One of the difficulties of “Social Distancing” is the loss of the social aspect. For the most part, people are keeping in frequent touch with their friends and immediate family members. Perhaps Sunday family dinners have turned into Zoom calls – but the ties persist. What is much harder to replace are the conversations in the office hallways, the hair salons, or your local watering hole.
Mark Granovetter introduced the concept of the Strength of Weak Ties in 1973 and it has fostered many conversations in the intervening years, but has become a hot topic again in the current environment. Speaking for myself – I’ve always drawn strength from those casual interactions. I’m lucky to have a strong support network, but miss the small conversations.
Rather than waiting until we can gather again to attempt restoring your networks, try finding creative ways to address this now. I’ve started reaching out to people that I’ve worked with in previous roles, but had lost touch over time. In every case, I’ve walked away feeling better for the interaction and my guess is they have as well.
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Photo by Meghan Schiereck on Unsplash