Campfire storytelling: re-gathering in the coolly digital 'new work' era

How long did that last, when you were secretly enjoying working from home in lockdown with all that peace and quiet? Having all that space so you can finally concentrate and get down to work? Getting to just disappear for a bit here and there and let your manager worry about somebody else for a while? Many people were at last starting to feel the personal liberation they were supposed to get through the advent of the digital age. Yet such liberation, in the new working world of networked communication, demands independent responsibility and self-management. These qualities too must be summoned up “anywhere, anytime, anyhow.”

With only 9% of employees allowed to work from home, Germany remains more of a developing country although the Covid crisis has accelerated digitalization – even as expectations continue to rise further.Surveys indicate that 85% of people believe working from home will be a productive work mode, offering greater possibilities for capturing the elusive work-life balance. Studies show, after all, that managers’ fears of lower worker productivity are unfounded. And 42% of employees say they are actually more productive working from home.

It could all be so beautiful ... if it weren’t for our human needs and yearnings. After some months of digital collaboration we find ourselves longing to rejoin our colleagues, and not just because of going stir crazy at home. It’s because we have a deep, increasingly unmet need to connect with others. And this need is powerfully motivating. We can feel how social distancing has drained us, and sense a rising need for personal contact and conversation. Human beings are social and cultural creatures, after all, who require more than a technical means of interaction – who need to feel connection. Sure, digitalization makes us efficient, but when it comes to collaborative productivity, face-to-face is still the ‘killer app’, so to speak.

Why is that the case? We human beings need little ‘campfires’ – places of community and dialogue. These can be office kitchenettes, hallways, pub outings, for example, where people can talk together informally about what would be a desirable future. Some kind of tool or app for that, like Slack or Minglr, is not enough. We clearly cannot do without our places for warm encounter, where we are able to generate social energy, community and feelings of responsibility. There is truly where we keep the fires of communication, cooperation, collaboration and co-creation burning.

The relationship change studies we have conducted have revealed the insight that younger people today are better able to feel connection through stories about a shared future than about a shared past. From such common visions they are better able to derive collective identity and energy for social bonding. Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari has discussed this in his book "A Brief History of Mankind" – how collective identity arises through shared narratives, like the stories an organization tells about itself and its role within the world. And there have to be spaces where these stories can be transmitted and can evolve as defining elements of a vibrant organizational culture.

Without question, it will be highly important over the next few years for managers to leverage new narratives and keep the 'campfires' going as the working world moves further toward and into our digital future.

This article first appeared in the April 04/21 issue of "absatzwirtschaft".

Author: Europa Bendig

STURMundDRANG founder and General Manager Europa Bendig has been consulting on innovation processes for NGOs and international enterprises for 18 years, primarily in the luxury goods, health, services, beauty, living and social businesses. She specializes in cultural codes and narratives that give brands and portfolios cultural relevance and promote customer loyalty.

Image references

Image 1: "Campfire 1" // Image 2: "Homeoffice" // Image 3: "Campfire 2"