Have you ever heard of the 7-38-55 rule? For those who reject the idea of equal part cocktails, the 7-38-55 rule may better correspond to how you like your Negroni. However, for this ABM insight, we follow that rule asserts that 7% of the way we communicate is through verbal communication, 38% is through the tonality of our voice and our body language fills the last 55%. The most ardent worshippers of this rule are the politician, it helps explain why they hobnob in front of the cameras like fluffed up flamingos attempting to outdo each other in a game of power stances. It is because of this rule that in the realm of communication the saying ‘do not judge a book by its cover’ simply does not apply. Now having understood this, how does this translate to the great debate surrounding in-person meetings? Like any good debate you have two sides, this one is no different. It is split with the in-person Bloomer who relishes the chance to be back among the hustle and bustle of the office jungle. On the opposing side is the Zoomer perched within a defensive ring of flickering monitors that was hastily assembled at the onset of the 2020 spring lockdown. The conclusions drawn from the debate will be subjective and will likely stem from your own experience.
Firstly, the rule of communication is possibly the strongest argument in favour of in-person meetings. The core reason behind a meeting is to communicate something and if you have to convey your message through a lens of a camera or decipher if someone is understanding your point through a jittering mess of pixels, then the value derived from the meeting will be reduced. It is well documented that a handshake builds trust and being able to read someone’s body language helps dictate the direction of the conversation. It is for these natural reasons that in-person meetings are very effective for communicating a message to multiple different people. Having that physical contact can also move the conversation along faster, as it builds that familiarity with the person you are talking to. It is this non-verbal communication that has been absent in our digital lives and without it can increase our levels of anxiety, stress and loneliness. We are not the self-isolating experts that snow leopards, marine turtles and jaguars have developed to be. Humans are primarily social beings. We live in cities stacked up to the skies, we go to pubs to mingle with our communities (be it friends/family/neighbourhood) and our time is divided between doing sporting activities in teams, courting our potential partner for life and watching television shows to pass the time at work. We need in-person interactions, not only to communicate but to live life to the fullest.
On the other hand, Zoomers are correct in asserting that some things really don’t need to be done in-person. Doing some things digitally is more time-efficient and can speed up group communication. Indeed, non-verbal forms of communication (according to the rule makes up 93% of communication) are hampered by being online but this can be managed through other aspects of a digital appearance. People working from home should invest more into their surroundings to make up for the loss in communication. For instance, a bookcase behind you on camera showing off some of your interests and favourite books could indeed create greater talking points and areas of familiarity than a chat in a corridor. As well as this, your mental well-being may benefit from not having to commute on the tube or being able to spend more time cooking fresh ingredients at home. Neuroscience does favour communicating in-person but there are a host of benefits to working from home that does balance some of the trade-offs. Having said this, regardless of being digital or in-person, meetings need to be strategically designed to derive the highest possible value. The average dollar cost for a manager is $100 per/hour. A two-hour meeting with 10 managers is $2000, and one person being 10 mins late is costing the company $100. In a company an item of $2000 normally needs to be approved by head office before purchasing, meetings should be assessed in the same light.
In the end, it comes down to preference and managers should be prepared to allow for some flexible working if they are to wish to continuously attract the right talent. If they do not, they will not be as competitive and will lose out to companies with a more open culture. A hybrid mindset is needed, a blended use of in-person and digital is the best fit for capturing future gains.
By Henri Willmott