The disease of closed circles, where belonging to a clique becomes more powerful than our shared identity. This disease too always begins with good intentions, but with the passing of time it enslaves its members and becomes a cancer which threatens the harmony of the organization and causes immense evil, especially to those we treat as outsiders. “Friendly fire” from our fellow soldiers, is the most insidious danger. It is the evil which strikes from within. As it says in the bible, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste.”
Gary Hamel
The office looked big. Much bigger than it had looked for the last year I have been coming to it daily. Despite having much of the third floor of the building assigned to us, just a couple of days before we realized it could barely fit all of us working together. But today, it was empty, lifeless, eerie…
In a blink of an eye, we moved from crowded to deserted. There was no typing noise, loud voices, the sound of murmur, spontaneous laughter, or the annoying open mike video conference.
The day before , over a hundred people had been humming around us, busy, going about their business, but worrying about the ‘new virus’ and how to deal with it. That Tuesday, however, it was only the four of us. We had sent everybody home to be with their families and work remotely. We had more questions than answers, but as senior management, we had to make sure that -as much as humanly possible- everybody was okay and that, as an organization, we continued to serve our right bearers.
The days turned into weeks, and new routines emerged. We learned new ways of working, developed means of checking on each other, and every night went into bed hoping that the new day would bring us closer to the time when we could be together, shake hands, hug each other and visit our loved ones.
For some strange reason, perhaps to give us hope that this would soon come to pass, each of us remained in its original office, even though we were in different wings of the building, and it would have made much more sense to band together instead. We never spoke about it, we just maintained the little we could of our old routines, although sometimes one would sit on any of the empty workstations just to have a meeting or, perhaps, just not to be that lonely.
In those days, the ‘lunch club’ was born. The office canteen, however precarious it was, had gone with the wind of people working from home, and we were left wandering around for food. Fortunately, one of us had the habit of bringing food from home and, to our benefit, soon realized that the original individual portions would not suffice. New talents emerge amidst the trials of the day: new recipes, new tastes, new friendships, new stories.
As the ‘new normal’ dawned before our eyes and the measures we had taken made it safe for more people to return to the office, the ‘lunch club’ expanded a bit. It continued to be an inner circle of sorts, mainly because we only had a small office turned meeting room to hold our ‘events,’ but also because the bonds had been forged amidst the worries of leading through unchartered waters and stormy skies. The ‘newcomers’ brought different tastes, recipes, and jokes. Little did they know about the origins of the ‘club,’ nor did any of the colleagues who returned to the office more than a year after its inception.
When reading about the ‘disease of closed circles,’ I wondered if my beloved ‘lunch club’ had morphed into a ‘clique,’ threatening the harmony of our organization. However, I am sure that our shared identity is what brought and kept us together through the thick and thin of the pandemic, so I don’t think of our ‘club’ as a ‘clique’ and the fact that it is open to anyone who joins for lunch confirms it. But of course, I am biased; those who see us without entering might think differently. What is critical is to ensure that everyone in a team, in a family, in an organization feels included.
I am not saying that one cannot have closer colleagues, friends, or relatives. There will always be people with whom you share affinities, values, likes, and dislikes. But, in keeping with Pope Francis’ advice, let’s just make sure that there is no ‘friendly fire’ coming from our end and that our groups not only build on and celebrate our diversity but also -and most importantly- strengthen our shared sense of belonging.