Permission to Coffee Break

Once upon a time, I spent a summer as an intern, copyediting a book on copyright law. I cannot begin to tell you -- though I don't suspect it will be hard for you to imagine -- how excruciatingly mind-numbing that assignment was.

What kept me from falling into a deep sleep daily, was that every afternoon, all of the editors would get up from their desks and head out for a walk around the block. Just one little loop. Ten minutes.

On a really good day, we'd stop for an ice cream cone.

Surely the movement and the sunshine were good for everyone, but so were the connectivity and the conversations. That ten or fifteen minutes (did i mention ice cream day!!) was the basis for the tone set in the office the entire rest of the time. Those were the connection points that helped establish an environment where we realized "hey! I like these people!" They spotlighted the reasons why we wanted to be there, even when slogging through a run-on chapter about a prima facie case of copyright infringement for the fifth time with a red pen, questioning all of my life choices.

Here's the thing though:

Those walks around the block, the breaks in the action for sun and stories, those happened because of the leaders of the department. They were the ones prompting everyone to hop out of their seats and move around for a few minutes. In doing so, they gave permission.

Otherwise, its doubtful break-time would have taken that form.

And often, permission is the very thing that's missing in fostering the development of a healthy and distinct culture in dispersed teams.

I've noticed that people at all stages of their career feel the rush of needing to get on each and every call and get down to business. That’s necessary sometimes, but if its all the time, its going to feel robotic pretty fast, Robots will break after a while.

Planned walks with coworkers don't happen organically, nor do serendipitous run-ins at the coffee pot when people are working out of their home offices far away from one another. It's no wonder that there is a pervasive feeling of transactional teamwork amongst virtual teams.

As a leader, you have the power to shake that narrative up, and infuse a different kind of intentionality into the culture of your team.

This can look a million different ways! But a good place to start is to encourage your team members to take ten minutes today to connect with one of their teammates for virtual coffee (or ice cream).

Author: Annie Liao