It’s 9am. You’re considering your second cup of coffee. In the last hour.
You’re now logged on to your computer, trying to begin your day in earnest. Your inbox is already full, and oh darn, more emails have trickled in. Your calendar? A complete wall of meetings. It’s safe to say that you’re already feeling a bit overwhelmed. At least that’s what your Oura ring is telling you. Pre-lunch dread is settling over you like a fog over the Golden Gate bridge.
But wait, there’s a fun slack channel dedicated to dogs of someone sharing a picture of their dog bundled up against the recent blizzard, and now you feel yourself smiling and sending back a comic of what the dog must be thinking. You’re ready to enter your meeting with an infectious smile. Your morning angst, a thing of the past. Everybody sees you as the eternal optimist and is buoying off your spirit.
You’ve finished three straight back-to-back meetings, and your despair is growing again, like a storm cloud on the horizon. Your team is preparing for the release of a new product, and you’ve found yourself sailing a sea of technical jargon and code. Your Oura ring sends you another heart-rate alert. Is this thing broken? But wait! You can now see the fun-music channel notification and find a selection of songs that–once you hit play–puts you in a bubbly, almost personable mood. This reminds you of a song that you heard in the car that made the drive in traffic a breeze. This then prompts your coworker to send you another song that sounds similar. You’ve got a new playlist unlocked and ready for focus!
The busy schedules, the end of quarter push, the email slogs, and the ever-quickening heart rate. These are not unique to OpenDrives. But making sure we save space for fun just might be. While Slack is a powerful tool for grabbing an answer to build a report quickly, or sometimes in its worst state can present itself like an annoying context switch, it can also be a tool and a space for channeling fun, encouraging connection, and providing a safe space for creativity- which also can boost productivity and emotional wellbeing.
At OpenDrives, we dedicate channels to chat about things outside of work and even go a step further—encourage engagement. In a remote world where the usual office water cooler is lost, we place a premium on providing easy avenues to get together. When we connect over shared hobbies or passions, we’re able to build stronger bonds that can withstand the ups and downs of normal business. We learn new things that can help us overcome challenges, uncover a new perspective, or even something as small as providing the perfect soundtrack to turn around someone’s day. Have you ever discovered a hidden talent or skill over small talk with a co-worker that may just be the missing piece to finishing a project or removing a bottleneck? What about getting unexpected support from a song to help push you through the final hour of your long work day?
We have also implemented a “Donut” channel using the Donut Slack App where co-workers are matched at random every couple of weeks to sit down and connect. You never know what you might talk about when you just dedicate the time. I think Forbes summed it up best in this article stating, “Fun at work is not just about making employees happy—it’s about creating an environment where they can thrive.”
So don’t forget to channel fun. Fun can be serious business, too!
