This week’s newsletter features Dr.Milton Almeida. Milton and Joylyn worked together at NAIT. The highlight of their time together was working on the  Centre for Applied Technology Operational Readiness team, getting 500 staff and 5,000 students ready to move into a new half-a-million square foot building through amazing change management techniques.

The need to connect with others is hard coded into our DNA.  From the dawn of the human species we have created spaces to prepare food, keep safe, raise families, and connect with our fellow humans.  From caves to water coolers, photocopiers, and places to lean on, such as workstation partitions, we cultivate space to encourage and promote connection.

To maintain our sense of connection, in this new era of physical distancing, we’ve learned new technology, found innovative ways to celebrate, show gratitude, and felt comfort in baking sourdough bread and having cocktails at 6:00. We’ve  Zoomed to maintain or connection with others but have felt the loss of spontaneity in just running into people… as my 10-year old says I miss seeing people’s faces.

The Dimmer Switch back to Normal

As we start to think about re-opening our workplaces and economy, David Fisman, an expert on infectious diseases at the University of Toronto, provided a helpful metaphor in thinking about next steps not as a light switch, but as a dimmer.

Without a vaccine, we are not going right back to normal. As we start to hear of opening again, what does that mean? How can space, whether inside or outside our homes, continue to facilitate the connections we used to crave and enjoy in our office spaces?

Connecting Through Work

Thinking about work in and out of the workplace as a multitude of options for connection is the next step in the evolution of work. While the evolution of work has been slowly moving to more remote meetings and more adoption of technology, the arrival of COVID -19 has been the catalyst to hasten this change. How will we navigate the business of work in new physical  and  virtual spaces?

We see this change progressing through three phases:

• The Inside Times, that physically-distanced-working-from-home moment.
• The Transition, where we move back and forth from physically distanced to slowly working together again.
• The New Normal, the big changes we will make as we figure out the new way to work and connect.

Three Phases:

1. The Inside Times:

My favorite time-wasting blog calls this moment The Inside Times. While living and working from home, we have been making things work. We’ve replaced human interactions with scheduled virtual meetings and tried to remain productive.. We’ve been discovering some of the benefits of working remotely: enjoying heads down time at home or blending our work and private lives. We’ve also begun to realize that we can’t do everything remotely.

Space and connection:

Since, the connections we have made in this virtual moment can’t be within physical proximity of one another many of us have used time as markers of connection.

• Gaining flexibility in our work/personal lives: prepping dinner between meetings
• Implementing time markers to signify the start or end of work: after-work cocktails anyone?
• Using scheduled phone calls or meet ups with our friends and family
• Rethinking what our home work spaces look like: adding desks, stealing your chair from the office
• Realizing that technology as a connection tool does not entirely replace the human connections made in physical space.

2. The Transition:

As we start to renegotiate the norms of work, important questions about the nature of work and the spaces we require to execute work  need to be asked. What do we need to do today while we work toward implementing more long-term  innovative solutions? The transition likely won’t be a time where significant advances are made. We will take the lessons from the Inside Times and the spaces we had before COVID and adapt them to stay safe. During the transition, some people will choose to go right back to work.  It might be because of loneliness, a complicated family situation, or very young kids who make getting work done challenging.

Some people will not be able to go back to work at all as before. It might be because of a pre-existing health conditions, because of real life stuff now means they can’t participate in the physical workplace, or because  there isn’t space in the new distanced office.

Space and Connection:

What does space and connection look like this transition time:

• Taping off workstations or closing tables at restaurants to meet physical distancing standards
• Scheduling spaces that would normally be open for casual use.
• Taking stock and see what works and what doesn’t
• Adapting new technologies to further meet our needs
• Using technology for large gatherings like consultations

It is reasonable to not expect to go right back to the way things were before COVID-19. Some of our work-life tasks have been shelved since we went to work from home. Whatever the answer, the best solutions will support the connections we already have.

3. The New Normal:

Once we settle on what the new work normal will look like, we will start to make some fundamental decisions about how our physical and virtual spaces will look like. When leases are up, when renovations are due, how will we change space standards and best practices to support the New Normal? Hopefully, we have some imagination while we explore the design of where and how we work to stay safe and stay connected.

Space and Connection:

Here are some themes to watch for:

• Changing expectations of where work is completed
• Leveraging technology where it makes the most sense
• Creating connection spaces that are safe
• Rethinking offices and desks to provide social distancing while also promoting “work from wherever” practice
• Re-imagining the management and oversight of workers

As we progress through the New Normal, there are some important questions we’ll have to answer  about the landscape of work. Where will the connection points be? How do we replicate gathering spaces? What are the points where being in person is essential to working together? Are there operational changes we need to make to how people are employed to make distanced work, work?

There aren’t any clear answers yet. We’ve already learned some lessons about the benefits and limitations of technology as a replacement for physical connections. This is an opportunity to try something new. Our ideas don’t have to be perfect the first time or last forever. The connections we realize we need will guide us. The landscape won’t be the same as before, but our ability to find ways to connect as human beings will be our collective success story.

Dr. Milton Almeida, MA, DSocSci, CACE, ACCF