A colleague told me just today that a client paid for him to travel to have face-to-face meetings because they believed the results were much higher quality than phone meetings. After he flew all the way across the country for a few hours of meetings, he said it was worth it to get that extra level of interaction.
We often take advantage of current technology to communicate
instead of making the effort to get together face-to-face. Even talking can be too much effort. People have told me on multiple occasions that they prefer texting to talking on the phone. But we are missing out on a lot of information when we interact via technology. Some situations benefit greatly from good old face-to-face interaction. Building trust and resolving conflict are two such situations. It may be inconvenient—and expensive—to get together in person, but the time and money saved in the long run is well worth it.
I interviewed a group of industrial design engineers at a multinational company to find out why they preferred to meet face-to-face, even when it involved international travel. The engineers said there were many benefits of meeting face-to-face. These included:
- personal growth (travel and learning)
- ease of interacting remotely after meeting face-to-face
- obtaining a “sense” of the other person
- seeing what others are trying to accomplish
- facilitating teamwork
- establishing personal relationships and friendships
- building trust
- seeing others’ reactions
- seeing eye contact and body language
- clearly focusing on the problem without distractions
- resolving issues
- having quick access to decision-makers for approvals.
Some people think old-fashioned communication skills are not needed in the modern world. But don’t forget that people are people. We still need to interact, understand, and connect with each other. For all these reasons and more, it’s a good idea to hone your face-to-face communication skills.
