Working alone together

This is part of a series of observations, stories and comics about certain characteristic interstices of time and space within a modern workplace. The author is a participant-observer to the behaviours and rhythms of what happens between and at these interstices of time.

Originally published in my Medium blog, this is a compilation of the same :

#1 The storm before the flow

Phase 1:

9:00 AM: It is a Tuesday. Messages on the WhatsApp group create vibrations (or subtle alarms) of urgency to get ready for work on time. “ I will reach by 10:10” , “ I shall be there by 10:00 today” I’ve got a doctor’s appointment, will reach by 11:15". But I delay because my time has stopped for some really engaging Instagram stories about politics and puppies. 9:30 AM: I realise that time travel is possible and I rush to the bathroom with a fine selection of clothes (I should look different than what I was wearing on Monday, or they’ll think I don’t take bath). 9:51 AM: Every minute is crucial. I book an Uber Auto and the ETA is 3 mins. I get inside the car and the ETA is 9 mins. I reach the office gate, fix my hair and pay the driver before entering the building.

Phase 2:

10: 11 AM: I enter the office building and it is time to “settle down”. The first step to do this is to find a centre of gravity within the workplace. This is the place where you keep all your things sending a message that your coworker has to hesitate a bit before they sit on your chair when you are not there. At this point, everybody is just getting inside as well and initiating their “settle down” process. We talk about the craziest stories from the day before or today morning. This sparks a memory muscle for someone else and then we get to hear another exciting story. Weather X goes to make some coffee or Y makes some tea — its always a social thing. It is almost impossible to make a hot beverage just for yourself at the office. The x time that is being spent, shall fuel several other coworkers as well. After all, our productivity in the office is collective!

10:30 AM: A few people are already in a light engagement with work state, passively listening to the stories and energetic jokes that are initiating the release of endorphins or the happiness hormone (as important as coffee or tea!). The active listeners to the storyteller start passively noticing the people in the light flow state and eventually open the screen where they have to produce some work, initiating their passive flow state as well. Slowly, everyone has achieved this state and that initiates a deep engagement in work.

Phase 3:

12:47 AM: Everyone is deadly serious in their flow states. Suddenly there is a giggle. It's not just any giggle. It is not a childish one triggered by a falling penguin video. It's an intellectual one. The one in which you find humour in the make-up and way of things within what you are doing. So, this person needs to share whats funny and we are back with the active conversation triggering the passive listening and break of the flow state.#2 Active interstices

Fin.

#2 Active interstices

Whether your workplace mandates the timings to be 9–5 or 10–6 PM, it is established that we are expected to be available for the service of and answerable to the company where we work without question in those hours. However, if you break down each hour and each minute, one shall find there to be not leakages of time, but “interstices” of a certain value that fuel our state of mind for the rest of the “active” working hours.

“We have a lot of empty spaces in our lives. I call them interstices. Say you are coming over to my place. You are in an elevator and while you are coming up, I am waiting for you. This is an interstice, an empty space. I work in empty spaces.” -Umberto Eco

Active working hours are those hours when one’s brain is working at peak efficiency. It is easier to establish a “flow” state of undivided attention that goes deep in levels of concentration, during individual work or an active participatory state in group work, when listening is sharp, and ears are hungry for inputs. For some these hours are in daylight, for some, it starts at midnight and some have trained themselves to give their active hours in the desired 10–6 PM slot. But even in the most active of ours, there is a leakage of time that travels into diverse range of interstices of activity.

Here are some of the interstices that I have come to identify recently:

Storytelling: In the lunch break, coffee break or at the end of the day, we often strike conversations about holiday trip experiences and sometimes even the silliest of jokes and how they were conceived. I remember once at the end of the day we chatted for about an hour on how people name their children and sometimes how people with certain names seem to project certain behaviour by coincidence!

Trysts with nature: “These pigeons are so dirty!” or “ I love how the flowers are blooming today!” We look out of the window or take a walk in the park sometimes. There are interstices in that time, when we start to get out of our work filled minds and notice the environment. A period of nothingness, where we silently admire nature.

The unconditional care work: “I’m getting a cup of coffee, would you like a cup too?” Sometimes, without a second thought, we like to do something nice for other people.

The value of active interstices

Firstly, at least for creative professions, one needs to be able to take analogous inspirations from their surroundings. While some time to consciously explore new experiences is required, we must acknowledge that truly, we are always able to to find time to find these spaces of “humanness” where we talk, experience, create or reflect upon our human and lived experiences. It adds to a virtual database in our minds. Even if it is not useful for the now, at some point, we may draw upon the same, with strengthened mental muscles that provide us confidence to face new situations in the near future.

The reason we are part of teams is because of some unique value we provide to the team. That value needs to be nurtured and this natural human tendency to find interstices to nurture our minds, helps strike a balance that gives coming to work everyday with a smile a greater probability of occurrence. Hence, interstices are not just time leaks, but it’s where our “self” wanders to nourish itself.

Fin.