Lost in digital conversation

By Vincenzo Meoil, Account Executive

It’s remarkable how quickly we embrace COVID-19 into our daily conversations. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that new neologisms such as Quaranteams, my favourite, are now a part of our daily life. 

Quaranteams is made up of two of the most common activities I’ve been practising in the past six months: quarantining, not strictly speaking but certainly distancing our family in day-to-to-day life, and teaming digitally. The two things I will probably still be doing if you are reading this blog in 2020 or even 2021, 2022 and so on.

Nobody knows if our workplace culture will stay the same. What is changing rapidly is the way we communicate, with our colleagues, clients and customers. Thinking to the future, I wonder what the next step of virtual conversations will be and if there will be a new standard that replaces scheduled video calls. Some companies are now offering ‘virtual offices’ where workers can record their screen, voice and face and instantly share it with colleagues. Is this how conversations between co-workers will end up? 

Joining a meeting on your laptop was still relatively rare at the start of 2020, and it was considered by many to be a less preferable way to participate in a work discussion. Back then, we could choose if our meeting was to be held in a conference room, in a coffee shop or, if necessary, over the phone. We were in control of the scenario and allowed our conversations to be shaped by different factors that affected the whole experience of listening, interacting, communicating or just chit chatting with others in meetings. 

We all remember fondly the small talk that helps us build relationships with work colleagues and clients and put you at ease during the meeting itself. I think there should be a new rule that allows having a 10-minute informal chat before and after an online meeting, and allowing some spontaneous interactions come throughout (yes, that would be a good time to talk about the guitar you see on your client’s background). We all know that these moments are beneficial to our wellbeing at work. 

Since Quaranteams came into our daily life, technology has shaped the framework of every conversation, creating more structured interactions with a host of extra technical challenges. Your workspace needs to be upgraded now as you don’t have the proper equipment to communicate effectively with your audience. That is what those new headset ads say. The wifi dropping too often, the 12bit resolution, the unmute button that stays unclicked in those crucial moments. All things that affect an already full day of emails and tasks.

Are we still engaging well? We are improving our listening capability but are we getting the point of our conversations across to both active and passive listeners? Active listeners demonstrate that they understand what the other person is trying to tell them about his or her experience by participating - agreeing, adding to your point or typing in the team chat. The passive listeners are no less important, but a bit trickier to engage as they might give feedback or ask questions - do they understand your message?

Equity can be a resolution and a key design principle. Communication should actively involve the audience to get involved and increase the level of participation in decision making. This can increase the feeling of belonging in the conversation and, on a wider scale, in the structure of the team itself. 

Beyond the immediate necessity of the pandemic and the socially distant ways of working it brings, what will we take from this experience to create smarter conversations? The way we democratise our conversations and choose the right pattern of getting along together, digitally or physically, will be, eventually, essential.