With signs of hope beginning to appear — from flattening curves to gradual reopening scenarios — much of our discourse now turns to what flavor of “normal” we might expect in the weeks and months to come.
At a macro level, society won’t likely return to a pre-corona state for some time. But companies large and small are plotting the next wave of transition, determining how to shift back from lockdown mode into something resembling traditional office life. The practical concerns of such a working environment are still being hashed out. For many organizations, social distancing requirements may force new seating configurations, even split shifts. School closings and childcare concerns add even more complexity to a 9-to-5 model. Even elevators in high-rise buildings pose tricky questions.
Less discussed — but just as important — is the emotional terrain in which employees will make the transition. It’s natural to wonder: now that we’ve been through such a challenging time, how will we work together afterward? The design of the phase to come may not be recognizable as “normal” in the least. In fact, for thoughtful companies, it could be something far better.
For decades, office life in America has operated within a set of parameters designed to demonstrate discipline, enforce hierarchy, and maintain social barriers between the professional and the personal. While industries may vary, cues from dress codes to language guidelines have been dutifully constructed to maintain a certain standard.
Until coronavirus arrived, that is. With little warning, companies plunged headfirst into virtual collaboration by necessity. Many professionals had dabbled in videoconferencing, but never had entire organizations been forced into such a radically different working environment, all at once.
Much has been written about the pervasive new Brady Bunch grids on our screens, from the bane of security and technical challenges to the boon of virtual happy hours. But one critical detail has gone largely underreported. In a month, videoconference culture has eroded professional traditions and replaced them with a new and promising sense of intimacy among colleagues.
Yes, on the surface, office attire quickly gave way to athleisure wear, while hairstyles and grooming went on PTO. But on a deeper level, a sense of vulnerability emerged between March and April. Colleagues witnessed their peers — and superiors — in environments beyond their typical control. Cameo appearances from offspring, pets, and partners added to the allure, exposing more fleshed-out and human versions than an office setting could ever provide.
For people accustomed to spending five days a week together in close quarters, this was as counterintuitive as it was compelling. Even among associates they’d known for years, professionals were finally seeing how their colleagues really lived — good, bad, and ugly. While separated by screens and miles, office mates were actually getting to know each other. Age-old barriers and office conventions were melting away — yet strangely enough, many companies weren’t falling apart in the process. The lucky ones were growing stronger.
At the same time, the reality of economic uncertainty added a base layer of anxiety to the proceedings. Leaders were tested in their ability to communicate with transparency, even while lacking all the answers. Employees wondered about the future — of their positions, their livelihoods, even of the company itself. All piled on top of the stresses of homebound families and a global health crisis.
The strain on mental health, across every level of a company, became very real. So alongside the group Zooms and shared Slack streams, people reached out as individuals, sometimes just to check in. Colleagues made each other available on emotional levels that office norms would never have allowed in the past. The most shopworn piece of small talk — “How are you?” — finally meant something real.
With those connections fortified, something profound began to take shape. Not only were companies strengthening their communal bond through newfound vulnerability; they were also doing so as authentic human beings, one-on-one. Both collectively and individually, organizations were supporting each other through a trauma together, in slow motion, five days a week.
Not everyone embraced this new mode initially, of course — well-entrenched office norms die hard in some. But as each Friday happy hour came to a close, and another week of virtual business was in the books, even old-school pros started to soften. Maybe it was an emotional recalibration, or perhaps just fatigue accumulated into resignation. But in time, it happened. And while no one would have predicted it, a global pandemic helped create a bond that no amount of team-building exercises ever could. It drew employees together under a common mission at last. But it wasn’t customer satisfaction, or leading-edge innovation. The mission was simply getting through this — and doing it together.
At companies all across the country, that’s where we stand today. We’re not through this crisis yet — as organizations, as job holders, or as healthy human beings. And we won’t be for a while, even as we edge ever closer.
But as we draw up plans for designing the next version of how we work together, it’s important that we keep the lessons of the past month in mind. Let’s remember that vulnerability can build trust, that comfort begets more comfort, and that we’re capable of tremendous things under trying circumstances.
Let’s be grateful for the jobs we have, however essential (or not) they may be in times of crisis. Let’s keep up the transparency, even amid uncertainty. Let’s recall that different people work in different ways, under wildly varying circumstances, and all of us deserve the flexibility we need to do our best. As our global situation evolves, these notions will remain. We can’t forget them once the coast is clear.
In days past, too many companies referred to themselves as a family — and with varying degrees of honesty. But with good fortune and strong leadership, this crisis could yield a new generation of organizations that actually resemble that ideal. Where people believe in their work, feel they belong, and want to stay.
Yes, families can be messy, and frustrating, and in certain ways dysfunctional. Yet the intensity of their shared experience through good and bad makes the best ones impervious to threat. And ultimately, lasting. Let that be our new normal of working together. It will be easier said than done. But it’s certainly worth a try — and there’s no going back now.
