Hangin’ out in cyberspace as I do, a lot of my communications with clients and partners are via e-mail, phone and IM. And while that works fairly well, I was reminded recently of the importance of face-to-face communication.
Recently, I traveled to the Midwest to visit several of my clients there, one of whom I had never actually met in person. We’ve developed a comprehensive Web site strategy, redesigned the Web site, changed hosts, provided training, and added new features — and it’s gone very well despite being 2,000 miles apart.
But it was great to put a face to a name and to speak face-to-face. Nuances in conversation — such as facial expression, body language, tone of voice — that are hard to convey (or infer) in remote communication are natural in face-to-face meetings. Also, I was able to meet several other stakeholders in the project, whom I may have spoken with a time or two but had also never met.
Even when I’m working at a company location, I make it a point to regularly show up in people’s offices — just to say hello, perhaps. I’ll ask how things are going and let people talk some. Almost always, I get useful feedback and learn important things about the effectiveness of our online services (or at least the perception of it).
So… just because the technology allows you to work over long distances, face time still matters.
