Dive Brief:
- Employees have it tough these days, as "emails, distractions and a never-ending workload" are among three of the top workplace engagement and productivity killers, according to an article at Cloudtweaks.
- Even with the growth of productivity tools, the "ideal productive workspace" remains a pipe dream.
- Emerging technology could solve this issue, mainly by focusing on employee engagement rather than tasks, according to the article. The new tech solutions are in the “collaborative workspaces” category, and they use cloud-based video conferencing to allow people to break free of their social silos and actually "see each other" via face-to-face communication.
Dive Insight:
With email and text messaging on the rise, the days of meeting in person seem to have faded into the background. But, writes author Steve Prentice, to be engaged with people, interpersonal interaction requires a real connection. Prentice notes how texts and emails can be so easily misinterpreted when compared to face-to-face conversation.
Employees and managers also lose conversational skills such as active listening, an understanding of body language, and both the willingness and the capacity to handle difficult conversations when using text-based digital communications technologies.
Video-driven collaborative environments help because they make human contact and engagement easier and less threatening, he wrote. It's no longer a good idea for workers to "hide behind keyboards" at the expense of interpersonal skills.
