The Art of the Coffee Chat
One of my favorite go-to lines is that we are in an ever-evolving technological world. With this comes great benefits but also some downsides. As work-from-home culture has taken over the world, the once casual coffee chat (may also be known as the water cooler chat) has taken on new life as these happenstance interactions have become far less common. We may have taken for granted how natural it was to network in an environment where we are forced to interact with our peers but as awareness of online culture is growing, the corporate world has taken notice and fully embraced scheduling “casual” meetings.
If you work at a company that strives to embody a certain culture you will most likely be greeted with open arms when asking to have a coffee chat with a peer or even a higher-up. If you are cynical like me you may even think that scheduling a coffee chat is an arbitrary practice. What changed my mind was actually having one of these coffee chats. As I sat there with my mug in hand I prepared to meet with one of the higher-ups who I do not interact with so much. To my surprise (no offense if you are reading this Ernie) it was one of the most insightful conversations I’ve had during my tenure at Strategio. We chatted about everything from generative art made by code to providing me with impactful advice, and I came out of it genuinely feeling not only like my professional network had grown but with a new friend as well.
Now let's get down to brass tax. Thankfully for Enrie and me, we are both talkative folks so there was no real pause in our conversation. In fact, we ended up talking for an extra 30 mins past our scheduled time. This may often not be the case whether it is the person you are talking to or you who is not providing much room to work with in the conversation. I view these coffee chats much like I would speed dating (although I am much worse at dating.) My personal approach is one of passion, I like to talk about what I am passionate about, and if the person I am talking to reciprocates this energy, great! If not, try asking them about their interests outside of work to get the ball rolling. What sparked magic in my conversation with Enrie was that I was able to be truthful when talking about the workplace and this naturally led to a conversation about our interests. This was a person who I may have been somewhat intimated by before speaking to them but I now know I can reach out to them about anything. If you leave this reading with anything, the one piece of advice I would give is to take the dive. Often time people are looking for a solid excuse to get out of monotonous work anyways and would be happy to talk to you. I believe when it comes to coffee chats the positives far outway the negatives (if there even are any.) And hey, as they say in speed dating, the worst thing they could say is no (although in this situation it's probably to reschedule).
You should not view a coffee chat with such formality even though we may have to schedule them nowadays, rather simply as an opportunity to chop it up with a fellow peer.
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