This year mobile telecom companies in the UK expected to handle 200 million text messages on New Year’s eve. This is either a positive indication that we’re all generally a nice bunch of people or that the depth of our relationships has sunk to the level where we can say everything in 160 characters. Sadly as is evidenced by the success of other text based, impersonal methods such e-mail, social networks and instant messaging, it seems that the second is the more likely.
We’ve all heard the stories about people being fired, dumped and divorced by email or text. The general response to this is normally consternation and yet we happily conduct friendships and manage staff using these same methods. Granted these technologies have their uses but communication should be about more than simply exchanging raw information.
Imagine only having read the lyrics to your favourite song or the script to favourite movie. You could admire the writing and follow the story but it wouldn’t be the same experience as actually seeing or hearing it performed. We can read more into what is said by listening to the speaker’s tone of voice and observing their body language than we can ever get from a transcript. The additional element is the performance and the hidden factor is time. Both performer and audience have an unspoken agreement to dedicate their attention to the ‘job’ of communication.
When writing we try to be brief and to the point but when we talk, the conversation inevitably roams. It is here that conversation becomes most useful, we explore new ideas, learn more about the other person and most importantly build deeper relationships with the other person.
If you restrict your communications to e-mail, SMS etc a huge portion of the picture will be missing. It’s difficult to gauge intangible factors like morale and confidence from a written report. Regardless of what you call it (‘face time’, ‘management by walking about’ etc) actually speaking to others, be they staff, team mates, suppliers or customers, is the best way to interact with people in business.
Try talking, it’s time consuming and inefficient but could be the best thing you do.
photo by SteveFE