Made my first business trip (India) after a 24 months hiatus. Apart from nostalgia (“breathes there a man with soul so dead”), dreading the immigration in DEL (which I must say was super-smooth), to finally meeting colleagues, friends and family, the journey and investment of time was well worth the effort. Here are 3 reasons you need to head out to meet teams your global teams:
Jump off the Zoom, get into a (meeting) Room: It makes all the difference. Meeting teams separated for years by time-zones: just getting into a room, sharing breaks, setting the agenda as-we-go (vs. focused Zoom) is a breath of fresh air. After months of Zoom connects across time zones, with minimal overlaps and everyone stretching working hours to accommodate, it initially felt unreal and slightly uncomfortable to spend 5 days together, in the same time zone. Did we really have enough to discuss? And that’s what became the second learning:
Decisions vs. Free flowing Discussions: Zoom-virtual-land is very good at getting us to decisions as meetings are focused on issues and critical problems. Sitting with colleagues in the same time zone, developing plans and thinking ahead: new ideas flow, lateral discussions (with due distractions) and just the dynamics of verbal and non-verbal cues is manifold vs. Zoom’s problem focused connects. Global roles and partnerships require the space and comfort of free flowing thoughts, open challenges and re-routing and connecting points, much better achieved in person than on video.
Lesser hierarchy and more open to personal conversation: I felt that through my meetings and connects, with some credit to egalitarian Zoom, there was much more sharing of personal journeys, acceptance that we had gone through a rough patch (globally) and hence everyone was much more open to share personal stories and challenges. The 1:1 conversations were more relaxed vs. video calls with time limits and lower non-verbal cues.
COVID and 24 months of not meeting international teams in-person has changed the way we operate. As we get back to accepting the new-normal ways of working and engagement, the importance of meeting in-person is critical for success as the world pulls itself out of the pandemic-mode.
Take the first step. Long hauls take a lot more effort to get on to, but reconnecting and reestablishing relationships is the rewarding.
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