In virtual meetings unstructured small-talk connection time typically doesn’t happen. People log in, the meeting leaders wait in silence until the clock indicates it’s time to start, and then the meeting begins. It may sound efficient, but it’s not very welcoming. In a virtual meeting space, you can’t have that spontaneous chat at the coffee station or as you take your seat. Without those warm-up conversations, participants can feel isolated.

Let’s face it, there’s always more work than you have time to get done. Plus we’re trying to do that from this base level of ongoing chronic stress that we had from shifting to working virtually to maybe working hybrid part of the time or different people working in different ways. People are kind of ragged and our emotional resilience is down. We don’t bounce back,we don’t have that same kind of ability to pick ourselves up when we face a challengeThe challenge is that when there’s tough work to do, sometimes we default to , “We just got to get this work done. Let’s focus on the to-do list and let’s check those things off”. To-do lists are important planning, tools and making sure you’re getting everything organized the way it needs to get organized. The thing is, it’s not just about the checklist. It’s not just about the transaction.