I hear a lot of breathless gushing about technology from communication professionals. Everyone's excited about it and should be. But, we need to keep our senses about us and
remember that Web technology isn't an end unto itself, that it's part of a larger communication system that must be managed well in order for our businesses to win.
When I got my first Global Positioning System, I confess to being transfixed by it--even on sunny days in waters in which I'd been sailing for 20 years. As I eventually learned
all that GPS could do for me, as well as its limitations, my obsession with it subsided. Today, I'm more realistic than I was about its capabilities. I still push it to its max,
but I also understand that I can't let it distract me from balancing all the forces that exist above and below the water.
We need to treat Web technology in much the same way. We need to continue to learn about it and learn from it, and then apply this great technology in ways that will help our
businesses win.
We must carefully balance high-tech and high-touch communication.
Same People, Different Tools
People aren't genetically different than they were 10 years ago, before the Web pervaded our organizations. People want information to help them connect to the organization,
its strategy and purpose. They want information that will help them make the decisions they need to win. They need to understand "what's in it for me." The Web can help meet these
needs.
But, as social animals, we need a sense of belonging and a sense of emotional intimacy. "The increased pace of change has increased our need for the stability that strong
relations bring," Charles Grantham writes in his new book, The Future of Work. "When everything's up in the air, strong emotional bonds give us the strength we need. It's
ironic that the technology that increases our need for strong social systems to sustain us emotionally through times of great change also isolates us physically from each other."
At the end of last year, I led a team that assessed communication inside a global technology company. More than 90 percent of the company's employees said they would choose to
receive business-related information online versus on paper. But, when asked to assess the importance of 16 formal communication channels that exist in the company, one-on-one
meetings scored highest followed by staff meetings - and then the intranet. Employees perceived the three formal channels as equally effective. In follow-up focus group
discussions with employees, people told us, in effect, that while both high-tech and high-touch channels performed their jobs equally, high-touch was still more important to them
in doing their jobs well. And this was in a company where people tend to be more technologically oriented.
High Tech Out of Touch
Technology companies may be especially prone to over-emphasizing high tech at the expense of high touch. I've spoken with call center employees who say they never see or talk
to their managers or anyone else in a leadership position. One told me, "[My supervisor is] much more comfortable with sending me emails than having meetings, [even though] her
office is right next door to mine."
I've met with employees in one of the world's greatest technology labs and have heard them complain about the lack of face-to-face communication from what they referred to as
"an aloof, distant and disconnected management."
Just as the responsibility to sail a sailboat effectively and efficiently ultimately lies with the skipper, the responsibility to manage an organization's entire communication
system lies with the leader - the CEO, the business unit leader, the team leader.
Most of my clients tell me their number one communication problem is being bombarded with information. "How do I sort through all of it?" they ask. Technology isn't doing well
(yet) at sorting out what's relevant, providing context, creating shared meaning or giving people the individual attention they need to jazz up their performance. Increasingly,
these are the leader's jobs. Technology is speeding up the shift in the leader's role from commander and controller to interpreter and servant.
More and more, the leader's responsibility will be to help sort through and interpret what the information bombardment really means - what it means to the team and what it
means to you and me.
The implications of this change in leadership are huge. If you look at the many companies who have already made this shift or who are well on their way, we realize that the
principal implication is a wholesale redefinition of leadership and the skills and knowledge leaders will need in the future. It will require different selection and development
processes. And, it will change the accountability system - for what and how we reward our leaders.
If we obsess over the technological gizmos, we're apt to forget the high touch that's critical to creating compelling places to work and generating high performance from
committed people.
Jim Shaffer is senior partner for leadership change at Towers Perrin in Rosslyn, Va. This column was excerpted from his new book, The Leadership Solution (McGraw-
Hill) which hits bookshelves this month. He can be reached at [email protected] or at 703/351-4750