Anonymous

South

Consultant

How remarkable that somebody who sells "soft skills" coaching feels we need more! However, that said, he does have a point that working via technology can be impersonal. However, he perhaps misses a few things as well...
... e-mail, instant messaging and the like (even telephone calls, which have been around for a while) have their social protocols and work better when you follow them. To some degree these are learned as you go, but maybe they can be taught too. In most organisations the quality of the content of e-mail could be vastly improved by teaching writing skills.
.... we have the technology, although few companies really try to use it, to overcome the lack of personal interaction (somewhat) by providing webcam visibility between workers - even, horror of horrors, to see the person you are dealing with in that dreadful call centre.
Since many of the clues of human interaction are facial ones, this might help a great deal. Yes, it takes bandwidth - but it might just provide benefits that justify the cost.
.... rising generations will be more comfortable with "living via technology" and that may well make things work better too.
But most tools are only as good as the way you use them - and that can always be improved by education.