What beer are you drinking?

3 min readMay 27, 2021

Team Happy Hour!

C’mon, let’s go! Time for authorized fun and authenticity from 4:00 to 5:00 pm!

Sure, that sounds ok. I’ll be there in a — -

Now! It’s starting! Get to know your co-workers! Be yourself! Show us new sides of your personality so that you feel more comfortable at work and become an engaged employee!

Um. Yeah. Ok, I’m comin —

There’s trivia!

…..

[A bar downtown. 4:15 pm. Filled to the brim with teams of employees on the verge of becoming engaged].

Yay! You’re here! It’s Team Happy Hour! Let’s get to know each other! But nothing too heavy, ok? And no work talk! Find something you have in common!

Well, we have work in common.

No! Something far deeper, more interesting! What movies have you seen recently?

I mean, I actually haven’t gotten a chance to talk to my colleagues much about what we do beyond touch points related to specific tasks. It would be fascinating to hear a little more about how they feel about their career paths, their roles within our company’s mission — -

No! No work talk! Just get to know each other by finding common interests!

I mean, we both work here…we both find our work interesting… I’d like to get to know this person and hear how they relate and deal with the same kind of experiences I deal with every day —

No work talk! You’re off now! Have fun! Find something in common!

Cat videos!

Books you’ve read recently!

If all else fails, you can always ask what beer they ordered!

…

Ok, here goes….So, do you have a family? —

No! Too personal! Keep it professional. Light. But also create a deep connection. Something that will help you collaborate better in the future becuase you empathize with each other. But don’t talk about any of your shared experiences.

Um… but we don’t actually have time to talk about our shared experiences at work because we’re always so focused on the task at hand. This seems like a great opportunity to — -

No!

I just… if the goal here is to foster relationships and keep employees engaged with each other, doesn’t it make sense for us to chat about the things we have in common? The problems we’re trying to solve together day in and day out —

No! This is supposed to be fun and meaningful! No work talk! Be yourself! Your true self!

But I am my true self at work. I mean, obviously we all have a certain boundary between work and personal, but I care about what I do. And I’d love to learn more about what drives my colleagues at work —

No. Work. Talk.

Be authentic! Vulnerable! Make a connection! Share a piece of yourself!

[Sigh]

Fine. Vulnerable…. Let’s see…

So, my parents divorced when I was —

NOPE. TOO PERSONAL.

Ok, I’ll try again…

So… how did you decide to get into this industry? —

Did I not just tell you to quit it with the work talk? We are trying to create meaningful personal connections here. Empathy. Engagement. That’s what it’s all about. Isn’t this great? It’s so fun!