Last week, I got to deliver the closing keynote at the ESOP national conference. It was a welcoming crowd that felt close and connected despite more than 600 attendees in person and another 150 watching remotely. I talked about empathy when it matters most and how important it is that we show up for each other in hard times.
I didn’t expect the tears.
One woman struggled to hold herself together as she came up afterward to say, “Thank you for your words.” An organizer later told me that he, too, had teared up. He noted that my talk was the first time in two years that “someone just said it.” Ah, I thought. It was acknowledgement. I acknowledged the pain of the past two years. The loss. The uncertainty. The trauma. As best I could in a hotel ballroom with hundreds of people, I held space. I let them know that it’s okay not to be okay. And I taught them how to support each other through it.
As offices celebrate re-opening with cupcakes and cocktail hours, I hope that they’re also making room for discussion about what we’ve been through and where we are now. This is a moment that has laid bare the suffering of so many, due both to the breadth of that suffering and the way the pandemic has blurred the lines between work and home. Let’s not miss it. Let’s use this moment to build stronger connection and trust–bonds that will see us through this moment and whatever comes next.