Thanks to social media it is almost impossible to lose contact with friends these days. However, it seems this is one of the top five regrets expressed by hospice patients. Real life connection is the essence of wellbeing and having people with whom you can share your authentic self is very important.
One of the reasons that buying experiences is good is that spending one’s cash on experiences will bring you happiness when those experiences are shared with others. Sharing creates happy memories and a bonding experience. Connection is what matters.
Collaboration and sharing are important in professional and personal life. Celebrating meaningful life moments others deepens social connections, giving us a sense of belonging. Lockdown has damaged that connection and belonging for some, as working from home continues, some our friends and colleagues are feeling isolated from the usual camaraderie of office life.
Cyber connections
Online communication can feel more tense as we lose the ability to gauge how someone is feeling in the same way you would when able to see them in person. If something needs to be resolved, pick up the phone and have a conversation in real time; it maintains a personal touch which people may be missing if working from home.
Organisations are defined by their culture and some remote workers may feel alienated from that corporate which can affect employee engagement and productivity.
Lack of face-to-face interaction makes the need to celebrate success even more crucial. At 10Eighty we make a point of celebrating when we can; like this:
- Express appreciation on social media so that others can see and join in on the conversation too.
- Acknowledge the special moments in people’s lives such as birthdays, births, engagements and so on.
- Create memories for those celebrating an anniversary or other important even with pictures, stories or videos.
Cyber celebrations
When we work remotely we still care about employee engagement, camaraderie and collaboration and there is a lot organisations can do to facilitate these connections. Video-conferencing is a great boon but it’s important to find time to socialise online as well.
We are social animals and celebrating milestones and major accomplishments provides a sense of achievement and is great way of rewarding ourselves for a job well done. Any celebration, big or small, is about taking time to acknowledge the good stuff.
According to social psychology researcher Fred Bryant and others, when we stop to appreciate the good stuff, we buffer ourselves against the bad and build resilience.
Season’s greetings from the team at 10Eighty, we’re glad to know you and we’d love to hear from you. Keep safe and healthy and cheerful and we hope to meet up in the New Year.
