Staying Calm during COVID

Virtual team meetings have become such a part of our working lives that some of the old ‘in person’ traditions are now starting to be adopted and adapted into this digital sphere.

Remember that bizarre tradition of having to buy everyone in the office cakes on your birthday (I have never understood that one)? We’re now seeing each team member bringing their own cake to office birthday Zooms, changing their background filter to designate this activity as a ‘fun’ moment.

Many people are hosting team lunches where, presumably there are huge savings on the company expense account as everyone brings their own food! It’s a great chance to bring teams together in a more relaxed way and get a temperature check on everyone’s emotional state.

If this seems too unstructured for your team style, why not turn a lunch hang-out into a lunch and learn, turning the meeting into an opportunity for some training?

There are plenty of resources available...

The big theme this week has been on ‘Zoom fatigue’.

It’s rather unfair to point the finger at Zoom - obviously all video hosting platforms are involved! 

We have seen a massive increase of use of these tools  in this digital space to help us stay connected and collaborative in our work and personal lives. But they are draining us of energy and many of us are feeling their burden rather than benefit. 

There is some interesting data around how we misinterpret others on these types of calls. And we face frustrations when the technology doesn’t work perfectly.

However, we desperately need these solutions to keep us connected and our economy turning. Learning to limit your use of these devices is one solution. This group however, have created a silent Zoom retreat - which puts an interesting spin on something that would normally be full of noise.