Before COVID we all thought that it was natural to meet and greet in a herd environment. Psychology Today even stated, “human beings are herd animals… we survive only in highly coordinated groups”.

But during COVID, networking was made illegal. Not since the Spanish flu was such severe restrictions on networking recorded. One hundred years later there was a solution of sorts to the need to herd by humans. It was called Zoom. The end result was that the herd animal, the human was locked in their home and told to continue working using a flat screen, where they and others were represented by a head and shoulder shot on that flat screen. The ability to speak was controlled by a new term known as “you are on mute”. So much for the human skill described as “Individually, we are designed to pick up social cues and coordinate and align our behaviour with those around us”.

As in all pandemics, there will be ongoing costs. One that comes immediately to mind is the loss of a person’s networking skills. After two plus years of lockdown, we all emerge a little rusty in our networking skills. Let’s take a look at five steps to getting back in the herd and network.