The Importance of Small Conversations
And how to make them happen in a remote setting
We need relationships in our lives. It’s part of what makes us human. However, in an era of remote work and outside restrictions, how do we make time for the small conversations that we used to take for granted in our lives and on which so many relationships are founded?
Here’s how Bendyworks goes about fostering and promoting the small conversations on which the world turns.
- Make space without expectations
- Foster friendships
- Bring joy and success to others
Making space without expectations
How many times do people turn sour when strings are attached? The favor seems smaller, the chat sems duller, and life loses a bit more sunshine than before.
In a remote setting, it’s easy to make every single meeting a list of expectations. You must show up, you must talk when it’s your turn, and so on. Small conversations cannot be made into a list. It ruins the essence of a small conversation and turns it into just another todo.
Bendyworks offers two “coffee break” meetings of fifteen minutes each in the course of the work day. Bendyworkers come to chat–or don’t come! Regardless, the space is there to be used as the people see fit.
Tip: Don’t expect this to happen overnight. It took a lot of fostering and some very chatty people to get it started. Sometimes, you just need to start in order to make space for these conversations.
Fostering friendships
Remote work has a lot of perks. One of these is not having to be around people. However, if you are not around people, it’s much harder to form friendships of any sort. And this makes life lonely for some of us.
Spaces without expectations go a long way to fostering friendships. These go beyond work in many cases. They spill over into game nights, excited Slack conversations, welcome lunches and much more.
It’s exciting to see smiles bloom on faces and hear the gentle teasing in meetings as a direct result of these friendships.
Creating Joy and Success
No one works in a vacuum and no one can create joy and success in a vacuum. This is the core of Bendyworks: We create joy and success in our craft together.
How do we do that? We foster the small conversations, friendships, and teamwork that forges teams together.
It’s as simple as that.
Photo by Chris Montgomery on Unsplash