In today’s fast-paced business environment, we are inundated with emails, text messages, and other forms of social media. Technology has greatly changed the way we all work. I remember when I first started working in the business setting when there were no emails and no internet. Rather, we relied on phone calls, telex, and fax machines and most importantly, face-to-face communications.
It’s true that technology has been a great help in allowing us to be more productive and communicate faster and to places on the globe that was never possible before. Today, we can send an instant message to our family who might be on the other side of the world. Family and friends can FaceTime or Skype each other in real time. Similarly, businesses can have video conference calls with international colleagues.
But, with all of this comes some disadvantages. I believe we have lost that human element of building relationships and communications have become sterile and impersonal. Texting is a great example. Texting has become a tool in our society to appease our instant gratification for a quick answer without having to talk to someone. When we text someone, we do not know what they are doing, where they are, what mood they are in, what else they might be doing at the time, etc.
Face-to-face communication can build better working relationships. We get to see each other’s body language and we can build upon our collective energy and passion. This can allow us to boost efficiency and productivity. Countless times, I have seen several emails back and forth to a distribution list that could have been resolved by someone walking over to someone’s desk and asking them the question or even just picking up the phone. I believe face-to-face communications can build trust and team dynamics.
The next time you send an email or text message, ask yourself, “Should I use this opportunity to stop by and talk to this person or pick up the phone and talk to them?” See how they are doing and maybe how you can help. Do you rely on emails and texts for quick answers or do you think there is benefit for face-to-face communications?