Recently, I’ve been thinking about the containers we use to share space and build rapport with folks: workshops, meetings, and collective discussions. I've been thinking about the rules that govern these interactions and how 'meeting' norms affect belonging and folks feeling seen, valued and heard. The harm the ‘time push’, the jam-packed agenda or the ‘30-minute meeting, which is really a 2-hour discussion’ are having on our collective humanity and ability to build connections and shared understandings.

I’ve been reflecting on the importance of unplanned (micro) interactions and how critical they are to building rapport and trust and sharing space with care. (Micro) interactions are pathways for connection. (Julie and John Gottman call them bids for connection – I’ll write more about this soon). They implicitly and explicitly say; I see you, I’m interested in you as a fellow human, and I have time to listen to what is going on or what you feel like sharing.
Allowing space for (micro) interaction – a laugh over a cup of tea, a yarn at the start of the meeting, getting up to opening a door for someone – these interactions really are more important than the last three dot-points on your agenda.

Inspired by and building on KA McKercher's LinkedIn post and diagram about time spent planning co-design workshops and the time spent sharing space and co-designing. I’ve added a (micro) interaction wedge to communicate the critical space we need to allow for these opportunities to occur. Although (micro) interactions can occur at any time, the explicit wedge in the diagram serves as a reminder of the importance of engaging in and allowing space for unplanned (micro) interactions.

I’ll share more about (micro) interaction, building rapport and relationships and the value for us as humans, and the design projects we support and do soon.