HOME – it’s one of my favorite words. It has a hum to it like OM. It feels good on our lips, our hearts, our souls.
What makes you feel like you’re home?
For me it’s the smell of coffee brewing, my meditation practice, the ocean, a television studio, my cashmere travel blanket.
Home is where we feel most comfortable – it’s a place or feeling of belonging.
Whether it’s a person who makes us feel comfortable, a song that takes us back, the smell of an environment, the taste of our favorite childhood meal, we all have things that make us feel we’re home.
These past 2 ½ years we have found ourselves at home more than we would like. Our homes have become our offices, our children’s classrooms, our Instagram live locations, our TV studios, our new hot spot for date nights, our hair salons, and our gyms.
Some of us have cleaned our closets, organized our cabinets & drawers, got into shape, designed the perfect backdrop for our Zoom calls. We got rid of things that no longer serve us. We honed in on ourselves & our homes and for the most part, we got both humming. Our priorities have shifted.
Office buildings were quiet and our homes became busy, loud, and operating at a high level – the definition of humming.
But now that offices are back, I think it’s safe to say we need to bring home back to work with us. One of the most essential pieces of home is our story.
When we are connected to our story we feel more sturdy, more confident. We feel HOME.
When we know each other’s stories it builds empathy, compassion, loyalty & trust. It makes for a more efficient work team because once we are invested in our teams’ stories, we understand & support each other on a deeper level.
Story gives us a new window to look through and builds empathy & trust, which makes a work team more committed to the team’s goal and more efficient in communication because so much of what we do is unsaid.
When we know each other’s stories we can anticipate things more easily, so much so we can practically read each other’s minds. Now that’s efficient!
Be the first to start story time at your office. As companies continue to design their spaces for more social interaction with ping pong tables, rock climbing walls, and music – be the first to design a storytelling space.
Schedule it and make it fun, safe, and supportive. Then watch your team become more efficient, empathetic, loyal, and ultimately phenomenally successful!
Because home is where the hum is.
