, we’re trying to get together more often for lunches. We’re trying to have staff meetings that are in-person. But does it require us to be back in the office five days a week? My perspective is no. I’m not a supporter of that, to be honest with you.
I think that the pandemic has really taught us that communication can be done effectively, but we just have to work harder at it. And we have to figure out ways to get back in when we need to be back in and be in-person when we need to be in-person, but we just got to adapt.