It’s our new normal, working remotely. Our world has finally become accustomed to the fine art of balancing work, relationships, and home life ... or have we? There’s article upon article sharing advice to be more productive at home, how to “feel connected”, how to balance the kids with deadlines, even tutorials on the impact of getting dressed in the morning! What there isn’t enough of is offering up ideas of how to steady the wire when we begin to lose that balance and acknowledgment that every one of us has a wiggly wire regularly. After tripping on the wire ourselves from time to time, here are three things we’ve found to help stabilize and bring clarity to our day. Each one has changed the way we approach our day and also provided some balance while also strengthening our team relationships during this strange virtual office environment: 1. How often are you moving? No, changing rooms doesn’t count, we’re talking about moving your body – getting up, going for a walk, taking a time out, meditation, whatever it is that fills your cup and gets some new energy flowing – that's what you need to do. Every. Single. Day. It’s so easy to get into a rut of signing on and forgetting the things that keep your head in the game. There’s power in the mind-body connection – it's science! Movement throughout the day is proven to increase brain function, increase energy, spark creativity, and stimulate problem-solving capabilities, and reduce stress and who doesn’t want more of all that? 2. Who’s your workplace bestie? Workplace besties are needed now more than ever. They provide that connection to both the work and on an emotional level fulfilling the need for trust, belongingness, and inclusion within an organization. Research done by Gallop has repeatedly shown a concrete link between having a best friend at work and the amount of effort employees expend in their job. For example, women who strongly agree they have a best friend at work are more than twice as likely to be engaged (63%) compared with the women who say otherwise (29%). 3. Are you skipping the team chit-chat? Our team now has an ongoing debate on what’s going into a Tater-Tot hot dish (casserole for you non-midwestern folks). Actually, I think we like to debate any Midwestern dish. Hot dishes, pigs in a blanket, anything on a stick … This seemingly silly debate has turned into something that we all now laugh about and has brought us all together. It's even something we bring up to new team members! Our Zoom call has turned into our lunch table and we’re laughing, coming up with our own inside jokes, and as soon as we can get together, we’re having a hot-dish bake-off – don’t cha know! The point of all this is to encourage you to laugh with your team and know that it's ok to feel a little unsteady at times. It’s so easy for us to dive right into the work, but what you and your team really needs is a good laugh together and acknowledge that we're all human, doing the best we can. Encourage resonance. Make space for laughter. Be intentional by providing time for the things above – it’s what everyone could use more of.
And if you think of it … send us a picture of your team laughing together! It will of course make us smile, too.