Connecting Productivity, Profits, and Pumpkins

​In the age of email, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest, corporate America would appear to communicate better than ever. However, we may have lost something in the translation. Psychology Today contributor Liane Davey, Ph.D. President of Knightsbridge Leadership Solutions, compares effective communication to the gears of a machine.

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Does your team spend enough time together? Do you have unscheduled time to spark innovation? Are you disciplined about listening effectively to one another to get the most value from one another’s ideas?

In a machine, when the parts don’t connect properly, it can’t do its job. Gears have to touch to create acceleration. In a team, this lack of connection can exist in a new team, when members don’t know how to communicate with one another. It can also come in a team that is worn down by too much friction where members withdraw and contribute as little as possible to get by.

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Statistics show that over 70% of employees are not engaged at work, costing the U.S. economy $370 billion in lost productivity annually. Lack of engagement is a byproduct of neglected communication and connectedness.

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 ​Nine Benefits of Face-to-Face Communication in the Workplace!

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1.  Face-to-Face Interaction. Without face-to-face interaction, you run the risk of isolation, miscommunication, and diluted creativity. Productivity suffers and so does the bottom line­–profit. Consider the following eight benefits to face-to-face communication.

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2.  Provide genuine immediate feedback. Meetings, events, and activities provide the advantage of observing body language, facial expressions, and hearing tone of voice. Get your employees out from in front of their keyboards and interacting with one another.

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3.  Develop relationships. A certain level of relationship can be achieved through the written word, but the brevity inherent in emails, texts, and tweets can lead to misunderstandings and lack of depth in the relationship. Take time to build trust by developing face-to-face relationships.

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4.  Build team cohesiveness. Nothing replaces the feeling of accomplishment when people work together as a team to achieve a set of goals. A sense of team is only deeply accomplished when working side by side. 

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5.  Engage in discussion. Discussing a challenge or brainstorming a solution is much more productive when face-to-face. Instant discussion in comparison to Instant Messaging truly is instant.

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6.  Speak to each other. Potential potholes in the road to communication are preemptively avoided when people are speaking directly to each other. Things better left unsaid are easily launched, and forwarded, into cyberspace. When interacting in person, discretion tends to overrule impulsivity.

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7.  Develop community. Feelings of isolation and insignificance are often a byproduct of telecommunication. Company culture, core values, and mission are contagious commodities. Communicability requires contact.

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8.  Utilize the communal brain. Creativity is fostered, nurtured, and ignited when people are allowed to brainstorm in a safe, encouraging face-to-face environment.

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9.  Foster trust in leadership. Employees respect and trust a leader who they feel understands them. This level of understanding is reached in part, through team building and interfacing.

So what does this have to do with pumpkins? Rave Reviews is partnering with Master Pumpkin Carver, Barry Brown to offer Pumpkin Palooza: Carving Out Effective Communication, a timely interactive event that allows your teams to communicate and connect.

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Barry has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America and Live with Regis and Kelly. Employees will engage in discussion, build cohesiveness, utilize the communal brain, and develop community.

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Contact Rave Reviews to learn more about how this program can help your organization and to book this engaging and effective way to connect.

Rave Reviews is comprised of a team of communication experts. We have been creating effective events, meetings, and team building activities since 1990. We are committed to developing programs that engage and empower people to understand how to become more productive in their interactions with each other and improve employee wellbeing. We listen to exactly what you need and deliver precisely what you want. Our specialty is seamlessly connecting business needs with dynamic solutions.