What are your weekend plans?

Do you know what your coworkers are doing this weekend, and should you know? Do you share your day, evening, and weekend plans in your work calendar or to your colleagues? From my experience, having an open work calendar and sharing personal information can drastically improve organizational culture.

We are all just humans

Every one of my co-workers are humans in different stages of life. Some are fresh out of college, some are soon retiring, some are getting married, while others are divorcing, some are establishing a family, and others getting a dog. But how much do you actually know about your coworkers, and do you take the time to get to know them?

Going to the doctor

We openly share non-work related information on the same level as work-related information. Everything from doctor appointments, that we will run late, that we deliver or pick up kids in kindergarten, veterinarian appointments, we add our sports games and events in our calendar.

You might think this is information overload in an already hectic day. Nonetheless, it provides opportunities. Opportunities to see what is happening in my co-worker's life and connect on a personal level. It provides possibilities to follow up about their sports game and ask how their kids are doing.

I don't want to be perceived as a "Mom"

I work in a tech-heavy, male-dominated industry, and in my company, we are less than 20% females. For a long time, I took our open and transparent personal communication for granted.

That was until a friend of mine, who is working in a similar male-dominated industry, told me this:

"I do not want to share with my coworkers that I need to leave early to pick up my sick child in kindergarten. I do not want to be perceived as 'the Mom' in our team. My male colleagues are never leaving and sharing it. So if I start, I am afraid of being labeled."

Role models

We should not take for granted the cultural benefits that open personal communication brings to a company and for employees in different life stages.

Being in a company where male colleagues openly share that they need to leave early to pick up kids, and sit with their kids in video meetings from home office, breaks down role barriers. It makes it OK to share and OK to leave, run from meetings and have a bad day.

Getting to know your colleagues on a personal level builds interpersonal trust and emotional connections between team members. It fosters the foundation for a culture that embraces vulnerability and the fact that it is allowed to f… up. If f… ups happen, then you know that your coworker will support you. Interpersonal trust and emotional connections built on open and informal communication are proven positive for creativity and innovation in a company.

So, do you know what your coworkers are doing this weekend?

What we do