What do you value more? Convenience or connection?

This is the question I asked myself last night as I walked to my first in person meetup event since before covid

Remote working and virtual events have made it so convenient to attend professional development and networking events over the past few years

I've attended events that have been hosted across Australia, the US, the UK, and other countries around the world from the comfort of my own home (admittedly sometimes in my PJs depending on the time of day)

But lately I've been craving the connection you get when you're physically in the same room with other participants and you get to interact beyond a chat box on the side of the screen

Yes it felt super weird, super awkward, like I was the only one that didn't belong in the first few minutes

Yes I was grateful that the first person I bumped into was the host who I have known in the community for many years now and whose meetup I had spoken at before

Yes I was delighted when he thoughtfully introduced me to someone else at the event he thought I should meet; in the exact moment I was bracing myself to part ways and find an already established but friendly looking group of strangers to insert myself into

Yes I felt like I belonged and connected immediately with the wonderful new friends I met as I learnt about their superpowers, their lives, and their careers

Yes I valued connection over convenience in that moment

But like everything else, there needs to be a balance

Just like a child who overcomes the 'or' dilemma for the first time, I realised I could have both

Having over indexed on the convenience of virtual events in recent years, I'm going to fuel more connection through in person events

This tension is the same one we feel when discussing and debating the ongoing work from home versus work from office dilemma

There is no one size fits all, and no one right answer to this

The operating model you adopt for yourself, your team, and your business needs to serve the goals you’re striving to achieve

Your answer needs to consider how you match the right environment to the right tasks, for example:

• working from office might enable more innovative ideas to emerge when your team is together with whiteboards and materials they can play with to quickly prototype what they have brainstormed

• working from home might enable someone to focus on the admin work they hate and get it done quickly without distractions

• working from office might enable someone to see and experience the team dynamics and workplace politics amongst their stakeholders play out in real life as opposed to being unaware of it beyond the laptop screen

• working from home might enable someone to have confidential conversations without fear of being overheard because they can never find meeting rooms available in the office when they need them

• working from office might enable someone to create a closer connection with stakeholders and influence better decisions

Want to go deeper on how to balance convenience with connection?

Let’s work on this together. Here are three ways:

• Influencing for Impact: This practical 2-day workshop is for you if you want to influence a decision maker, influence a change in customer or colleague behaviour, or influence someone to buy something from you

• Executive and Leadership Team Coaching: Work directly with Lai-Ling to problem solve for your specific situation in a confidential setting. This is for you if you want to develop and execute on a game plan that is 100% tailored to you

• Leadership Development: Invest in the product and transformation leaders in your company with leadership development that is customised for their role. This is for you if you want to learn about people and politics