(By Deborah Parenti) It’s been a tough summer for Dayton. On the heels of 15 tornadoes that hit on Memorial Day, the city was slammed again earlier this month, this time by violence resulting in nine lives lost even as they were enjoying a beautiful August night. It took place in a vibrant part of the city, the Oregon District, that includes a cluster of radio stations I once managed and holds so many great memories. I still enjoy the shops, bars, and restaurants that dot the street and it’s a favorite destination for entertaining out-of-town guests.
As fate would have it, it was also the weekend that the Streamline Publishing team (Radio Ink, RBR+TVBR, and Podcast Business Journal) was to meet in Dayton. Like many companies, our staff works primarily from remote locations today. We have our weekly calls and chat by phone but a good part of our communications are via email and text. This annual gathering is a rare opportunity to sit across the table and connect in one location. It’s that chance to see the body language, share the laughter and smiles (or sometimes rolled eyes), and better gauge when someone is finished speaking. Unlike phone conversations where interruptions can be untimely because you can’t always tell the difference between a pause and a period. Most of all, it’s a time to brainstorm, strategize, and paint the kind of vision that is twice as potent, inspiring, and collaborative when a room is filled with live human energy.
The plan had been to have dinner in the district Sunday evening. Instead, we found ourselves passing dense crowds headed for a memorial there.
If there is any consolation, it is found in the resiliency of human beings. And with that, how it demonstrates the importance of one-on-one contact and connection. To see people gathering in the district where the shootings occurred, or working together to clear debris and help those left homeless by nature’s wrath, is to be reminded of the importance of human interaction. We are, at our core, social beings. From birth, we crave that human touch, the sound of a voice, the eye-to-eye contact, to develop our best selves.
So on that somber Sunday, I found myself gazing at the faces of my fellow team members around a table elsewhere in the city, struck by just how important these meetings are. Tragedies have a way of putting in perspective some things we tend to overlook in our hurried world of deadlines and overdrive. Things like relationships and communicating in a tech-driven world.
According to GlobalWorkplaceAnalytics.com, regular work-at-home, among the non-self-employed population, has grown by 159% since 2005, more than 11x faster than the rest of the workforce and nearly 50x faster than the self-employed population. Not since Ford’s assembly line was developed in1913 has any work model more greatly impacted both the social and economic fabric of our lives.
And there are certainly benefits. In the 2019 State of Remote Work report produced by Buffer, the thousands of remote workers surveyed rave about the work-life balance, schedule flexibility, and work performance that being able to work offsite lends to their lives.
But there are also downsides. Forty-nine percent of those workers note that their biggest struggle is wellness-related. More specifically, 22% can’t unplug after work, 19% feel lonely, and 8% can’t stay motivated.
Dr. Amy Cirbus, PhD, LMHC, LPC, and Manager of Clinical Quality at Talkspace, puts that into focus. “Remote workers often experience symptoms of anxiety and depression at a higher rate than people commuting into traditional office spaces.”
Those gazing out of an office tower and fighting rush hour traffic might question how there could be any negative in working from what seems like nirvana. The grass is always greener on the other side. And although the disconnect is more obvious when distance separates co-workers, “remote access” is increasingly more prevalent in the office as well. For convenience sake, we tend to text rather than talk, send an email before we’ll pick up a phone, and stare at a screen rather than walk down the hall or across the street to share a problem or discuss a solution.
Technology has changed more than methodology. It has impacted our relationship with family, friends, and co-workers. Leaders need to adapt to this new “normal,” to provide more clarity in communication, and to communicate more creatively and frequently.
It’s important to remember that we manage projects, opportunities, and challenges; all things.
We lead and inspire people.
Deborah Parenti is the Publisher of Radio Ink and can be reached at [email protected]
