It’s been over a year since the COVID-19 virus brought the world to a halt. At first, most of us were scrambling to figure out how to move our business to online platforms. To bridge the necessary gaps with technology. Over time, this technology has become second nature to us. And “hop on a Zoom call” or “chat over Teams” has become part of our everyday language.
These days, we are still using online platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams, but we are getting creative with how we use them. We are thinking about how they can be incorporated into our business plans not just for the current pandemic, but for the long haul. Here are two ways you might consider using online platforms beyond meetings.
Preserving Culture
In the midst of a pandemic, the Samish Indian Nation has been using Microsoft Teams and other online platforms to retain, celebrate, and share their cultural heritage. Tom Wooten is the chairman of the Samish Indian Nation. He said, “With COVID-19, we had to get creative . . . it’s about the interactions . . . we need people to be whole. Seeing other people laughing, smiling, and talking is important. We need other people.”
If your business is largely still working from home and communicating just to get business done, it might be time for you to use online platforms for the purpose of preserving your organization’s culture and morale. Take some time to remember what if felt like to be together at the same time, in the same place. Then, think of creative ways to bring some of that back using online platforms. It could be an open chat room during certain hours each day for coworkers to interact. Set up a lunch time Google Hangout or an afternoon Zoom call coffee break. Or maybe you create an online competition such as a scavenger hunt or trivia competition to build morale or team cooperation. We can’t deny that there is something that happens when we gather together in the same space and time. It’s something that is connective; something that we can’t afford to lose.
Human Connection
It seems that because we can’t always get together like we used to, many businesses now communicate in pre-recorded videos or emails. This often seems more efficient. And it probably is. I’ve given several lectures via video format simply because I don’t want to spend a lot of time talking from behind a mask.
But videos and emails don’t accomplish that element of real, in-the-moment, human connection. And that’s what so many people are missing these days. And it’s hard to measure just how valuable that human connection really is. But Emma Seppälä, science director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education at Stanford University School of Medicine says, “Loneliness and lack of social connection has been linked to anxiety, depression, slower recovery from disease.” And videos and emails cut us off from most forms of nonverbal communication. They don’t allow us to make eye contact, exchange smiles, or laugh together.
So if you are able to build your company culture or conduct a training or a presentation on an online platform, do so. Sure, it might be a little less polished and perfect than an edited video or email. But maybe that’s what we need right now. Something that reminds us what it means to be human together, mistakes and all.
Communication and presentations look a little different these days. We’re here to help.
