What have you forgotten with the return to socialising?

Keen to get back in person with my network, I organised a lunch with a past colleague a few weeks ago. I worked from home in the morning then jumped on the bus to the city. Pleased to be on my way, I was looking around at the other passengers when I noticed that I was still wearing my thongs!

I’ve admitted to friends that over the last two years, I’ve had two shoe types – thongs in summer and Ugg’s in winter! A comfortable silver liningJ

Here I am on my way with no time to go buy shoes before our lunch. Slightly embarrassed, I decided to embrace it and admit that there are certain things we are out of practice at.

Yes, productivity has improved over the last few years BUT the ability to connect and collaborate have suffered immensely. This got me asking, what challenges are we facing with getting back to the “new” normal? Our clients are sharing that they are reluctant and out of practice to network, their relationships weakened due to no incidental interactions and there is a post covid awkwardness to navigate.

We have collated recent discussions on the challenges to returning to networking in 2022 and am sure many people reading this can relate too...

I was at an informal networking drinks recently and shared my thong story, asking others what they have noticed in the return to face to face and networking. One guy answered that he noticed people had stopped washing their hands! Yuck!

With more and more people heading back into the office as we embrace the new norm, who is ready for all those serendipitous water cooler chats?

What have you forgotten or noticed as we find our way back to socialising again? Now more than ever we need to make it a priority to connect meaningfully with our networks and especially those that weakened over the last few years.

If we can help make this easier for you, please contact us to talk about a capability development workshop/ program to help energise, refocus, and reconnect your team...

All the best for your return to networking,

Julia

Julia Palmer a respected Relational Strategist and Chief Executive of Relatus, helping you develop your relational capabilities to give you the human advantage.