Blending High Tech and High Touch: Human Moments and the Evolution of Hybrid Work Cultures

Agility and Ways of Working
Written By Guest User

By Julian Waters - Lynch

How Human Moments at work bridge the gap between our instinctual needs for personal connection and the realities of hybrid work culture. 

10-Second Summary

  • Misunderstandings stemming from ambiguous technologically-mediated communication are common. 

  • However ‘Human Moments’ - fully present in-person interactions - can reduce these issues by fostering empathy, trust, and contextual information that improves communication.

  • Companies like Automattic successfully merge high tech and high touch cultures by valuing ‘the magic of meetups’ in their distributed work culture, demonstrating the crucial role of human connection.

  • By cultivating more Human Moments and understanding our interpretive lenses, we can improve how we communicate in our professional and personal lives.

The Anxiety of Ambiguity

“This will likely be a short conversation. If we need to speak further, we can talk more tomorrow”. The familiar voice sounded uncharacteristically serious through the phone. I felt my stomach tighten reflexively, preparing for the blow. We had been playing phone tag during the afternoon, after I had received a few missed calls, but he hadn’t left a message or responded to my text. I thought - ok here it is, something must have happened and they now want to let me go. The conversation, however, took a different turn. “I spoke with a new client recently and there’s an opportunity that you might be really suited to you…”. We discussed the opportunity and it sounded interesting. I made a joke at the end of the conversation about how I thought he was about to say something like: ‘unfortunately our time working together has come to an end’. He sounded genuinely puzzled. “Why would you think that? Perhaps we should reflect on why you leapt to that conclusion in our next conversation…”

I recount this scenario, not because it was extraordinary, but because it’s common. Many of us regularly experience these temporarily ambiguous interactions. A curt email from a manager asking “can you stop by my office at the end of the day? I’d like to talk to you about something”. Even a simple ‘ok’ in a text, depending on the context or relationship, can provoke concern and doubt. Often they’re inconsequential - a flicker of concern that is quickly resolved. Sometimes they’re worrying. Occasionally, in the worst case scenarios, they can induce paranoia.

Our Instincts and Optimised for a High Touch World

In an era of unprecedented connectivity, why are misunderstandings at work so common? One reason is that so much of our communication - especially at work - is technologically mediated. Our species, Homo Sapiens, has been around for a long time - between 200 to 300 thousand years. Yet, for 95% of our history, our species lived in small, face-to-face communities. Our communicative instincts evolved to keep us alive under these conditions - attuned to subtle changes in our environment, adept at interpreting body language, facial expressions, and vocal tones to help read trustworthiness and intent. These skills functioned as survival mechanisms, often primed for worst-case scenarios because underestimating threats could prove fatal. This is part of the reason that text alone, such as the simple ‘ok’ in a message, when unaccompanied by these other communicative cues, can harbour such divergent interpretations, and sometimes provoke worry. There are, of course, many wonderful things about information communication technology - both in what they enable at work and in our personal lives. However, it’s clear our instincts are still catching up, better attuned to the high-touch interactions of our ancestors than today’s high-tech world. So what does this mean for the future of work?

Everything that can be digitalised, will be digitalised

Looking at the evolution of work over the past 50 years, it’s hard not to conclude that everything that can be digitised, will eventually be digitised. The shift began with the transition from paper to personal computers, and the burgeoning suite of productivity software, and has only compounded with each subsequent technological revolution - the advent of the internet, email, smartphones, and most recently, video conferencing spurred on by the widespread shift to remote work during the pandemic. Moreover, we’re now entering an era where artificially intelligent agents will also be autonomously interacting with this digital world. These AI systems will often be collaborating with humans on work projects, but they will also have the capacity to operate independently. In a relatively short time, certainly in evolutionary terms, we’ve witnessed a profound transformation in how we work and experience life - a trajectory set to continue, and likely only accelerate. Yet, as we embrace these high-tech work cultures, we risk deepening our communication challenges, since our instincts remain attuned to high-touch, face-to-face interactions.

Human Moments at Work

In a 1999 Harvard Business article, the psychiatrist Edward Hallowell coined the term ‘Human Moments’ to describe ‘authentic psychological encounters that can happen when two people share the same physical space’. Reflecting on his years treating people with anxiety disorders - especially executives reporting feelings of loneliness and confusion at work - Hallowell identified what he believed was an emerging trend: the reduction of Human Moments due to increased technologically mediated communication. He argued that genuine Human Moments have two key elements: physical co-presence and full intellectual and emotional engagement. Simply sitting beside someone on a plane or in an office, staring at a screen, falls short. But even paying undivided attention during a phone call or video chat doesn’t quite have the same effect.

Of course, creating Human Moments requires effort and energy. However, it’s an investment that yields substantial dividends, in both professional and personal contexts. Abundant evidence suggests that face-to-face interaction is critical - not only for psychological well-being but also physical health. This need for connection is apparent across life stages. Babies who are held and children who are cuddled tend to do better across various aspects of life as they grow older. The longest-running study on adult life and happiness, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, found that close social relationships are the key to maintaining happiness and health.

