Workspace Comfort | A Personal Narrative

It is certainly not about exposing dark secrets et al–but about understanding the life events that made them who they are. In due course, we start accepting people more unconditionally- at work, and otherwise. We begin to understand what makes them tick - and this offsite helped me explore just that about my fellow team members.

?Offsite'22 : FOAK, post-pandemic. India Marketing Team.?

An all women team has its own dynamics- it is pretty ambitious, and I'd love to believe that to be a part of it is an opportunity worth embracing. It's proving to be one!?

Disclaimer: Unsure if this post deems fit for LinkedIn, but, its harmless, I promise.?

A personal narrative.

'This offsite is turning out to be more important than I thought it was. Not only for the power of sharing or of vulnerability, but of the power of knowing the people I work with- the greats and the rest in each.', I thought to myself.

Recently, our India Marketing team got rich with many new faces and learning about people over Teams wasn't quite a task for me- I invest in learning about people I work with, to understand their working styles, and help them realize mine (and not assume they'd just geddit), to collaborate better, and to be in sync- it all boils down to creating a sync curve amidst the multiple parabolas of team dynamics, isn’t it?

A short ode to my wonder women:

Huddling together and embracing expression, and emotional intelligence as a team got me a tad overwhelmed (yeah)- I fell in love with these Iron ladies and their journeys! Surprisingly, our offsite translated into a very personal jaunt for me in no time- I was longing to know more, wanting to learn more. From and about each- I am one curious case of Benjamin button, heh. And the best part? My team pretty much 'gets' it. Glad!

When a woman expresses, she pours her heart out pretty generously (that's no news!)- and we were a bevy of emotionally strong women under one roof for two good days, imagine! We laughed many smiles, and cried a few tears together - but I loved how we held each other while embracing our emotional selves during our beautiful round robin (can we do it again, sometime? Pretty please!).

You may know this team as a fleet of wonderful Marketers, but there is so much more to each one of 'em- I have not grown out of my offsite experience, yet. I repeat, my 'Iron ladies'!

Meeting each offline added many perspectives to my evolving pane of professional life- each of us eased out, spoke our minds out, reflected, retrospected, and above all, lent our ears out to each other wholeheartedly- it was comforting to learn (and realize) that we as a team could create an environment that was positive, constructive, light, appreciative and easy. __________________________________________________________________________

While I am blessed, LinkedIn directed me to an article titled 'Employees feeling detached in this hybrid workspace' this morning, and I couldn't help but jot down the importance of expression and energy.

‘I am only here to work’, yes we all are, but in collaboration. It's important to understand, and feel 'understood' at work. Island-strategy doesn't work here, macha.

My dad often reminds me, that to go through life is no Tom's task, but to grow through life is all that really matters- I seldom find myself uninterested in knowing people, for I treat them as books worth reading (each, a bestseller of its kind, touchwood). I proudly identify myself a bibliophile- I'd read an open book, but I'd also always find the bandwidth to learn from books I come across at work, metros, airplanes, and marathons (even in ek-challis-ki-last Bombay local!)- and so, I urge you to write your stories, allow others to turn those pages and learn about you, your work, your styles, ambitions, passions, and feelings- for it's totally worth it (and taxfree!). Yes, there are repercussions that follow- of getting misjudged, and that of coming across as overwhelming. But guess what? You're only human. Expression is natural, masking it isn't. No greys there.

I am glad that these teambuilding sessions often seek a moment of retrospection. I caught myself thinking too hard on it during and after the offsite-?I realized that many of us often come across as expressive (and why not, it's taxfree to express, learn, re-learn and unlearn- also, to judge (and correct), explain, talk, and share. It is what it is, and concealing emotions isn't natural to humans, so why try?). In case you are trying just that, let me break it to you that you're paying a huge 'emotional' tax against nothing quite worth it. And, if you still give that ‘I am not emotional’ crap to anybody at work, you sure missed your lessons on the limbic system back in school. However, it’s never too late.

It is what it is. Yes, even at work.

I've always known (and loved!) that everyone has a story, and the least I can do is respect each (we owe it to each other, no matter how big a stud you must be at work- I constantly remind myself of it everytime I get carried away by the smallest of accomplishments. It is a simple use case of co-existence that no Darwin's going to formulate for us- if you block that thought out (of empathy and respect), you’re just being difficult to be around) - Pardon my overuse of brackets, please. It's annoying, I know.?Couldn't have filtered my expression more.

Ease out. Learn, unlearn, re-learn : workspace is a beautiful place to be at, express and win yourself a journey worth it.