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At Six Degrees we know that we are only successful at understanding someone’s purpose when we connect with them on an emotional level. And although technology means we have never been so connected to our fellow humans, loneliness has soared over the past decade. What are the key ingredients of human connection, what do we sacrifice when we don’t have them all to hand, and how can teams fly in a fully remote world?
How often do you consider eye contact?
Like many animal behaviours, eye contact can indicate differing intentions and emotions depending on the context. But unlike most behaviours, the range of interpretations is pretty astonishing.
Maintaining eye contact with someone can demonstrate challenge, or it can demonstrate trust. It can indicate curiosity, or aggression, love or determination, interest, or hatred. For many it can be intimidating. Indeed the neurodiverse among us might find eye-contact uncomfortable, and looking away can sometimes feel safer.
An alien visiting planet Earth would probably find understanding eye contact the hardest thing about first contact. There really is no behaviour so emotionally-charged or context-dependent.
Remote vs emote
This topic came up in conversation recently at Six Degrees HQ after reflecting on what it means to run a totally remote team.
Remote teams were on the increase before the pandemic, and have since become the norm for a wide range of businesses, from start-ups to scale ups to larger mature companies. All of our clients’ businesses sit on a spectrum – some are fully remote like ours, some are fully office-based. Most are a blend of the two.
And there are a range of benefits and challenges that come with sitting on this spectrum, most of which you will recognise.
However when it comes to Six Degrees– a business totally founded on human connection – we have to be incredibly deliberate and thoughtful about how we connect with one another.
Within our team we use the space to our advantage – to concentrate on certain tasks which require quiet focus, for example. We check in with one another daily and are deliberate about the purpose of our morning team huddles, which differ throughout the week. Our most important one is on Friday, which is focused on human connection and finding out about the weeks we have all experienced.
An alien visiting planet Earth would probably find understanding eye contact the hardest thing about first contact.
Peering into the lake
Many of us can relate to the general malaise that comes with agenda-driven back-to-back Teams and Zoom calls. It is debatable how much a video call can completely replicate a face-to-face conversation but without doubt it’s a great second-best.
And video calls are beneficial for a number of reasons. For one thing, we can see each other, enabling us to pick up on all kinds of non-verbal clues and communication. We can use our hands, our facial expressions, as well as our voices. We can lean into the camera to indicate interest, or sit back to show the opposite.
The background we choose for our video calls also broadcasts a great deal of information about ourselves.
Do you choose a ‘green-screen’ background or your true environment? For some, the false background of a smart study or a stunning Scandi lake house might create a helpful barrier between the personal and the professional. For others it may feel like a protective film over their personal lives.
Conversely, letting others into one’s real-life environment can offer deeper clues about us and what we project out to the world: a biography on a shelf, a Playmobil caravan on the floor, a picture of a family holiday on the wall.
But while video calls replicate many features of face-to-face interaction, they remain elusive at facilitating eye contact.
As anyone who has ever given a presentation over a video call can attest, the advice of ‘looking at the camera’ to simulate eye contact with the audience quickly feels false and inauthentic, not to mention the strangeness of presenting enthusiastically to a tiny glass dot. And doing this in a conversational environment simply won’t work either; both of you looking at the camera means no one is looking at each other.
It largely comes down to personal preference: for some, a standalone voice over a ‘traditional’ phone call can feel more authentic than video, for others the opposite is true. Regardless, thoughtfulness around how we communicate remotely has led us at Six Degrees to some useful conclusions.
As a starting point, we’re finding it useful to match the communication method with the purpose of the conversation.
Creative discussion around marketing? Important but not urgent – let’s schedule that in for our next in person meeting and do it face-to-face. Brainstorming on client strategy? Going for a walk and speaking on the phone with one could lead to more productive outcomes than sitting inside on camera. Quick low-impact decision needs agreeing? A Teams or WhatsApp message can be nimble and time efficient.
So next time your team gets together, consider how connections can be strengthened and be deliberate about the method.
If there’s scope to bring further depth or difference about the way we communicate and work on our relationships with one another, we should explore those options. As virtual reality and the Metaverse evolves over the coming few years, it’s certainly going to be useful to remain openminded as to how we connect with our fellow human being – whether colleague, client, friend or family.
This insight is for information purposes and does not constitute financial advice, which should be based on your individual circumstances. The value of investments may go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. The levels and bases of taxation, and reliefs from taxation, can change at any time. The value of any tax relief depends on individual circumstances. Please note that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) does not regulate some aspects of cash flow, estate or tax planning or trust advice.
