I wanted to start an experiment this year and so far, so good but it’s been difficult for me at times. ?

Many people know me as someone who shows and shares her work and learning.

I’m pretty open about things that I’m learning about, share resources, interact in online conversations, connect people to other people, start discussions and all that. I do this on social media like Twitter, LinkedIn and other places, as well as in my day-to-day work where we use M365 apps like Teams and Yammer.

Hey, I get social.

However this year, I wanted to do something different at work for a test – only as an experiment – and for a short period of time – until anyone notices.

Or until I combust – whichever comes first. ?

I decided to stop doing any of the online social behaviours on our enterprise social systems that have become second nature to me over the years.

For example, things like liking posts, replying to posts, sharing anything about what I’m working on, anything I’m learning. Stopped.

In effect, I’ve gone ‘radio silent’ on our enterprise social systems. I have reverted to the behaviours of old.

That is, I only message people directly, do not contribute to conversations in the enterprise platforms preferring others to be first to respond (obviously I read them, I just don’t engage) and using email.

Let me just say, it’s weird. It’s disconnecting and isolating.

It goes against everything I’ve been saying and doing for many years and against what I’ve been espousing on this blog.

For an experiment, it’s difficult for me but at the same time, I’m learning a lot about myself and possibly, if others don’t see value in transparent work practices, how much sway or influence do I really have to present alternatives?

What’s the reason I did this?

Well, for one, I wanted to understand and experience what others (who prefer to work in other ways) may be going through.

How much time do they spend on communicating with others?

Why do people choose not to engage in transparent work practices?

How much of their daily work and focus is happening personal drives or private Teams chats?

Does this give me back more time in my day because I’m only focused on just what I’m expected to do?

Do others want feedback, responses and acknowledgment when they post or is this not important? (For those who share openly, this is a huge thing as without interaction, messages become announcements not conversations and it’s like they’re saying something into a void). Is this the same feeling for others who don’t post as often?

Do I have high expectations when it comes to these practices?

I did this experiment to see it through their eyes and experiences. Methinks it’s usual behaviour for them so they may not think anything is different?

Maybe in the grand scheme of things, is this what organisations and their people really want anyway? Just because I find it useful doesn’t mean that others do. Everyone thinks differently.

Many people over the years have mentioned to me that they find my openness in the socials refreshing but they simply don’t feel compelled to follow the behaviour – nor do they feel safe to do so – or alternatively, they have imposter syndrome. Also, they are so busy that it’s easier just to just scan messages and not interact or engage because they don’t have time in case they blow out to really long conversations they have to shock, horror, read or do something with.

I’ve been talking for years about showing and sharing your work and learning out loud. Sometimes I think I’m too vocal, too prevalent in discussions, I’m out there too much.

The thing is, it comes EASY to me because I see the VALUE in how it CONNECTS people and OPENS lines of communication but others may not see it that way. I also have to say that I’m in a privileged position when it comes to work. Many people are not hence the reason why they may not follow suit.

So I wanted to sit back for once and just OBSERVE.

See who starts and who joins in who are completely new and who I haven’t seen before.

See who stays silent. See who comes to the fore. See if there’s a change in the network dynamics without me in it.

For once, I’m going to act as an observer – do the OPPOSITE of what I would do usually in the hope of eliciting alternative responses from others. I’m deliberately doing something I usually would never do.

Maybe if I bow out of the conversation entirely, that others will feel free to share theirs?

Is over sharing and being ‘everywhere’ across all work channels and teams and platforms sometimes seen as off putting to others?

So I removed myself from view at work.

I became invisible to see if anyone noticed and in particular, if people continued these social behaviours on work platforms.

I have noticed that I’ve been more personal because I’m sending private message to people meaning it’s just 1-1 conversations as opposed to 1-many. I’m also focused only on my own tasks. I’m sending more private DMs directly to the person than I ever have before. This means no other voices, ideas, changes come into the conversation. It’s reduced my cognitive load somewhat so that’s a positive.

I’m collaborating only with people I’m directly working on projects with within the actual documents – not openly any Teams channels or conversations. (I wonder if Microsoft Loop would result in this changed behaviour – the move away from public Teams chats to just collaborating within Loops with only the people on the project ??)

At the same time, though this experiment, it’s been isolating too.

This is definitely not the solution because at this time, when the pandemic has isolated us into our homes, this is exactly the time when you want people to OPEN up lines of communication – not close them down – and open them across all levels, teams and roles especially when they may be feeling disconnected from everyone.

It’s been an interesting experiment because initially, I’ve been fighting every fibre of my being to like that post, share a post, give that thumbs up emoji but then I stop myself and see how far I can go to let it go by not contributing openly anymore.

• What will be the result?
• What can I learn from this?
• How can I understand how others think that this is usual and acceptable behaviour in their workplace?

I don’t think I can keep with this experiment for long because I want to burst out and comment on something however, this period of ‘radio enterprise silence’ has allowed me MORE time to self reflect about my online behaviour about my own preferred style of workplace communication and the real reasons why others prefer not to engage.

Do I continue to fight or just let sleeping dogs lie anymore?

Let’s see how this plays out.

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