As I sit here in June 2021 I can’t help but think about the world reopening and with it many companies’ encouraging employees to return to the office. Personally, I miss the personal connections and the random interactions that, for me anyway, are a huge source of energy and inspiration.
Here are a few insights and ideas I’m thinking about and hoping to see as we embrace the opportunity to create the new normal of “the office” –
1 – Focus on creativity and collaboration – not cubicles and desks. Eliminate dedicated workspaces and open up the office to inspire group interaction
2 – Ensure that remote workers continue to feel as connected to the conversation as those in the room. This means we need to rethink how we run hybrid meetings and integrating digital polling, Q&A and brainstorming tools into the conference platform
3 – Optimize meeting spaces for collaboration and group sizes of 6-8. Lectures and large group meetings can be delivered via zoom with breakouts supported in meeting rooms
4 – Leverage corporate podcast platforms to securely share readouts and training for folks who cannot attend live
5 – Show empathy, patience and choice whenever possible…Everyone of us is experiencing and managing this transition differently and it will take time for us to find the natural equilibrium
Ild love to hear your thoughts on what you are hoping to see in the return to the office! Please leave them as comments below.
ShawnRosemarin.com 
Shawn- a virtual guess who or starting a meeting with the icebreaker. You did this once many many years ago in Toronto and I’ve never forgotten
Have the team submit one (unknown!) fact about themselves to the leader. Everyone has a few great experiences that wouldn’t have come up in conversation naturally.
Learning fun facts about one another if fun for the team and helps us connect to each other.
How it works
During the meeting, read each fact aloud to the group, and have the team guess which fact belongs to which team member!
Works great on smaller teams (10 or less ), it works well to read all the facts at once, then have everyone try to match them up
For larger groups , it works well to do multiple rounds, so that everyone can remember the facts that you read
At the end of each round, the team can cast votes and discover if they got them right
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Agree!
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