Let's be honest, social distancing made us feel pretty lonely and a bit exhausted, from binge-watching Netflix until 3 am (what day is it anyway?!) Coffee & Breaks! Between adjusting our schedules for our new drive to our home office (laptop in bed), all of this isolation had us dreaming about the days we stepped out of the conference room with our co-workers and headed down the block for a good coffee break and some chit chat.
Nowadays, few companies are comfortable working from home. As they don't see much difference and their utmost priority is employee safety. The question is will this not affect the employee interaction with the management? As most people are more comfortable with face to face interaction. But we do have a solution to it. We can still have a virtual face to face interaction with some amazing sessions that can boost the confidence of employees and management can know their input and feedback. Let's call it Virtual Coffee Chat.
Read this blog to figure out how you can use virtual lunch or coffee breather times to help your employees stay in contact and boost productivity.
Thanks to modern-day technology we can still take in some coffee break action with co-workers, friends and family… perhaps you might even consider uniting them all! Bringing them all together! The entirety of this while remaining socially distant yet virtually connected. So grab your favourite mug - we’re bringing you everything you all require to host the best virtual coffee break while shielding your set up.
Be Prepared: Just like you would do your preparation before a face-to-face meeting, it’s important to come prepared for a Virtual face-to-face meeting as well. Start by setting specific goals.
Dress appropriately: Experts recommend dressing up for phone interviews or meetings, even when the opposite can’t see you, so as to urge into a more professional mindset and it would give you confidence. Even though coffee chat is something casual, one should not neglect the importance of being appropriately dressed?
Is your lighting & background right? Lights are a very important part of a virtual meeting. Proper lighting can help with your visibility on camera. A messy background can be an interruption or reflect poorly on your organizational skills, so make sure to clean up before joining a video chat.
Informal/Casual Conversation: Most lunches and short breathers, all things considered, start and end with easygoing discussions to build rapport - don't leave out this part just because you are on a video call. Casual discussion and chat are significant for building individual connections and compatibility with your colleagues and partners. Casual conversation is even more significant in the current situation as it can act as a stress buster for the uneasiness coming from your isolation at home.
Quick Game: Fire round is a fun and easy game that costs nothing. Ask your attendees a few questions with or without options. Or else ask your employee to find a partner and give them 60 seconds each to fire quick questions to the other person. The purpose of including games is to have fun, relax and help build relationships between employees. Here is a list of ideas to play on your next virtual coffee chat.
Quiz
Movie Session
Remember the espresso! Because you can't take a seat at a cafe doesn't mean you shouldn't set up a hot coffee. Present yourself with some coffee, hot chocolate, tea, or even stir up a latte to keep a vibe. Simply holding a hot refreshment can cause you to feel more joyful and come off as nicer.
Don’t forget the coffee!
Here is an insight into COLCOM Virtual Coffee Chat:
This session was all about informal non-business talk. More of an interactive session for employees with management on some casual discussions, suggestions and feedback. In the end, we ended up having rapid-fire rounds with all of our employees and Nawal & Soheb.
-Don’t let social distancing keep you from espresso chats with your friends and co-workers.
Contact COLCOM at enquiry@colcom.in for Collaboration/enquiry.