I’ve been complaining for years about how electronic communication is negatively impacting human interaction. My complaints have been mostly targeted toward personal relationships outside of work. Like the time I was at a restaurant waiting for a table to come available. Sitting near me were two teenagers sitting side by side. Both were texting on their phones.
I said to them, “Are you two friends?” when they replied that they were, I said, “You’re sitting next to each other texting and not talking.” Their response floored me. They said, “We are! We’re texting each other right now!”
I couldn’t believe it was less stressful to text one another rather than talking face-to-face.
But my complaint is also impacting the corporate environment where electronic communication is becoming much more prevalent. I came across an article that illustrated how Steve Jobs, who initially funded Pixar and later became its owner, created a work space environment that promoted—and even forced—human verbal interaction through the design of their headquarters in Northern California.
I invite you to read the article online written by Ethan Hale: https://www.fastcompany.com/1842891/6-group-dynamics-high-performing-teams.
The main point of the article is highlighting a study that came out of MIT’s Human Dynamics Laboratory. They identified the group dynamics that high-performing teams share. There are 6 points:
Everyone on the team both talks andlistens. No one dominates the conversation.
The interactions are energetic with a lot of face-to-face communication.
People connect with one another directly – not just with or through the team leader.
Side conversations are carried on within the team.
People from time to time go outside the group and bring relevant outside information back in.
Individual contributions/talents are less important than successful communication patterns
Talking more and typing or texting less increases productivity and creativity in the work environment.
Knowing this, maybe more people will take up my cry against relying too heavily on electronic communication and return to the good old days of standing or sitting across from one another, looking each other in the eye and just talking.
