With our fixation on enabling technologies and our mad rush to embrace Artificial Intelligence, it appears that we may be forgetting the most enabling technology of all: our ability to listen and to hear what others have to say. Dr. Albert Mehrabian has proposed that human communication is 55% non-verbal, 37% intonation and 8% words. Regardless of his precision in these percentages, we know that he is substantially right and that we risk losing the meaning of what people are saying by relying too heavily on technology. Those whose hearing is challenged have a fundamental understanding of the importance of being able to connect with another human being through hearing and speaking; they can teach us a lot about the importance of staying in touch with each other.
One example of this technological dependence is the mechanization of Project Management. Managing projects is claimed to be a science supported with myriads of tools such that no managed project should go wrong. But projects do fail; and they do frequently, because project success depends on people. The capacity of project teams to exchange ideas and information successfully is key. Project Managers must be able to listen to what is being said and be willing to make needed changes to bring projects to fruition.
A simpler example is that of a person sitting in an office or cubicle emailing a colleague not more than twenty paces away, when dialogue with the person would be much more useful and effective. People behave this way because engaging with that colleague requires an investment of time.
At the strategic level, the senior-most people of the organization need to get together on a regular basis to talk with each other, listen to what others have to say and hear how their enterprise can improve. They then need to talk with their front-line people and listen and hear feedback on what is actually possible “in the real world”. Successful managers know that they have to listen with more than their ears.
Even our cellphones reduce our capacity to communicate. “Chat” is now texting, rather than what the word originally meant: to converse with another. “Conversation” implies that people are speaking to each other, exchanging ideas, listening to other opinions and hearing different ways of looking at life, whether personally or professionally.
The “sound bite” is now the order of the day. And yet, in our heart of hearts, we know that dialogue, exchange of ideas and mutual enrichment are part of growing up to be productive and accountable people. As we embrace technology, let’s make sure that we don’t lose sight of the Human Factor, the basis of success and the root of growth.
