Seth Godin’s blog post yesterday got me thinking about how important face-to-face time is in our professional relationships and how much more accurately we can communicate in direct conversations versus email. Eye contact, body language, tone of voice, and even that which is left unsaid are crucial elements in a one-on-one conversation; such nuances cannot be communicated as clearly via written exchanges.

Attempts at personalizing emails, such as emoticons and the use of all caps (which unfortunately is often interpreted as textual “yelling”) often fall flat. Even though we append our emails with a smiley face to soften the blow or a winky face to ensure that the receiver understands the message’s intended humor, these tactics certainly fall far short of true dialog in a high-stakes exchange.

Crucial conversations
The confusion created by failing to communicate our intended message accurately often creates greater problems than if no words were ever expressed in the first place. Ideally, face-to-face conversations allow us to maintain positive relationships and outcomes at work. But how to do you manage telecommuters, digital nomads and remote teams and hold face-to-face conversations with these vital parts of your workforce?

As Millennials define their working terms and technology rises to meet these new working requirements, the landscape of corporate teams necessarily includes such workers, and the future of work will become increasingly dependent upon them. Because we are a global company, PGi manages these relationships by erasing geographical boundaries through iMeet—a simple, intuitive video conferencing solution. iMeet allows individuals and teams of up to 15 members to connect at a personal  level. You can make eye contact (or note when others are not), you can observe body language, and you can even use the social media tools within iMeet to learn more about the people with whom you are meeting. As a result, conversations are truly interactive, enabling you to build personal connections and create true and authentic interactions—benefits that no other conferencing product can offer.

Think job interviews. Think cross-country project collaboration. Think digital nomads. Think virtual teams.

These crucial pathways to clear and productive communication lead the way for the complex and diverse nature of face-to-face conversations in the future. Whether you are faced with an employee performance review or a deadline-driven project, by harnessing the power of video conferencing you can streamline and enhance the effectiveness of all your remote communications. How you define the “golden ratio” between face-to-face and virtual meetings depends on the needs of your team; nevertheless, with iMeet all your meetings can be more productive models of authentic, multi-dimensional communication.

Do you manage remote workers or virtual teams? Tell us, how do you balance the need for face-to-face conversations with employees who aren’t in your office?