Do You Miss Small Talk?

We don't know about you, but we're thinking fondly about the two or three minutes of light catch-up around the office coffee station. At first, it felt refreshing to sink into the conveniences and new rhythms of working from home, but whether you've endured a pandemic full of overwhelming childcare responsibilities on the one hand, or deafening silence and isolation on the other, the nostalgia for those small interactions with coworkers is real. Over time, such IRL points of contact add up to a felt sense of context and camaraderie. zanie came into existence as way to bring the benefits of the water cooler to remote work environments, so that even in distributed teams, you can feel seen, heard, and humanized by your far-flung colleagues.

In this New York Times article (from 2019! a whole other era!), the underdog of small talk is celebrated for the significance it truly holds in work settings.

"Jamie Terran, a licensed career coach in New York City, said that small talk between colleagues and supervisors builds rapport, which in turn builds trust. 'Rapport is the feeling that allows you to extend a deadline, or overlook smaller mistakes, because it makes it easy for you to remember we’re only human. Right or wrong, building rapport through interaction with colleagues could be the thing that gets you the promotion or keeps you in the role you’re in.'"

Check out the article here... and maybe send a Slack message to a colleague to let them know you're thinking about them.