You, Me, and Empathy: Sowing the Seeds of Compassion into Community
by Summer Issawi, Learning Experience Designer, MSU Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology
“Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.” ― bell hooks
While empathy has always been a critical competency personally and professionally, it has never been more important than this past year. Last March and in the blink of an eye, our workplaces ceased to exist as we have always known them and working from home came to life, in a new life altogether. It was…(dare I say it?) unprecedented! The Hub for Innovation in Learning and Technology employs a human-centered approach as the first step in any design process and so naturally, we thought about people first.
Revive to Reconnect
In the shift to working remotely, Hub colleague Caroline White came up with the idea to revive our Design Challenges Channel used in Slack (our communications and messaging app, Slack, contains channels or sections where groups of people are brought together around topics, projects, or common interests). The need to converse on culture and later bridge teams in separate workspaces brought about the need for previous iterations of this channel. The current purpose was to keep things light, interesting, and humorous, but most importantly, keep us connected to each other via different modalities (asynchronous vs. synchronous). The Design Challenges Channel in Slack was a great stand-in for those “water cooler” conversations that were so fondly missed at the onset of remote working. Hub colleagues work in an open office space and have a close-knit, warm, and inviting team culture, thus naturally, we really missed each other’s company and companionship.
Each week, Caroline shares a question or prompt in the Design Challenge channel in Slack and team members have a week to respond if they’d like to participate. Caroline does a great job in switching it up every week and keeping it multifaceted yet inclusive and especially at a time when the typical Zoom novelties and engagement strategies have long worn off. Participants enjoy the asynchronous nature of this exercise along with the range of questions and prompts from fun and superficial to deep and reflective, depending on the week. Caroline also requests prompts from our colleagues and credits colleagues when their questions are shared, making this a dynamic and collective activity and not at all unidirectional and static. Responses are rich, genuine, and insightful representing our lived experiences. Through contemplative prompts we’ve learned about those asking as well as all those answering. For example, we’ve shared our childhood dreams growing up, the happiest moments in life, and who or what has had the most influence on you and how that has shaped who you are today.
Sharing Patchwork Pieces
Little by little, week by week, something so seemingly simple was developing into so much more as we created meaningful and critical insights into better understanding the parts that makeup the whole, our people. We’ve pieced together those sporadic glimpses and patchwork to better understand the full picture of who we are, what we stand for, and what’s important to us. We’ve relished stories we may have never known or might have never come up at work. These actions are integral to relationship building as the more we learn about each other the more we can empathize and sympathize with our colleagues, the better we work together as a team of campus designers and change agents. Usually you don’t get to know a colleague until you work with them on a venture. Through these conversations, we’ve gotten to know each other on a different level and before the work comes up, which helps improve our efforts and outcomes. Gaining a better understanding of those you work with enables project wins, deeper connections, and increased levels of satisfaction.
The Design Challenges are also really fun. Sometimes, they’d pop up during a midafternoon slump or challenging time and I was instantly recharged and re-energized for what we were laughing or commiserating on. Remote working can definitely feel isolated and lonely, especially when you’re used to such a positive, supportive workplace culture. Whether it was feelings of nostalgia, humor, happiness, and/or sadness, we’ve enjoyed the range of prompts and responses. For example, questions like “have you ever gone somewhere you weren’t supposed to go? Why did you go there, how did you get there, and what did you see?” elicited several fascinating responses.
Adding New Threads
The Hub welcomed several new team members last year and it was really helpful to get to know them and what’s important to them through the Design Challenges and I imagine that was reciprocal for them as well. Distinctive recounts and vivid imagery led to thoughts on how exciting it must have been for Sarah Gretter, as a young girl, to spend the day working with her dad, delivering food products in a semi truck through the French countryside and enjoying an “American Sandwich” for lunch where the fries were included inside the sandwich. Or imagining Jerry Rhead sneaking under a building and into steam tunnels underneath the Sanilac County Courthouse only to get lost amidst a myriad of tunnels and discover what looked like millions of bats (and also discover that one of the tunnels connects to the nearby jail)…and I certainly can’t forget Darren Hood telling us about the time he enjoyed eating a bowl of Cocoa Puffs cereal soaked in orange juice instead of the usual milk.
