How to connect people during times of isolation?

Since COVID-19 became a serious issue, many of us are trying to adapt to the circumstances of staying and working from home for the common good. We are aware that not every one of us has the opportunity to self-isolate. We would like to thank all of those who are directly fighting the spread of the virus, like the workers from the medical sector and those who are working at supply chains all over the world.But how could we contribute to the shared interest from home? At the workplace level, there are many things you can do to connect with others. It is all based on open communication, more than ever. Be brave and share the information!

Be creative.

Creativity always finds its way through difficult times. We all saw pictures and memes about people wearing bras or plastic bags on their face instead of a mask, which are quite funny but at the same time, not so effective. We can also sew our own masks with the help of the guide our colleagues created over the weekend.

As soon as one of our co-workers, Dominka Ďurišová heard about the mask stockout she started to produce homemade masks for her friends, for NGO Človek v ohrození (Men in danger), their volunteers and also for Vacuumlabs families, both for adults and children. Until now she has produced over 200 masks! Many thanks and appreciation to her and to all our team members who are involved in arranging the delivery for us.

Discuss new ideas.

‘The best ideas come when you don’t have noise.’Gary Vaynerchuk

During the voluntary quarantine, we have much more time to think about ideas. What is even more interesting is that this new situation itself creates new demands, day by day. How can kids manage to study from home independently, considering that its practice and infrastructure have not yet been developed at many institutions? IBM, for example, offered the free use of Video Streaming or Enterprise Video Streaming product for educational use until the end of July. On these platforms, teachers can give online lectures and classes and upload video tutorials if needed. If we find an idea to help society or just our co-workers, the free time spent at home will feel much more useful. Unfortunately, there are many local businesses shut down these days and we cannot predict the economic damage this virus will cause. However, we can also find many startup breakthroughs due to this time of isolation. Here are some pretty awesome initiatives the use of which suddenly became attractive.

Make the best out of your online interactions.

We are lucky to have the home office environment already installed and not have to worry about dealing with the introduction of new tools. Nevertheless, it is very important that we continuously improve our internal communication since the new situation that has arisen can require changes in our daily work routines. Instead of having meetings that could have just been an email, we can find ourselves lost in lengthy written communications that could have just been a call. We can experience a lack of information and interaction, so let’s work on them together by setting up more calls and video conferences supporting our team members to do so as well.Here you can find some useful suggestions from Lighting Beatle Studio on how to make conference calls great again. Dan Lebrero has also created a funny summary of virtual backgrounds for different Zoom communication scenarios here.

Cook and share recipes and tricks.

Cooking can be really challenging if you are unfamiliar with the culinary world. Preparing meals in times with shortages can be even more demanding and may require boosted knowledge.Our office manager & HR team is planning to include a cooking challenge in the series of our internal #weeklychallenge. We would like to encourage each other in improving cooking skills and sharing ideas and tricks to inspire others.

cooking challenge in the times of isolation

Do exercise at home.

Physical activities have a positive effect both on our health and mood. Having an athletic challenge with your co-workers motivates you all to stick to your goals. Another opportunity is joining exercise live streams together which strengthens team spirit and makes you more enthusiastic than attending the event alone, even if it is just a virtual connection.

Attend and organize online events.

Being up to date in relation to the COVID-19 outbreak and being prepared is necessary. But keeping personal interactions, making sure no one feels alone in times of isolation, is of equal importance. In the current situation, many institutions have made their collections of art or play available online, free of charge. Let your colleagues know about online events and meetups that might interest them thereby motivating them to participate in a community experience from home. We can also be the ones organizing an online breakfast for discussions, a movie streaming, or an online game night. This is precisely why we will not miss our common team buildings like beers after work, although we have to adapt to the new rules and regulations by moving these events to a virtual environment.