STAYING EMOTIONALLY CONNECTED TOGETHER APART
OVERVIEW OF KEYNOTE
Technology in 2020 has made it easy to interact with another real person – at a click of a button, but staying emotionally connected together apart can be hard. Even if you are using the latest apps and tools to communicate with your teams, such as Zoom, Slack, MS Teams, WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, Webex, or Skype for Business, you might still be missing the mark when it comes to genuine human connection through cyberspace.
Emotional intelligence, at its core, is connecting your head with your heart and the heart of others. And although we now have various techie-tools to communicate and stay connected with the latest updates from our coworkers, managers, and clients, we still need to put in the time to communicate at a heart-level with those same people.
“You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us. And the world will live as one.”
John Lennon
Remember, before we are an employee, we are human first. And each of us has experienced a lot of stress and extreme uncertainty since March 2020. Tapping into how you are feeling throughout the day and conducting regular check-ins with your colleagues is essential. It provides a safe place for your team to express their coronavirus-related fears and stressors, and have a candid conversation about what is going on right now. It’s hard for people to focus on work when they are concerned about their physical health and safety.
Studies show that our mental health has and is worsening since COVID-19, and we need to provide the support for our employees to share their feelings, so they can move past it and focus on the results we need them to.
In this keynote, Staying Emotionally Connected Together Apart, we will cover why emotional intelligence is the answer. We will explain how EI creates deep connections with others and provide some best practices to follow to remain together apart.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
IDENTIFY
The challenges working remotely has caused.
DISCUSS
The impacts remote work has had on emotional wellbeing.
LEARN
How emotional intelligence can form strong and deep connections.
DISCOVER
Some best practices to follow to stay connected to your colleagues.
WHY is STAYing EMOTIONALLY CONNECTED TOGETHER APART important?
For many of us, our coworkers are our primary source of daily human interaction. But when COVID-19 hit and disrupted our everyday life, many of us had to work remotely from home, and for some of us, we will continue to do so for the unforeseeable future.
We have all had to pivot our ways of connecting with others as we no longer have the luxury of seeing our colleagues in person every day. It’s critical we give our employees an avenue to discuss their fears and stress in a safe environment so they can have a clearing, and then get on with their productive day without being weighed down by the extreme uncertainty and fear of living life in 2020.
We need to create best practices of new ways to socialize and connect to reintroduce some normalcy into their everyday work lives. Whether that be recreating morning virtual coffee breaks, with injecting some humour and levity into their day. Or it could be encouraging some friendly competitions like trivia games, or hosting virtual happy hours after work. It’s vital that we help each other stay calm, happy and healthy. Staying Emotionally Connected Together Apart is about connecting to how your staff is feeling is critical, and this cannot be achieved without emotional intelligence – connecting your head with your heart and the heart of others.
