TMA World Mindline Technology and Relationships: Four Principles

MindLines Terence Brake

TMA World │ Head of Learning and Innovation

Technology &

Relationships

4 Principles

Technology & Relationships 4 principles

Increasingly we are communicating and

collaborating at work through technology.

What principles should we

adopt to make sure that we

are building productive

relationships with colleagues

and not creating

interpersonal dead-space?


HUMANITY

DOUBT

FLEXIBILITY

COMMONALITY

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HUMANITY We seek human connection in a technological space

The rapid advances in technology that have connected people across the planet are an outstanding human achievement. The problem is that the virtual spaces created can be impersonal and dehumanizing, particularly in the digital workplace where relationships are often fleeting and transactional.

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Our colleagues may only appear ‘real’ to us as strings of words in an email or a disembodied voice in a teleconference. Virtual colleagues are not just nodes in a network, they have personal needs for trust, belonging, achievement, expression and feeling valued, as do we.

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In a virtual workplace, relationship competence is bound closely to technological competence, i.e. using appropriate technologies to convey the ‘human touch’. Some technologies are better than others at communicating rich information about people – a video conference is richer than a telephone call which, turn is richer than an e-mail.

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This isn’t to say we should always be using videoconference for our communications. An email can be more precise and sometimes easier to use for people who might be working in a second language. An email allows more time for formulating the right message. Whatever tool we use, we should seek to make a human connection through our language, tone and consideration of others.

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DOUBT We separate the real from the imagined

Doubt is rarely elevated to a positive principle, but constructive doubt has an important place when we work together through technology. With reduced and less rich communication opportunities in virtual work, there are wider and deeper gaps in our knowledge of others. Our brains don’t like these gaps and so our tendency is to fill them with assumptions, stereotypes and stories that might have little connection to reality.

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The result of these shallow understandings is often ‘misplaced similarity’ – the feeling that others are more like us than they actually are. One consequence is that some people will feel they are being treated dismissively, that their differences are not being acknowledged and treated in an inclusive way.

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Another reason for constructive doubt is ‘technology effect’. Technologies are not neutral, they influence our perceptions and behaviours. For example, in team communications, video and audio-conferencing tend to increase trust for those who are in the same room and decrease it for those in remote locations.

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Computer mediated communications, like email, tend to increase depersonalization of others and the polarization of views and reduce participation and consensus. When it comes to relationships and perceived behaviours in our digital workplace, we need to be patient and take extra care when making assumptions and reaching conclusions.

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FLEXIBILITY

Technologies are creating what we call a borderless workplace – a digital work environment that crosses multiple boundaries whether we are working virtually with colleagues across a city, a country or even continents. The potentially wide distribution of a virtual workplace means that we are often interacting with a greater range of differences, including cultural.

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FLEXIBILITY

Assume members of Culture A are comfortable giving input and feedback publically and directly. Their cultural orientations tend toward individualism, explicit communication, risk-taking and egalitarianism. Video-conferencing and audio-conferencing are appropriate for Culture A.

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FLEXIBILITY

Members of Culture B, whose cultural orientations tend more towards group identity, indirect communication and risk-avoidance will most likely find the openness of these technologies threatening. They increase the probability of public embarrassment and loss of face.

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COMMONALITY We seek and create similarities as well as respect differences

Differences are of great value in face-to-face and virtual environments. They introduce new perspectives and approaches to boost creativity and innovation. The value of differences for change and growth, however, must be balanced with the value of stability for cohesion and functionality.

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Individuals and teams working virtually must make an intentional effort to identify common ground and this requires identifying and exploring differences, looking at them in relation to objectives and negotiating best ways forward. The challenge is to create commonalities in areas of greatest importance to the task/project, e.g. meetings, communication, decision-making.

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These commonalities – or operating agreements – can be thought of as simple ‘rules’ for collaborating, e.g. “We will not interrupt or talk over one another in our telephone calls/virtual meetings.”

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Every new virtual working relationship should begin with the question:

People who are working face-to-face have more opportunities for common ground to emerge naturally in daily work. Virtual working relationships need to be more intentional and explicit.

“ How will we work together?

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TMA World Mindline Technology and Relationships: Four Principles