Frayed, not Forgotten
Not only did we come to understand each other better but the pivot to working remotely also increased our intimacy. Via Zoom and on a daily basis, colleagues turned into welcomed guests in our homes and learned about housemates, both invited and uninvited (i.e. pets, kids, deliveries, etc.). While distanced between screens and space, that personal touch (albeit intrusive at times and to some) was added to our meetings whether we liked it or not. For many of us, that intimacy also meant we show up for each other especially when times get tough. Even when the frustration, stress, and worry was clearly visible, we took it on as a team, and leveraged those moments of vulnerability to take that time and make space to check in with individuals or the whole group and affirm those feelings.
Regularly, we’d share the many ups and downs of the pandemic. While a widespread initial notion was that team mates would disconnect from work and drift apart, fortunately that hasn’t been the case for my organization. The pandemic has increased the focus on and propagated the shift from our workplace identities to the whole self. While our culture has always supported our full identities, many felt more comfortable keeping their personal lives at home, where we thought they belonged, and until the two became one at the start of the pandemic. It was certainly an unnatural gnash of the two worlds, but in the end, and certainly for not all, we may have discovered a positive byproduct. It definitely took a while to settle in and it might never work out for all, but some have finally been able to experience a healthy work life balance. Again, this varies with levels of privilege or lack thereof.
Connected Community
Sharing these stories builds community and expands what we’ve learned about ourselves and each other as this activity, were it in person, would not have had the same effect. There are many plausible reasons for this occurrence. Folks may have felt more inclined to participate given the asynchronous nature in that space and time were more intentional and better provided in this environment. The intentionality of affording time and space often yields a better result as participants can offer and create improved outputs. Responding and reacting to prompts was on our time thus improving the outcome and that’s something that in real time/in person can’t offer.
Affording space and time also expands possibilities in gaining access to those deeper levels of engagement. In person spaces have usually been better for extroverts while online spaces welcomed introverts, as well. While introverts and extroverts hold space equally in the Design Challenges, remote and asynchronous factors encouraged all types of learners to participate. Feelings of isolation may have also heightened the desire or need to connect to those we’ve connected with for so long. Some would even say that we took our in person interactions for granted and thus seized any opportunity to connect with peers. Responses were mostly conveyed through text or images and that format could have carried some weight versus stories in video and audio formats. For many, work is a safe place where individuals thrive, flourish, and exist aside of our contrasting and unique personas as individuals.
Through robust online discussions, we’re reminded of the authenticity, diversity, and depth of our roughly 25 colleagues, representing various ages, cultures, backgrounds. We have a colleague living outside of the US and while this colleague might never make it to campus daily, we might stick with this asynchronous team building in order to sustain the culture we worked so hard to create before the pandemic and now. These outcomes have also made a difference as we transition to living and working in a post pandemic world and thinking about the practices we’d like to carry forward.
Our Favorite Challenge
Looking back and reflecting on all of the experiences shared, what’s been most intriguing is that the most popular Design Challenge, by far, has been the famed two truths and a lie prompt, whereas folks share two truths and one lie and others guess as to which is which. This prompt has been posted several times and continues to be a fan favorite. Perhaps it is the creativity in selecting the three responses or the possibility of stumping colleagues, or the anticipation of the incoming responses. I joked that it must be that we really love to talk about ourselves…but then again, isn’t that what it’s really all about, anyways? In the end and in looking back at life, aren’t we all just a collection of the experiences and stories, past and present that make us who we are? Did the pandemic amplify that innate need for human connections? Sharing our stories is just as important as hearing and understanding the stories of others. It’s how we connect and relate to each other and to the world around us. It is what builds empathy and compassion in a workforce whether in person or remotely.
While these Design Challenges are a good example of an asynchronous online activity there are many further considerations that need to be made. Appropriate and fitting strategies can help foster a strong user-centered approach for various types of events. For a deeper dive on a framework to support efforts to create and manage hybrid or virtual events, check out the Multimodal Blended Events Handbook.
