A lot has changed in 2020 for all of us. From indefinite remote working to constant Zoom calls, and juggling children’s school schedules, our workdays are packed full. Not too long ago we used to enjoy days in the workplace, conference room meetings, and occasional in-person chats with colleagues.
Well, those days are long gone for the foreseeable future.
So fast forward, we are now doing things ranging from virtual breakfasts to cyber lunches. A muffin and coffee or a salad with green tea while catching up on the latest news or life events are the new things now. Having your cat walk across your desk and onto your keyboard isn’t unusual and neither is hearing a dog barking occasionally during the middle of a video call.
Through all those things we continue to use technology to try to stay connected. All of this made Team Intellek think about the differences between our old water cooler chats and our new cyber experiences. Our U.K. and U.S. offices used to enjoy getting together in our separate locations and interacting on a one-on-one basis. Whether it was an in office meeting or an impromptu chat about what in the world is the craze with TikTok, we enjoyed those times! In person interaction was always appreciated and valued.
Here we are now, actually scheduling time to connect online on a personal level. For us, a U.S. team breakfast huddle equates to a U.K. team lunch huddle due to the time zone differences and we have mastered making the time to reconnect as a team twice a month, with no business topics on the agenda! Staying connected is key during these trying times and whether it’s a cyber-lunch or water cooler chat we appreciate the opportunity to just have a chance to interact about non work-related subjects. People need people. That’s the bottom line. Whether it’s a gathering in the breakroom or piling onto a virtual camera conference call (with minimal makeup, in t-shirts and sweatpants) it still feeds our souls.
Knowing that Clinton is excited about his upcoming wedding, sharing that there are 3 new babies joining the Team TP family soon and hearing that Christel (once again!) dodged the latest hurricane threatening New Orleans keeps us connected and feeling the same camaraderie we felt in the workplace many months ago. These are all things that help us to smile, laugh, unwind and remember that there are other things we need to focus on besides work and the current world issues.
Our catchphrase for the year since March has been “pivot”. We have succeeded in doing this while staying connected as a team and bringing on new clients while we look forward to what Q4 2020 brings our way. That is, after we hear about how Julian and Lisa enjoyed their upcoming week of vacation during our next scheduled cyber breakfast/lunch session!
We hope you are all finding ways to stay connected!
Stay safe and healthy.
