It’s hard to believe it has almost been a full year since COVID-19 upended our lives. Most of us in the architectural profession have spent our working hours at home, safely social distancing and doing our part to control the spread of the virus. We are tethered to our offices electronically, collaborating virtually, and sustaining an impressive level of productivity. The fact we can function so effectively despite a crippling pandemic would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
From a business perspective, the obvious downsides of the “new normal” include the inability of coworkers to interact spontaneously, the challenge of sustaining rapport and trust, and generally being present and immersed in the office culture. Pundits have written volumes about the importance of maintaining engagement and bonds between colleagues during this time. Ideally, these connections between team members not only ensure work gets done but also boost morale and alleviate stress.
Before COVID, the end-of-the-workweek “happy hour” provided one way for employees to unwind, connect in a setting outside of the office, and let their hair down. My office was no exception. We regularly partook in “Beer-Thirty.” Our custom was to call for “pencils down” at 4:30 each Friday, whereupon we would head off to one of the local watering holes for drinks and non-work conversations. The routine was our reward for working our butts off during the preceding week—a pleasant way to downshift and ease into the weekend. Some of the bonds we forged over the years are undoubtedly a product of our Beer-Thirty gatherings.
Of course, under Lane County’s coronavirus restrictions happy hour cannot be the same as it was b.c. (before COVID). From the start, many businesses programmed virtual engagement activities to compensate for the loss of traditional morale-boosting practices, such as the office happy hour. My guess is these actions have proven especially useful for larger companies, where getting to know your workmates always required effort but even more so now. In a small, ten-person firm such as mine, camaraderie and confidence in one another are much easier to cultivate. It helps tremendously that most of us have worked together for many years. We know each other almost as well as we do our own families.
So, what has Robertson/Sherwood/Architects done to stand in for our Beer-Thirty tradition? Despite the wisdom associated with purposefully nurturing our office culture (regardless of how well we know one another) we have done much too little. We did enjoy a very pleasant and successful virtual Holiday Party in December, which included participation by spouses, significant others, and some employees’ children; however, until this past week we had not scheduled additional group activities intended to reinforce our bonds as a team.
Perhaps it should not be surprising that it would be our newest employee, Romina Rodriguez, who floated the idea of a virtual happy hour centered around party video games. We hired Romina in October—after the lockdown—so we have only gotten to know her virtually so far. This past Friday, she introduced everyone at RSA to the Jackbox Party Pack, which is a series of games played simultaneously on digital platforms by up to eight players (additional participants can watch the game through streaming media services). She surmised correctly that we had been neglecting the importance of social contact and the opportunity to have fun together.
Romina had us play three games from the party pack: Fibbage, Guesspionage, and Quiplash. All three were highly entertaining, with hilarity in plentiful supply. Scoring is tracked automatically, allowing everyone to focus on playing the games. Apparently, I’m an apt initiate because I came out on top twice, winning soundly at both Fibbage and Quiplash.
I used my desktop PC/laptop to play, but Jackbox games are also optimized for gaming consoles such as Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation, and even streaming devices like Apple TV or Amazon Fire. According to Wikipedia, Jackbox Games witnessed its sales jump up 1,000% in just the first three months of the pandemic shutdown, and its user base doubling from 100 million players in 2019 to 200 million by October 2020. It’s easy to understand the popularity of Jackbox now that I have played a few of the selections from its party pack.
Games are a fundamental way humans interact. They bring us together, offer immediate rewards, and encourage playful competition. They can also inspire out-of-the-box thinking and promote collaborative thinking. Importantly, they help foster a fun workplace and healthy connections between staff. The strength of a team’s bonds translates directly to improved performance.
As distribution of vaccines becomes more widespread, there is a light at the end of the coronavirus tunnel. Until the world achieves herd immunity, everyone in our office will make a concerted effort to seek out and enjoy each other’s company, if only virtually. Team bonding is a critical ingredient for any organization but is especially so in the creative culture of architecture.
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