Human Moments: Vaccines for Wellbeing

How do Human Moments produce such powerful effects? Psychologists Susan Pinker, in her book “The village effect: makes us happier, healthier and smarter”, likens the impact of in-person social connection to vaccine for wellness: “Face-to-face contact releases a whole cascade of neurotransmitters and, like a vaccine, they protect you now, in the present, and well into the future, so simply […] shaking hands, giving somebody a high-five is enough to release oxytocin, which increases your level of trust, and it lowers your cortisol levels, so it lowers your stress.” Furthermore, forming and maintaining meaningful relationships stimulates the secretion of two potent neuropeptides – oxytocin and vasopressin – into the bloodstream. These chemicals serve as our natural stress combatants and healing agents (4).

While Pinker’s research is primarily focused on personal relationships, the same effects permeate our work lives. Human moments foster empathy, understanding and trust. The social conventions associated with face-to-face interactions often temper our more suspicious or confrontational impulses. The absence of this tempering influence is evident in road rage and social media trolling. Regular Human Moments guard against the distrust, disrespect and dissatisfaction that can creep into our working lives and organisations. From a more pragmatic standpoint, these moments influence how persuasive we are in professional communication. One study for example found that face-to-face requests are up to 34 times more effective than emailed ones (5).

Integrating High Tech and High Touch Work Cultures: The Case of Automattic

Embracing flexible, hybrid or even fully remote organisations does not inherently pose problems. Instead, the challenge lies in recognising the importance of ‘Human Moments’ and intentionally designing organisational culture and practices to foster them, to blend together high tech and high touch work cultures.

Automattic, the company behind WordPress and several other internet products, serves as a prime example of this balance. Since its inception in 2005, Automattic has maintained a fully ‘distributed’ structure - a term they prefer over ‘remote’. Today, they support a workforce of 2000 employees spanning 96 countries, and they were recently valued at $7.5 billion. Matt Mullenweg, Automattic’s founder, has become a prominent advocate for the commercial and cultural benefits of a fully distributed company. 

Despite the evident success of their distributed approach, Mullenweg and his team also champion ‘the magic of meetups’, and have dedicated $10 million of their 2023 budget to these in-person gatherings:

“There is some magic that happens in person that’s impossible to recreate. At Automattic we just don’t believe that needs to be 52 weeks a year. Just like a little salt can make the dish, getting together a few times a year is a key ingredient to Automattic’s culture.” - Matt Mullenweg (6).

These meetups are not standard company offsites with crammed work agendas, but carefully curated social and cultural experiences designed to build understanding, trust and foster stronger bonds among the team members. Automattic view meetups as part of the secret sauce that enables their distributed organisational culture to function effectively, and help ensure the team can collaborate effectively in their remote settings for the rest of the year.

Being Mindful of our Psychological Needs

Our psychological needs, at their core, are simple and universal. We all seek a sense of safety, security, respect, recognition, connection, autonomy, and competence. Challenges arise when communication becomes ambiguous, where seemingly minor misunderstandings or unintended cues can be potentially seen as threats to these fundamental needs. In the absence of in-person cues such body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice, we often fill the void with our own projected insecurities and fears.

While Human Moments do not eliminate all ambiguity in communication, particularly in technologically mediated interactions, they play a vital role in building goodwill and offering valuable context. This, in return, can improve our interpretation and clarification of other’s words. 

The greater challenge, however, is improving our self-awareness: learning to spot our own projections, recognise our cognitive and social biases, and conveying our thoughts as clearly as possible to reduce misunderstandings. This improvement actually relies on recognising our inherent propensity to misinterpret one another and acknowledging how past experiences and emotional triggers shape our interpretations of words and actions.

By being more mindful of our interpretive lens and the possible projections of others, we can fortify our interpersonal interactions and overall health of our work cultures. The goal is to foster more Human Moments at work, nurturing both our personal and professional growth.

Becoming more mindful of our interpretive lens, and sensitive to the possible projections of others, we can strengthen our interpersonal interactions and the overall health of our work cultures. 

Implementing Human Moments: Guidance for Leaders and Managers

Firstly, leaders should remain cognisant of potential ambiguities in their communication. It is often helpful to assume that even innocuous requests can be interpreted negatively, and help guide interactions to alleviate unnecessary anxiety. For instance, simple requests like ‘can we talk in the meeting room after this’ or ‘please stop by my office at the end of the day’ - especially when technologically mediated - can be accompanied by reassurances, such ‘it’s nothing to worry about’ or ‘it’s to discuss something positive’, to prevent anxious anticipations.

Secondly, when shaping hybrid work cultures, prioritise the quality over quantity of time spent together. The richness of Human Moments at work can significantly influence workplace culture, trust and overall wellbeing. Mandating employees to spend a specific number of days in the office is often less impactful than facilitating meaningful interactions during their time together. The goal should be to foster greater empathy, trust and understanding within the workforce. Incorporating Human Moments into your design strategy is a crucial step towards achieving this aim.

Embracing these strategies will help nurture a balance of high tech and high touch, fostering hybrid work cultures that don’t just survive, but truly thrive.

Guest User
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