Office parties don't right every wrong
Summer office parties are back! For a lot of people, these occasions are a happy moment, far from the everyday sh*t they have to put up with. The mood is mellow or happy, helped by alcohol and other breathable legal substances. The level of serotonin increases in the bodies of workers, therefore numbing the pain they experience during the rest of the year.
But just like a trip on cocaïne, it passes.
These events can temporarily put a band-aid on systemic office problems, forgotten in the midst of having fun on the dance floor, but they sure don’t heal the root problems.
Don’t get me wrong. I love parties! In my twenties, I went out every week in bars with friends and in rave parties a few times a year. We were, or so I thought at the time, like a big happy family! But, when things started to get tough, these friendships crumbled.
Our “corporate culture” hadn’t been built on depth. It was functional on a superficial level but we hadn’t installed a culture of conscious listening and expressing of feelings. Our group didn’t have a clear direction and nothing to build together. We were like loose planks, numbing our pain in solo, pretending to be a house.
The problem with companies, as well as with my past friendships, is that we used parties for the wrong reasons. Parties, when well conceived can help ciment relationships in less formal contexts.
But, they have limits.
Companies (and friends) should also find other ways, throughout the year, to interact in order to create a culture of trust, respect and learning to deal with reality instead of numbing or denying it.
What do they do to support employees on a weekly basis? How do they prioritize projects to avoid overwhelm? How do they communicate to their people when things are not going according to plan? Or when everyone has giving their 100%, and the results are amazing?
By building a well-balanced culture everyday, parties can be used as they are suppose to : to dance, feel alive, experiment joy and connection in a fun context with other humans!
