How Can We Encourage Chance Encounters Amid Social Distancing and Lockdowns?
Sometimes it’s not just what you know, but whom; More importantly, chance encounters can lead to truly creative results
Back in my university days, I wasn’t too fond of fraternities, school organizations or extra-curricular activities. Instead of joining frats, orgs or activities, I focused — perhaps too much — on finishing my degree in the fastest time possible.
True enough, I finished my bachelor’s degree in economics in 3.5 years — one semester ahead of my batch. And I filled my 14 (fourteen!) free elective subjects with varying courses from education, to anthropology, to philosophy.
I knew my classmates, and I am friends with some, but because many of them were part of the same clubs and organizations, I could feel that they worked better together in tighter circles. Even after graduation, I can only imagine how these connections must have led to business engagements, work references, and collaborations within and beyond our field of interest.
Connections and serendipitous encounters
In a 2018 study by Small Business Labs on the benefits of coworking arrangements, 82% of respondents reported that coworking has expanded their professional networks. Sixty-four per cent consider networking through coworking as an important source of business and work referrals.
The coworking model has been devastated by the pandemic. But even before COVID-19, we have learned from the implosion of WeWork that coworking badly needed a re-think.
In a recent article on Marker, Steve LeVine wrote about how the coronavirus pandemic is killing innovation in Silicon Valley by taking away the opportunity for serendipitous encounters. With lockdowns, physical distancing, and remote working arrangements, people are now holed up in silos.
Instead of getting into chance encounters with people you can potentially build great ideas with or at least get into work or business together, we now mostly connect with people we already work or collaborate with.
Thus we potentially lose the chance to get into serendipitous or chance encounters like the ones described by LeVine. Some of his examples brought us innovations or innovators like eBay, Facebook, and even Apple.
In fact, many startup founders and investors attend conferences not for the content, but rather the opportunity for chance encounters. You don’t just go there to listen to speakers, but you want the opportunity to rub elbows with potential partners or investors.
While not at the scale of the tech giants mentioned above, I could say that serendipity has played a part in some of my biggest projects, business activities, and work engagements coming into fruition. Not all of these were necessarily physical encounters but were a result of talking to the right people at just the right time.
Is it worth investing in connections?
Which brings me to the question: Is it worth investing time, effort, and possibly money, into making connections that can potentially have a payoff in the future?
My daughter, who has just started her architecture program at university, recently asked me if it was worth joining a student organization. I told her that it could potentially have merit, especially in her field. These could result in referrals, projects, or even other worthwhile personal encounters in the future.
I’m not saying that connections trump merit, but in the real world, there is an advantage to having such connections in place. Given two people who have the exact same skills and qualifications, you would most likely hire someone you know or have a connection with, right?
To illustrate, a 2016 study found that membership in a Greek-letter organization in the U.S. resulted in financial gains — raising future income by approximately 36% (even amidst lowering student GPA by approximately 0.25 points on the traditional four-point scale).
Proponents of social capital attribute these gains to bonding (close interpersonal relationships), bridging (networking effect), and linking (links with important people, for example). According to the OECD, “these networks and understandings engender trust and so enable people to work together.”
How to “bump into someone” virtually
The challenge today lies in how to approximate these chance encounters in a time of physical distancing. People already feel lonely and alone, not being able to get out of our homes and do our normal activities. Some even feel ostracized when we have to physically deal with other people (e.g., for essential transactions).
LeVine’s Marker article cited startups like Gather and Hopin, which aim to approximate the conference experience in a virtual environment. HTC, which has run its VIVE virtual reality conference physically (ironic?) for years now, has switched to a “Virtual VIVE” conference earlier this year. Instead of having people spend for travel and accommodation, the expense went to VR gear. HTC’s platform provided participants a way to engage each other on a three-dimensional virtual space.
Sometimes, it feels like forcing it, however. Perhaps it’s more valuable to initiate small encounters instead.
Author and management consultant George Bradt offers some recommendations on how to approximate serendipitous encounters in an increasingly virtual world. He recommends replicating chance encounters. “Instead of waiting to bump into someone by chance virtually — which is never going to happen — find or create an excuse to contact them.”
Whichever is the most optimal way to find serendipity amid physical distance, what’s important to know is that we are at a new normal. In fact, the “next normal” should be optimizing our activities — both physical and virtual — for creative and productive encounters.