Business communication needs to become interpersonal again. No matter how we believe our human forms came into existence, we were built to need personal contact and function best with face-to-face communication. As children, we desired comfort from touch, a hug from our mothers. As teenagers, we held hands with our boyfriend or girlfriend. As adults in the workforce, we still need to feel that connection and comfort with our families and the people we work with. As Susan RoAne (2008), owner of a speaking, consulting, and coaching business, discusses one way we feel this connection is through getting to know and building trust by communicating in-person. Through this interpersonal interaction, we not only feel more comfortable around the people we collaborate with, but can better share thoughts and understand what those people are saying verbally and on paper (p. 60). Do you trust someone you have never met in person? Most people say no, because there is no connection with you and the person until you meet.
It is important for employees to feel a connection in their job and feel what they do matters to the business and fellow co-workers. Employees feel a connection when participating in regular face-to-face interactions with co-workers. Connections are important in business because as David Ryback (2010), an internationally acclaimed speaker and consultant, states: “Business cannot exist in the absence of people relationships, the stronger the relationships, the more potential for success in the business.” (Ryback Cathcart, &ump; Nour 2010, p.19). The strength of relationships with co-workers correlates with the connection employees have in their job. When a connection is made, confidence follows. With confidence, employees do their best and most effective work. Through knowing and trusting their co-workers and finding the purpose in the business as a whole, every