How Covid brought me closer to my colleagues…
Many of us experience some level of workplace social anxiety. For me, this was exacerbated by the fact that I stepped back into the corporate world after a 20 year hiatus, and was suddenly surrounded by incredibly talented and brilliant colleagues. Add that to my introverted nature.
In my scrum meetings, I spoke when needed and slowly built the confidence to add more and more to the conversation. I attended the quarterly lunch meetings and even a couple of brown bags, but always found the familiar face in the crowd to sit next to, make the appropriate amount of small talk with, and then headed back to my desk. I couldn’t imagine a more intimidating experience than going solo to the office picnic or holiday party, so I skipped those.
I hadn’t even hit my one year anniversary at Solution Street when Covid hit, and I was suddenly working from home full time. It seemed like an introvert’s dream at first, but honestly online meetings were a little awkward. Early into full remote work, our CEO requested that we all turn on our camera in meetings. To my surprise, it actually helped to see faces on the other side of the screen and felt more natural.
Eventually, Katie, our HR manager, scheduled a virtual happy hour. It seemed a little silly at first, but she has a way of drawing people out with her bubbly personality. Where I would have normally been happy to just observe, she specifically asked me how the horses were doing which prompted some questions from others about my horse rescue activities.
I listened to others talk, and for the first time, had a glimpse into their lives outside of work. As the happy hours continued, I felt like I was starting to get to know people I had never before had any reason to interact with. Watching Kelly with her foster kittens, Ed’s bicycles hanging up in the background, Adam’s Covid beard growing by the month, and Francis’ PET SNAKE…just to name a few.
We recently started to go into the office here and there (with strict measures in place). I found myself looking forward to seeing people I had never really even talked to before. But, the real surprise for me was when I realized I was sad that there would be no holiday party this year. Covid has been tough no doubt, but I know we have all managed to find silver linings, often in the most unexpected places.
