A wave of nostalgia hit me when I was reading the “Synching Fast and Slow” chapter in Daniel H. Pink’s book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing.

The chapter talks about the importance of group timing, how human beings depend on being able to work together to survive and thrive.

“Human beings rarely go it alone,” Pink writes. “Much of what we do — at work, at school, and at home — we do in concert with other people. Our ability to survive, even to live, depends on our capacity to coordinate with others in and across time.”

He says groups must synchronize on three levels — to the boss, to the tribe, and to the heart — to achieve a state of belonging and well-being.

I started thinking about the moments when I felt such synchronicity.

It happened in my high school marching band — our boss was the music and our drum major; our tribe was all us musicians, each knowing our own part in the show; our heart or higher purpose was to put on the best performance possible for our audience. We did not want to disappoint.

It also happened in the newsroom, to some degree every day. We all synched to various deadlines; we had our own vocabulary (if you know graf, CQ and TK, you know); we believed in journalism’s power to inform, reveal and connect our community.

I thought about when I felt the most in synch with my colleagues — it was when we were covering a breaking news story. We had a system for communicating to the people in charge; we knew our own roles in the larger story; our collective goal was to inform the public. As a team, we were abuzz — tuned to the same frequency.

I miss that buzziness.

This nostalgia then made me wonder: How often do we feel in synch now, especially when we’re working in remote/hybrid situations?

And if we don’t regularly feel this synchronicity, does it contribute to burnout, low morale and stress?

As workplace culture continues to evolve, we need to remember the importance of being in synch as a group — both within our small teams and within the organization.

These questions should be asked regularly: How does your team synch to a boss; how do they know they belong to the group; and does everyone understand and align with the values you’re upholding?

The more you can definitively answer these questions, the stronger and healthier your organization will be.

And if you’re an employee feeling a little lost, pay attention to the cause(s). Maybe something is out of synch and you need more information. Maybe you need to recognize the times you do feel synchronicity, to appreciate that you have it. Maybe you don’t have it at all — and knowing that will help you make decisions.

I admit I didn’t think about it much until I read Pink’s book. So now, when these moments happen — when a training is paced well and finishes on time; when I watch Beyoncé or BTS perform astoundingly synched choreography; when a meeting leaves everyone feeling heard and rejuvenated — I will pause a bit longer to cherish them.

Because this quote that Pink uses to open the chapter is so true:

That is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. — Willa Cather, My Ántonia