Let’s Meet for a Coffee

‘Let’s meet for a coffee?’ A short phrase with a bigger meaning. It’s become the ubiquitous shorthand for arranging any social scenario. A meeting between old friends, right up to an introduction that could be the start of a long, fruitful and profitable business relationship.

 No wonder coffee is now a $100 Billion industry and, amazingly, the second largest traded commodity after crude oil. It’s our fuel of choice for many business meetings. 

Drinking a coffee, not only perks you up in the morning, it also makes you more persuadable.  Research has found that caffeine consumers were 35% more like to agree with persuasive arguments. A skinny latte isn’t a substitute for good presentations and discussions, but it can certainly help the delivery.

The Covid crisis has transformed ‘let’s do coffee’ into ‘let’s Zoom’. Virtual events and meetings are enabling us to keep working, socialising and conversing, but we’re missing the humanity and emotional connections. 

Research into the effectiveness of communication, ‘Schmooze or Lose’ found that messages and context were understood only 63% of the time online, compared with 73% when delivered face to face.  The virtual environment removes the physical and verbal cues we use to evaluate; how we understand people and situations.

Virtual meetings are here to stay.  We need to work out how we adapt and evolve the medium and technology to make them more human.  Here are four ways to help:

·        Drop the ‘Virtual.’

A connection is a connection, don’t mention the delivery mechanism. Move beyond the medium and focus instead on what you need to achieve your goals.  Technology and channel are enablers not the solution.

·        Have clear objectives and outcomes

If you don’t know where you are going then an activity won’t have an outcome.  Ensure meetings and events are aligned to your business needs and objectives.  Create clear feedback loops that help you understand the difference and value it creates,  informing future activity.

·        Validate and ensure everybody thinks the same

Validate, validate and then validate again, making sure everybody is focused the same way. Otherwise you’re making it harder to understand whether everybody is thinking in the same way and working to the same objective.   

·        Facilitate and demonstrate rather than tell

As Seth Godin says ‘we remember what you did, long after we forget what you said.’  Facilitation and demonstration enable you to build more meaningful relationships creating Authenticity, Relevance and Trust. 

Let’s move past the constraints of a virtual meeting and be more human to reach your objectives.  It is time to drop the virtual and reintroduce the coffee.