Are we Face(d) Off?

In times of crisis, communication is key. Key for people to understand what is going on, key to help them understand their role in the crisis and support others through the crisis. We all know how essential communication has been, both in our professional and personal lives over the last year, to keep our businesses going and most importantly to keep us sane.

The way we communicate rapidly changed overnight. Those who preferred face-to-face have had to resort to Teams, Zoom or FaceTime, those who don’t, have still been forced into a square box on a screen. We have planned work projects, celebrated births and birthdays, virtually waved at long lost family and friends and played quiz after quiz in our split screens.

However, have we come to the point of being Face(d) Off?

One colleague that I was in a virtual meeting with this week commented how although we are all “Teamed-out”, it was so much easy to get hold of people virtually than face-to-face. Yet, as we nodded and stared at his reflection on the screen, I suddenly missed the 3D of seeing someone in real life. In another (virtual) meeting later in the day, another colleague mentioned how hard it is to have real engagement with larger audiences online who are probably reading emails, working on another document, even answering the door, while on the call. This is something echoed by my lecturer friend who said some students are ticking off their attendance but zoning out as soon as they zone in.

So how do we solve the communication challenge we have found ourselves in?

As with all communications, it goes back to thinking about audience, messaging and platform. So, a one-to-one chat about a project? Maybe pick the phone up and talk without the pressure of a Teams call. Need to address a larger group? Maybe think about virtual conference facilities, breakout groups that split the messaging up and some videos in Sharepoint for later. Need a team update? Maybe look to do a walk and talk if close by or if not, a walk and FaceTime talk.

Breaking up the way we talk to people to make ourselves heard is more important than ever when our options are limited and our audience is tired. Making sure we don’t have communication ennui is key, but not as key as making sure we continue to communicate and be heard.