Just add water? The fascinating prospect of “instant intimacy.”

For humans to create high-performing teams, traditional assumptions are that it takes a long time and goes through a predictable process (forming, storming, norming and performing). But in many of today’s most vital activities, time is short, norms need to be created instantly and people working together may not spend much time In Real Life.

The Human Future of Work conference

Together with my colleague, Hitendra Wadhwa, and sponsored by the team at Emeritus, we had the opportunity to spend a day with over fifty leading Human Resource practitioners and other experts from all over the world, representing hugely influential and impressive companies. The gathering was held at the McKinsey Experience Center, right downtown, and formed the backdrop for many conversations about what we know, and don’t know, about the future of work. The conference was called the “Human Future of Work.”

The agenda is nothing less than creating a movement for better, more human, workplaces. If we mobilized all the talent in that room, that is very possible. And the workplace could sure use some re-imagining.

According to Gallup, a minimum of employees — 23% worldwide and 33% in the US fall into the “engaged” category. I like this quote explaining engagement: “When employees are…