Happenstance

“Happenstance” is an interesting word. A quick look at origins suggests the word is a conjunction of “happen” and “circumstance.” The circumstance of a happening. A circumstantial event. The adjectival form may emphasize the unplanned nature – “happenstantial.” A chance event.

The word came up in a discussion of catalysts to creativity and to group cohesion. It seems likely that many moments of creativity are associated with happenstance. All of us have memories of very, very short interactions with others about a current puzzle we were facing, which have the product of forcing a new way of thinking about the issue. Within minutes, a new solution occurs to us.

Sometimes these events arose in walking across campus, encountering a colleague, and talking about what each other was working on. Sometimes the topic of the short interaction is not even related to the issue that it transforms in one’s mind. In listening to the colleague’s story, some connection to our own life is extracted. A short phase or observation is sufficient to catalyze a new synthesis of thinking.

There is currently much discussion within Georgetown (for that matter, within every work organization) about the mix of in-person and internet-assisted communication. The pandemic forced most to adopt zoom, texting, email, and other media for work communication.

None of us as individuals and no work organization has ever experienced the internet-mediated communication that COVID produced. As the variants of SARS CoV-2 evolve, few believe anymore that it will one day magically disappear.

Research and commentary suggest that there are some clear gains in output in the internet-mediated work organization. Staff avoid the commute to the office. The most committed have put in more hours devoted to tasks of the work organization than they did previously. Zoom meetings begin closer to the stated start time (there are no excuses for travel delays); they can be quite efficiently managed for decision processes.

Despite those gains in efficiency, however, one wonders whether there are losses in what might be termed “effectiveness.” In this context, “effectiveness” might be taken to mean the extent of enduring impact and innovation required to the sustainability of impact. For example, while Zoom might have permitted heightened task-orientation of the minutes in each work day, are the minutes producing creativity at the same rate as the minutes in the pre-COVID days?

“Happenstance” is not common in structured Zoom meetings for many of us. Some thirst for unscheduled quick interactions with work colleagues so common in face-to-face settings.

Given our new world of hybrid work organization, one wonders whether there are functional equivalents of chance encounters with others. How can we create the spontaneity and serendipity that in-person work settings permit? In short, can we structure “happenstance?”