Most weekdays I wake up in the morning, read a bit, have breakfast, stretch my arms out and head off on my bicycle for a swim. One good thing of swimming is that you are in an enclosed area doing your individual sport and it is so easy to make friends. Athough you cannot speak while swimming there is a lot you can do with the befriended after a swim.
About 4-5 of us swimmers (all retired from work) head out for a coffee morning (although I drink green tea) to chat for about an hour about almost anything. In the company are two former medical doctors of which one is both a physicist and medical doctor (rare combination), a former police chief and a street-smart guy who was in the food business and every other mentionable small business. Some others of different talents joins this regular group on occasion. It is quite a learning experience to chat and discuss various issues. And best of all, my friends are ungrudging of sharing knowledge, which I found was sometimes difficult to find in the regular workplace.
At work, at Budget Section, we had a great team. And on many an occasion, colleagues would go for lunch to discuss an issue or resolve a problem. I carried through what was started by Vincent D'Agati and today I am glad to see that that trend is carried through in the Budget Section of UNICEF, New York. Unfortunately, today we have entered too much of impersonality in e-mailing each other.
And here is some good advice to current UNICEF colleagues. If you want to discuss a problem or resolve an issue, get to work 15-30 minutes earlier and have a coffee morning. Nothing like the morning. Or ask your boss for 15 minutes and head for the cafeteria to talk with your colleague, over a cup of coffee or tea. Give this a try, the results will be amazing.