While many people enjoy the flexiblity of collaborating virtually in today's hybrid work environment, they do still crave personal connection. Many people will make personal sacrifices to insure that the opportunity for personal connection exists. Franklin Shaddy, Peking University and Ayelet Fishbach have conducted a series of studies to examine the extent to which people will choose to synchronize their schedules with others as a means of connecting with them.
In one of their experiments, research subjects had the opportunity to receive a box of cookies in either two weeks or two months. The scholars told some of the research subjects that they could also select a free box of cookies for a friend. Many of the participants chose to wait two months to receive their box if their friend also would be receiving their cookies in two months time. Naturally, you would think that most people would want their cookies sooner rather than later, yet many chose to delay gratifications and to synchronize their positive experience with a friend.
A core principle of psychology is that we typically want to experience pleasure sooner and delay painful or negative events as long as possible. Yet in experiments that studied the behavior of more than 3,000 participants, the researchers found that people were willing to delay pleasure and move up pain — paying a psychological cost — if it meant they could schedule an experience at the same time as a friend or someone they admire, even though they would not be in any physical proximity.
The choice to sync persisted even when experiment participants knew the other person wasn’t aware of the event. Syncing was also prioritized when it meant committing to an inconvenient time slot to “connect” with a friend. And as a bit of proof of concept, the researchers found that when experiment participants were primed to think about someone they didn’t like, they were not motivated to sync schedules.
“Synchronized scheduling acts as ‘social glue,’ increasing feelings of not only person-to-person social connection, but also solidarity, trust and cohesion within the group. As a result, it counteracts experienced and anticipated physical disconnection,” they write.
What's the implication for leaders in the workforce? Having people experience something at the same time, even if they are physically apart, can have beneficial effects. It can bind team members together more closely, something we ought to desire in workplaces where too many people are often disengaged and teams are less cohesive than we would like.
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