Pedal Power

We live and work in a new world.

Morning commutes have been swapped for lazy mornings as we roll out of bed and power up the laptop. Hours in meeting rooms have been replaced with hours at a desk in your house watching faces on conference calls. 1-2-1 time with your people is also just talking to a face on a screen on video calls. And those passing chats at the drinks machine or photocopier are at best replaced with an IM. Then there are endless emails.

This list can go on and it all follows the same trend - how we interact with people at work has changed dramatically. All the personal interactions, planned or by chance, have been whipped out from under us and we've had to 'make do' with what technology can provide.

And technology has been key; lets face it had the pandemic struck 10 years ago it would have been a bigger struggle... going back 15-20 years and I'm not sure how we'd have managed. But even with technology providing the functionality to talk to each other and see faces on screens we are still missing a vital part of the interaction.

Nothing is more effective than in-person interactions.

Face to face meetings allow for clearer communication. Being able to read facial expressions, body language and inflections in-person can often result in a more positive, considered and credible conversation. Without non-verbal cues you also run the risk of misinterpreting information:

Albert Mehrabian research shows that the words we use account for just 7% of the overall message, with tone of voice accounting for 38% and your body language a whopping 55% of the message.

But missing out on in-person interaction has a bigger and more prominent impact on us.

Work relationships are incredibly important to employee well-being

As humans we need contact and connections with other humans. We spend a huge part of our day at work, so without connections with people work can be a very lonely place. These relationships with people at work can positively or negatively effect stress levels, productivity and perhaps more importantly health.

Strong social connections make people happier and physically healthier. Increased happiness and less stress leads in turn to increased engagement and loyalty, encouraging team building and inspiring positivity. (You don't need to take my work for it: Maslow's Hierarchy of needs)

So I did something...

Like most of the UK I haven’t physically seen my team since the middle of March. For the last 4 months they have just been faces talking back to me on my laptop screen. As we are all working efficiently at home there is no rush for us to go back to the office, so the chance of seeing my team in-person anytime in the next 3+ months is slim.

Going over half a year without actually seeing my team was quite a sobering thought and made me think about the reality of our life now. Physically seeing people is a human need. It’s great to video chat, phone call and WhatsApp the team but a lot can be gained from physically reconnecting with people to bond relationships and really see how everyone is getting on.

I’m not one to let circumstance dictate my fate, so I decided that if the situation wasn’t going to change, I needed to change the situation.

I planned to visit each of my team at their office (home), on a working day for actual face to face catch ups. I like keeping active so this was a chance to get out for some fresh air and as my team all live ‘fairly’ local I decided to cycle to see them! Of course the rules of play meant we were to keep distance between us at all times, avoid facing each other as much as possible and where needed wear a face mask. So to minimise risk we stayed outside, going for a walk while we chatted.

It was a simple plan... I planned a cycle route, worked out timings, booked the 1-2-1’s into my calendar and on a Friday morning I set off on my first leg of the journey (which turned out to be 9 miles away from my house... in the opposite direction to everyone else!). I ended up cycling 55k over the course of a 9 hour working day, meeting with all 7 members of my team, as well as squeezing in a few hours of other BAU meetings. It was a long day and challenged me mentally and physically, but it was worth it.

Notes from my mini cycling adventure

·      I can work anywhere – I joined my BAU meetings and did my emails from my mobile phone in various parks around Bournemouth and Poole.

·      I have a great team – everyone continues to show great resilience through these turbulent times.

·      Cycling is hard – I only recently got a bike, having not cycled more than 10k in the last 20 years, so Friday was not easy.

·      It’s really nice to be outside – nature is wonderful, being able to spend a whole day outside was amazing (even if I did jump when I noticed a caterpillar on my leg while sat in park)

·      Everyone is going through this – selfishly it was warming to hear first-hand from my colleagues how they are also coping with the ongoing restrictions to life.

·      Is this the new norm? - a lot of the conversation with the managers was about what the future plan looks like, and if it’ll continue to look much like it does now.

The biggest revelation from the day was from being able to really re-connect with my team, meeting with them in person did so much more for our relationships than screen time can achieve. Of course I can’t cycle 55k every day or even every week, it’s not the most productive way to spend a working day, but I am already planning for the next time I can see my team face to face again.