Small talk and the virtual world of work

According to Harvard Business Review, the good news is that the virtual landscape presents a surprising opportunity to enhance small talk value, according to Harvard Business Review.

Tactics include creating "virtual lounges" in Slack or Teamwork where teams can socialize and holding regular virtual coffees, trivia nights, and happy hours.

A recent INSEAD study of more than 500 professionals working remotely across the world showed that the thriving teams in the new virtual environment were formally scheduling social gatherings involving quizzes, shared playlists, book recommendations, and movie clubs.

Re-create "casual collisions." Some organizations have found creative ways to orchestrate informal virtual interactions among employees.

One Spark client at a global law firm explained,

During the pandemic it was important to us to make sure employees were still making the random connections you might find in a shared office space to help with innovation, building networks, and collaboration. It has been invaluable for relationship building.

Platforms like Airmeet set up virtual speed networking for employees.

In fact, they may be more important than ever to help us seize daily opportunities to connect across the virtual divide.

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