Isn’t It About Time We Ditched ZOOM?
No, no. I don’t mean we need to stop using the wildly popular online video meeting platform all together.
What I mean is breaking the “ZOOM culture” of every encounter having to be online – online – online. And nothing else! Seriously? Hey, the pandemic is pretty much over, huh?
Even as I point out in my new book to be published this fall, “The Coming Customer Disruption Economy”, that we’ll approach things like Talent - read Employees - Engagement in different ways than before, humans remain “social beings”. And as such, in-person interaction will always be the most effective way to communicate with others. Period.
Okay, okay, I know you’re going to probably bombard me with all the reasons why this just won’t work and how convenient it is to ZOOM the world at the drop of a hat. But I’m here to tell you that ZOOM - and Google Meet, and others - has gotten way out of hand. And I say it’s diminishing our efforts to communicate effectively today! Especially in business.
Case in point, publisher Engadget interviewing Apple CEO Tim Cook on the RTO movement cited him as saying recently: “in-person work and collaboration is “irreplaceable’ “.
So, I want to make a couple points that I feel support this call to action of mine.
1. 65 % of all effective social engagement is derived from non-verbal “cues” say researchers ( Birdwhistle, 1977 ) for some time now. That said, it’s pretty obvious that we’re going to miss some of those “cues” when we move interactions online. Just a fact.
2. Online meetings often lead to “passive engagement” research has recently determined ( Lee, et al, 2011 ) and you can immediately understand why. Checking the phone in our laps. Gesturing to someone offscreen. You know what I’m talking about, right? Sometimes we’re “kinda” engaged and paying attention.
3. Finally, online visual interaction can sometimes limit our ability to share feelings say psychologists. You know, a sincere remark following a casual conversation. A whispered confidence in a crowded room. That kind of thing.
And in some instances, say researchers, online video interactions can lead to feelings of emotional isolation. Enough said.
So, as I usually do about now, here are some Business Tips for riding out the ZOOM juggernaut today.
1. Let your audience your interaction choices. Hey, we do this already, don’t we? It’s totally o.k. to ZOOM distant cousin Charley in Florida but probably not what you want to do to cover sensitive items with your immediate boss, right? You get my point. Choose accordingly!
2. State expectations up – front in a ZOOM session. It may be simply saying that “this is our first meeting getting to know each other with more sessions to follow. And when we’ll assign sales territories next week when we’re all together.” Pretty clear, huh?
So, I’ll look for you the next time we’re hanging out around the table talking about our next meet up.
Until then and catch you later!
Ciao.