Eat Together We should make it a priority to eat with others whenever possible

Eat together: Our tendency to eat alone often leads to less social interaction and a failure to develop strong relationships. We should make it a priority to eat with others whenever possible.

We should not eat lunch alone at our desks.  We should eat together with our colleagues.

When we eat alone, we miss the opportunity to build relationships with other people.

Eating together is a more intimate act than looking over an Excel spreadsheet together.

That intimacy spills back over into work.

Credit: Kevin Kniffin

From an evolutionary anthropology perspective, eating together has a long, primal tradition as a kind of social glue.

That seems to continue in today’s workplaces.

Credit: Kevin Kniffin

We should make it a priority to eat with others whenever possible.

Resources

• Harvard Business Review: Team Building in the Cafeteria
• Paper: Eating Together at the Firehouse: How Workplace Commensality Relates to the Performance of Firefighters
• Forbes: The Key Role Food Plays In Building Team Spirit