{"id":4578,"date":"2025-05-08T18:03:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T18:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=4578"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:41:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:41:20","slug":"small-talks-big-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/small-talks-big-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"Small Talk\u2019s Big Benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher <\/a><\/p>\r\n

Small talk can have a major effect on improving people\u2019s moods and boost their sense of belonging to a team, department, or organization.<\/p>\r\n

Academy of Management Scholar Jessica Methot<\/a> of Rutgers University and the University of Exeter\u2014who cowrote an Academy of Management Journal article <\/a><\/em> on that topic with Emily Rosado-Solomon of Babson College, Patrick Downes of the University of Kansas, and Allison Gabriel<\/a> of Purdue University\u2014said even just a little bit of small talk can be in combating social isolation and redressing a sense of loneliness, whether people are in their own homes or in offices.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cAn issue with trying to replicate small talk in a remote work setting is that while we\u2019re working from home, all of this is blurring together,\u201d Methot said. \u201cThe idea of small talk is that it helps us not just transition between activities at work, but it also helps us transition from home to work.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe leave our house, we drive to work, we get to the parking lot, we see a colleague, and we chat with them as we\u2019re walking into the office, and it helps us switch our mindset from home to work,\u201d she said. \u201cBut when we\u2019re working from home, we don\u2019t have as clear of a transition, and then we also don\u2019t have that kind of small talk to ease the transition out of home and into work.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cIt\u2019s harder to shift our mindset from home to work as seamlessly when we\u2019re working remotely, and so we might want to get up and go chat with a family member or go for a walk around the neighborhood before we sit back down and really get to work to help make that mental transition.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

Age-old advice is to avoid talking about sex, politics, or religion at the dinner table, and in the office. Workplace gossip carries its own set of pitfalls.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWith small talk, we\u2019re not really diving into more complex, more loaded topics of conversation, and so one of the goals would be to not let it devolve into things like gossip,\u201d Methot said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to start talking about other people, spreading rumors, or talking about controversial topics.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cThose are really reserved for people who we trust more deeply and are having a one-on-one conversation with potentially only in person, but not necessarily something that we should be doing in a group or remotely, and definitely not in the office,\u201d she said. \u201cWe still want to make sure that we\u2019re prioritizing professionalism when we’re in the office.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cWe want to seek support, and it\u2019s okay to be authentic and build friendships at work, but it’s best to avoid gossip and controversial topics when speaking to a boss or coworkers to maintain the social norms around professional communication at work.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A sample of Methot\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n