I have always loved the word osmosis…it just kind of rolls off my tongue and conjures up images of lying on a beach, laptop on the towel, watching a university lecture, all the content just floating into my brain and the concepts being firmly entrenched in my memory via…you got it...osmosis. My degree in chemistry taught me that osmosis is the tendency of a solvent to pass through a semipermeable membrane, into a solution of higher concentration, to equalize concentrations on both sides of the membrane.
Osmosis happens automatically without any effort or catalyst required. Similar to how a water cooler chat or an open plan office enable you to absorb information about what is going on in your workplace. The ultimate risk that we face when working remotely is disconnection. How can we absorb the feelings, ideas, concepts, and information when we are no longer physically connected to each other? In a world where geographically dispersed teams are normal, if not essential, how can we maintain connection?
Connection is and always has been about relationships. When we have a relationship with someone or something this creates the connection that we crave to be happy or engaged. The idea of having connection with someone without being physically close to them is a concept that I found difficult to grasp when I first started working remotely from my team over 15 years ago. It reminded me of when I was in first year chemistry and attempting to get my head around reverse osmosis, unlike osmosis, which aligned to my fundamental understanding that all reactions continue until equilibrium is reached. Reserve osmosis was mind boggling to me.
Reverse osmosis is utilised in water purification and it essentially forces the molecules to behave in a way that is not natural by applying pressure to the solution with the lower concentration of salt. So that all of salt molecules transfer across the semipermeable membrane to the concentrated solution and the remaining liquid is pure water. When scientists first experimented with reverse osmosis all the evidence indicated that it could not work. But now it has innumerable applications and is considered a preferred method of rendering sea water drinkable. The point is that although something may not come naturally it can indeed be practical and solve a problem that we have in society.
We can all agree that Covid-19 has accelerated the move into remote working, however, what you may not know is the degree to which it was already increasing. In the last 10 years to 2019, US remote working increased by 91%. A significant number of employees working remotely around the globe have learned how to make it work not just in crisis management mode but as a sustainable working practice. It may not feel natural to randomly message someone in anther city and say I’m just going to grab a glass of water are you free for a chat but we can do it and it can have the same effect as the ole water cooler chat. It does however require, that you are deliberate in your approach, keep it front of mind and not wait until you have a specific question to ask. What is so valuable about the water cooler chat as discovered in MIT research is that it is totally social, you don’t expect to see them and as such there is no work agenda, it is just a chat to pass the time, get away from your desk, check in with them on a personal level and of course re-hydrate.
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