Do you need Groove’s app?
How to find creativity and connection at work, with or without my product
People often ask me: “When can I Groove?” and my response until recently has been “I’ll let you know as soon as we are ready to onboard new members.”
At Groove, we’re building a digital social workplace that helps people work better through joyful user experiences, structured small group focus sessions, and a supportive, creative community.
I probably shouldn’t be saying this as a founder, but I realized over the past few months, you don’t necessarily need the product to Groove. Grooving is much larger than a product or mobile app we’ve built, but an overall practice of working in a more intentional, structured and connected way.
Yes, we are on a journey to build a special community and bring Grooving into the workday, but we don’t have a trademark on this core human practice and type of social gathering, even if we can make it easier to integrate it into your lives.
My honest hope is that people Groove in all parts of society, way beyond the workplace, and support creating safe, social spaces for us to be fully human and regulate our creativity, emotions and performance in all dimensions of our lives.
In that light, here’s how you can start Grooving today, even without our product:
First, why Groove at all?
Humans regulate and orient themselves in relation to those around them. To be fully ourselves, we need to explore each part of our lives in intentional social settings, creating possibilities to expand.
In the simplest terms, when I spend time with my creative friends, it brings out more creativity in me. When I am around my friends who are performance-focused, I see myself shift into that mindset. This happens automatically.
There are added bonuses of the Groove:
- The group helps shift your state of mind quickly and can:
✔ Create flow
✔ Increase calm, energy and joy
✔ Support
✔ Provide a sense of achievement
- Grooving extends into other parts of your life. A Groove doesn’t just last the time you are in it, but positively impacts the rest of your day.
- It’s fun! We humans are social beings, and it injects short social interactions into your day.
How to Groove:
At its core Groove has three pillars:
- Intention: Creating a space in time for something specific transforms the power of that time.
- Structure: The way the gathering is designed lends to its transformative function, through its specific stages and norms.
- Community: Spending time with others in this intentional space helps hold us accountable, gives us support, and is just plain more fun.
“Connection doesn’t happen on its own. You have to design your gatherings for the kinds of connections you want to create.”
— Priya Parker, The Art of Gathering
A successful Groove brings out emotions of safety, joy and intimacy.
What does a Groove look like on our app?
Groove’s app is designed to help people get into flow. The structure is:
- Join or start a Groove
- Hop on a video chat with a few others. This is time for connection, sharing what you want to achieve with others and most importantly, being heard.
- Clarifying tasks. Once you’ve shared your goal with the group, you break it up into short, achievable tasks which help you tackle your goal.
- Jump into work mode for 50 minutes of deep work (without video or sound). Work without distraction, but with accountability knowing there are people on the other side of the screen.
- Connect on a short video catch-up at the end. This is space to reflect and socialize, and serves as motivation to get your original goal done.
We are building a community of people who are aligned and passionate about creating a social, more human work environment, no matter what their profession is or where they’re working from. Grooves are with their friends, colleagues or with other Groovers.
Starting your own Groove
At the moment Groove is in Beta, but as previously stated, while the app helps make Grooving far easier, we encourage you to try to Groove with your own friends or colleagues.
“Gatherings crackle and flourish when real thought goes into them, when structure is baked into them, and when a host has the curiosity, willingness, and generosity of spirit to try.”
— Priya Parker
You could try our format, but you can also host your own “Groove” gathering following the three pillars:
Intention: Set an intention or purpose of what you want to focus your Groove on.
Structure: Where is your Groove: In person or remote on Zoom? How long is the Groove? What are the rules?
Community: Who do you want to spend time doing this with? Who will show up invested and eager to try?
Examples of Grooves:
Intention: Push forward on your side hustle
Structure: Meet with the same friend 3 times a week at 8pm to work together on your side hustle. Set goal for the session at the beginning, have check-ins every 30 minutes and a debrief about success/failures at the end.
Community: Close friend who is also doing a side hustle.
Intention: Kickstart the day
Structure: 10-minute meditation, intention setting, 50 minutes working and closing reflection on successes. Could be on Zoom or in-person.
Community: Put together a group of people you are excited about starting your day with. Start with a small group of 3.
Intention: Long-distance cooking date with a friend
Structure: Agree on the menu ahead of time, discuss the recipe at the start of the Groove. Cook the same meal (however long it should take), eat together on Zoom 🍲
Community: Your loved ones you don’t get to spend time with because they are far away.
So, go out there and set up a Groove in your week! In the meantime, sign up for Groove’s waitlist so you’ll be the first to know when you can try our app for a more guided experience, and to join our work community of creatives around the world.
