Remember Your Pants

If there is one thing that the last 15 months has taught me is that many of the things we thought couldn’t be done in a virtual environment, could. Many of us, myself included, believed that the only way to make an impact, get work done and even deliver robust training was in-person. The onset of the COVID 19 pandemic pushed us to change that belief overnight. In fact, I led a series of four workshops all designed for in-person collaboration, over zoom in April 2020. That timeline was a full five months earlier than the date I had planned! Sure, I had familiarity with Zoom, having used it for individual coaching sessions in the past. But for training? Training that needed to be interactive and engaging for a group? This was going to be an entirely new challenge for me.

As I prepared for that day, I went into my closet to get ready for the event. I selected my typical speaking/training outfit, my comfortable flats and got myself ready. I wanted to “feel” just like I would if I was actually in front of the room. What I wear actually helps me feel confident, which shows up in how I present myself.

If you ever hear me talk about leadership presence, you know that confidence is something people not only see, but feel. And it’s a critical part to the perceptions made of you in a moment. So, on that April day, I set out to be confident on screen and make an impact in a format I wasn’t 100% comfortable with.

Fast forward to the fall, when Zoom workshops and meetings were a part of my daily life. I found that I shifted how I dressed for the part. I started calling it my “Zoom mullet”- business on the top, Yoga on the bottom. Maybe even slippers, depending on the time of year in my basement office.

In talking with clients and friends, watching experts on-line and reading articles I found this was the norm for many of us. I stopped wearing as much makeup and long gone were the days of working on a perfect hairstyle, since it would not be seen under the large and bulky headset, I wore daily so others could hear me clearly.

By this spring, I could count the number of times I wore pants with a button. I hadn’t bought new makeup in almost a year, and haircuts were few and far between. As I thought about all the changes it dawned on me, what would I do when it came time to return to the office? Would I remember how to dress for the workday? Beyond what I wore, would I remember how to interact in the way I did in the past?  Would I be able to interact in  a way that aligned with my leadership presence and how I wanted to show up?

I was on a “call” (I now call video conversations calls…is that odd?) with a colleague and we were discussing the transition from working virtual to back in the office. Throughout our conversation, we both mentioned we needed to remember our pants, not yoga pants but the kind we wore before the pandemic. Afterwards, it occurred to me that while we were talking hypothetically about the pants, we were really having a conversation about the need to remember how to transition back to the office and how having grace in this next phase of the journey will be key.

As a leadership consultant whose expertise is in Executive/Leadership Presence, I am learning that how things were before the pandemic is very likely not going to follow us into this new phase. The laid-back approach to work that many organizations experienced, may see some facets make their way into the office space. The ability to have flexible or hybrid work weeks has worked for many companies and will become the new norm for others.   One thing that is for sure is that the businesses will vary widely in how they transition and that reality will ebb and flow beyond 2021.

So, this leads me to ask my clients, myself and you, What’s your plan? What are the things you need to remember when, and if, you are headed back to the office? What will you do if your team is hybrid or all virtual?  Have you started to plan or consider not only the tactical things, but also things like, how you will manage the stress that will go along with any new schedule changes?

I’ll be sharing some tips and tricks on LinkedIn in the following weeks and also more details in my upcoming July Newsletter. Not on the list? Sign up today (insert link here).