I was on a Zoom call recently with three women from the International Sign Association. We were going over some plans for webinars as well as talking about their conference coming up in May.
As the conversation flowed, two of the three women went off-camera to handle the needs of a child. More than once, one of those kids popped in to say hello.
The meeting didn’t skip a beat. It was completely normal.
The new normal.
This situation might not be newsworthy today and you may very well be thinking to yourself, “So what?” but I assure you, this is nothing like how things used to be.
COVID accelerated a trend that’s been in motion for a couple of decades. Pre-pandemic, the wall between business and personal was so tall and so thick, it was almost as if families and pets didn’t exist anywhere other than in picture frames on the office desk.
I remember being horrified when my oldest, now 31, toddled her way into my office and started to scream.
My head nearly exploded. “What will my customer think?”
Today, barking dogs and screaming children and interruptions are frowned upon by only the grumpiest curmudgeons. The rest of us empathize, sympathize, and find humor when life happens. We get it.
What a welcome change!
So, let the dogs bark. Let the kids chirp. Answer the door in the middle of a Zoom call.
There is still a line which represents what is and what isn’t professional, but I think you’d need to work pretty hard to cross.
Oh, and that last statement is an opinion, not a dare!
