My concept of the Office Neighborhood is simple. Growing up, many of us lived in busy neighborhoods. Parents were more likely to be at home and kids ran more freely than today. Adults were either at work or at home with a clear boundary between. (That is, they weren’t at home working on a laptop or having conference calls via cellphone.) At any rate, work had its place and for many, home and the neighbood were where the significant relationships and personal connections were.
Fast forward to today, where technology and the global workplace have allowed the “workplace” to expand into the far reaches of our personal lives. Choosing to go on a vacation without the cellphone, blackberry or laptop is a major statement about individual freedom in some work circles. Children are used to mom and dad checking in and out of the family circle to check email, answer calls or just do their own “homework” from work. We may or may not bring more of our home and family life into the workplace but it is undoubtably easier to slip out for a soccer game if you can still be accessible on your cell phone the whole time.
A natural consequence of this more permeable boundary is that work relationships and sense of belonging in the work environment become more important. My neighbors at home are great but I am more likely to wave to them from my car than I am to have coffee with them or discuss last night’s episode of “The Office”.
I usually bring up this concept in the context of trainings that relate to work relationships – making good ones or healing bad ones. The workplace takes up so much of our time that the people and relationships there can be just as significant in our lives. It’s not that we’ll be changing our wills to include the guy in the next cubicle. But it does recognize that those relationships – especially if there are problems – can be hugely influential to our lives and our sense of well-being.
Hence the Office Neighborhood – where we have friends and acquantances, celebrations, life events, conflicts and competitions.
I’ve lived in some interesting ones. How about you?
