PHOTO: via grayturner on Flickr Apparently there seems to be a rumor about the economy tanking or something? No, wait! That's what everyone is talking about twenty-four-seven. In department memos and budget meetings over Excel spreadsheets, every working executive is trim-trim-trimming those "extras" and "non-essentials".
A major target for the cutting room floor: off-site meetings.
Like, can't we just conference everyone else in? Can't we do one of those screencasts? Let's put off strategic planning until 2011! Sell the watercooler on Ebay!
On the contrary, just like skipping meals, foregoing a tune-up on your new used car, or remembering your anniversary... small things have big, unintended consequences; namely: getting serious work done with other humans.
Working virtually is an alchemical art, requiring just the right balance of trust, personality and skills. Inside larger organizations, face-to-face time is essential in cementing the first item on the list (trust).
This Thanksgiving vacation I found myself brokering a peace between two family members over a forwarded email. However, once all the people were in the same room, we could work out an understanding in seconds--based upon forgiveness and authenticity--that would never have been possible on-line.
For the most difficult discussions, we still need personal contact, body language, gesture and the ability to look another person in the eye.
Web rage can erupt over the most innocent of emails, the most innocuous of blog posts. In an article last year on
CIO.com, cyber-wonk and social networking expert
Clay Shirky co-authored an
article on web rage, dissecting why so many behave so badly whilst on-line.
Why? We are visual creatures who make split-second decisions based upon non-verbal cues.
Shirky and co-author Daniel Goleman, social and emotional intelligence expert, point out obvious trust lost on so many when doing virtual work in teams, large or small. The online world lacks a channel for in-the-moment visual cues from voice, facial expression and posture that the social brain needs to navigate the nuances of human interaction.
All one need do is follow the comment trail on your local paper's articles regarding hot-button issues like public schools or the opening of a new Wal-Mart.
One commenter posts, another responds, and soon a flame war breaks out. Flaming, of course, refers to an e-mail message that comes across as rude or otherwise annoying, and a flame war happens when the recipient of such a message flames back, leading to an arms race of insult. Flaming is but one of numerous ways a lack of social intelligence can sabotage the use of technology, especially when it comes to working with others together online. Any IT manager takes a risk that a group's efforts will falter if he ignores the psychological dimension of social computing.
So as we determine the "non-essentials", I hope that we recognize the very essential need of humans to meet face-to-face and work out their differences, to design innovative solutions, and to make peace through building trust.
As a story on NPR demonstrated this morning, social network models have proved it: happiness is contagious.
For more about the other side of this collaborative coin (lots of people working virtually in smart mobs), check out:
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