1.4 A Virtual Game Changer

As early as the 1980s, telecommuting became an increasingly common organizational dynamic as technology made working from home an acceptable alternative to spending a day in the office.

Empty desks saved organizations money. But the savings were often countered with a downward trend in innovation and company morale. Why? According to a 2013 statement from Yahoo, “Some of the best decisions and insights were still coming from hallway and cafeteria discussions.”1 In other words, there was no substitute for physical, interpersonal relations. These, after all, are the events that build trust and inspire camaraderie, innovation, and critical thinking. Because of this evidence, corporations like Google created dormitory-like offices, where employees could eat, sleep, and play at work.

Tile, another Silicon Valley company, invested in values competency training instead. In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic closed offices overnight, it was Tile’s investment that proved more fruitful. As entire corporations were forced to work from their bedrooms and living rooms, organizations around the globe scrambled to adapt in-house interpersonal communication strategies to suit the virtual “office.” But complaints of isolation, exclusion, burnout, and loneliness bled through the occasional virtual happy hour, and those organizations, like Tile, that had long ago laid the groundwork for trusting, interspatial relationship-building experienced success against the odds.

Unflappable Values

Trust, it turns out, has economic value. It creates the foundation for authentic conversations, teamwork, and loyalty, whether or not anyone is watching. It’s trust, not happy hours, that nurtures leaders who move teams and organizations through change. While video calls make a dent in satisfying the desire for human connection, it’s only a dent. As you may recall, more than half of communication is sent and received nonverbally. So, the periodic Zoom chat doesn’t cut it in the long term. Instead, organizations are forced to go back to the basics to ensure their employees know they count, that they are seen, heard, and understood. Many organizations add daily check-ins to their routines and encourage instituting rules for equitable engagement, as well as improve employees’ access to mental health resources. Results from efforts like these prove repeatedly that any commitment to building relationships with open communication channels encourages people to be more inclusive, flexible, and productive, no matter the distance between them.

Critical to this process is listening, which we’ll discuss next in greater detail. But it’s worth mentioning here that listening transcends the screen, the page, the stage, and circumstance. Whether on the phone, a video call, attending a seminar, or sitting face-to-face, listening is critical to the birth, development, and effectiveness of almost every interpersonal communication skill, especially if we include observation as a form of listening, too. Within an organization, no amount of training can be a substitute for practice in real time. The challenge for many organizations, therefore, is to create a culture where “getting it wrong” doesn’t incur dire consequences but teachable moments. Perhaps the most effective way for this to happen is by setting emotionally mature examples. And who best to lay the groundwork for constructive, compassionate listening than organization leaders.

Putting it all together, without trust, employees learn to assume their leaders will behave underhandedly or in ways that don’t represent the organization’s best interests. Disloyalty and dissension can result, often prompting efforts to undermine leadership and organizational missions as a whole. Without a single, guiding light from the top, members of an organization will quickly see each other’s differences, form strategic alliances, and degenerate into conflict. With it, however, the organization wins, top to bottom. And it can take little more than effective leadership listening to a given situation, applying emotional intelligence, exercising the appropriate interpersonal communication skills, and responding to what is needed.