REOPENING: How do we talk to our colleagues now?

Welcome back to the REOPENING series of the Hello Monday podcast. This week, we’re on to our third of SIX BIG QUESTIONS about what we want from work as we come out of quarantine. This week's guest is the amazing therapist and podcaster Esther Perel .

This week's question is practical : now that a lot of us are back in person at least sometimes, how do we talk to our colleagues again?

I don’t think it’s possible to overestimate how challenging it’s going to be to figure out a new office culture. We didn’t leave offices. Offices left us. They were, for a time, a dangerous idea - gathering in any way was.

And beyond quarantine itself, our grief and loss wasn’t only focused on COVID-19. We felt it in the loss of Black lives to police violence. And through all of that, some of us started new jobs or welcomed new colleagues. This past year was a lot. How do you make small talk after that??

Esther Perel has advice. She's a couples’ therapist, an expert on relationships and relating. Perhaps you’ve heard her podcasts Where Should We Begin? and How’s Work? Today's show is really all about workplace relationships.?

You can find the?episode here , or listen directly below:

???Homework Assignment: Make a call

For the past two weeks, we’ve asked you to reflect in a journal. This week, We’ve been talking about relationship building, so now let’s do it. I’m going to ask you to make a call. Check in with a colleague, customer, or workmate that you’ve seen more online than in person this year. Forget Zoom, and do it the old-fashioned way—pick up the phone. This doesn’t need to be deep. I’m not asking you to have hard conversations. The point is to invest—in the small talk as much as the big talk—in the people with whom you do business. Consider how all of it feels as you do it, and then join us for Office Hours on Wednesday to discuss. We’ll see you at 3pm EST as usual. You can find us on the LinkedIn News Page or email [email protected].

???Take things further: LinkedIn Learning

People around the world are having difficult conversations about race and justice. But few are talking about?how?to talk about race. This has left some professionals sitting on the sidelines because they don't know what to say or how to say it. In this course, negotiation and conflict resolution expert—and Hello Monday friend and guest —Kwame Christian shows how to apply a useful framework to open up an effective dialogue at work and facilitate understanding. Kwame highlights the barriers that make talking about race so challenging. He then shares how to apply a framework that provides a consistent tool for how to have these conversations. Using this framework, you can acknowledge and validate emotions, use curiosity to open up dialogue, and work with others to determine what you're trying to solve. Plus, Kwame shares general tips for talking about race, including how to avoid common pitfalls and talk to your kids about race and society.