Culture isn’t just manufactured in team-building exercises, but is often built on incidental conversations and moments, says CEO of the Impossible Institute, Dan Gregory. Pictured: Virtual photobooth at FCM Illuminate
While the world has found ways to live with the pandemic, businesses
and brands are beginning to show deeper cracks beyond Zoom fatigue — and
it all comes back to human behaviour, says CEO of the Impossible
Institute Dan Gregory, speaking at the recent FCM Illuminate 2021, a
digital event.
During his keynote presentation, Gregory outlined three non-tangible
reasons why in-person meetings are so critical for the future of
business travel.
The real reason why Zoom is so exhausting
In business transacting, big ticket sales are traditionally done by
"breaking bread" over meals or coffee, all for the sake of seeking
non-verbal confirmations — which ultimately makes or breaks the deal,
says Gregory.
"[You'll find] we are not listening to everything they say in the
pitch [and vice versa] — because they are assessing our character, the
drinks we order, how we treat the wait staff or members of our team.
"Our behaviours build that sense of trust and that requires a sense
of proximity... to take in all of those non-verbal cues. That’s why zoom
is so exhausting, our senses are working overtime trying to pick up on
all those non-verbal cues that we used to have automatically
face-to-face."
Border closures aren't just physical, but psychological
Think lockdowns are merely physical? For corporate teams that were
split across different cities, organisations are now detecting cultural
divisions in teams siloed by distance, unable to spend time with
colleagues face to face.
"Culture and teamwork isn’t just manufactured in those team-building
exercises; these are often built on incidental conversations — those
chats after work, random in-betweens at the break room — that’s when
culture is most critical, and when innovation and productivity happens,"
says Gregory.
The cause and pause for mental health
To address his last point for in-person over digital connections,
attendees viewed a photo of a hospitalised man with multiple tubes
inserted into his body: Gregory, just last October in the ICU.
With 24 hours away from organ failure and death, Gregory posed this
question to FCM Illuminate attendees: "Sitting in hospital for a week
recovering gave me cause to reconsider what I valued.
"These lockdowns have been a pause for thought for all of us — what do you share: power point slides, or experiences?"
Describing the business environment as an inter-connected circle,
Gregory's presentation finished by positioning face-to-face meetings as a
dealbreaker on mental health.
"The more you're able to create those face-to-face connections, the
more people re-establish trust in those small [non-verbal] behaviours,
it increases engagement in real ways, and allows us to feel more
positive, leading to greater productivity."