I had a work meeting today, for the first time in a long time, in which people were in person and maskless. We were able to do this because we chose to meet in a coffee shop where they let you go maskless if you have proof of vaccination.
It was a revelation. There was an enormous increase in productivity, compared with either meeting over Zoom or meeting in person with masks on.
I observed that during this meeting we were all really able to “get” each other — our interests, our emotions and our intentions — in ways that have been largely absent in the last year or so. There was a level of group bonding that had largely been missing.
This is a good thing for several reasons. One of them is that we really need those coffee shops to not go out of business. It’s great that they are getting the work. 🙂