Embracing Relationships in a Digital Age

Embracing Relationships in a Digital Age. Let me begin by sharing some of my experience in the transportation industry to help set the stage. The transportation industry relies heavily on communication, relationships and technology to have any chance at success. Having invested more than a decade of my professional career in various transportation roles, I have some great stories and experiences to tell one day. Some stories are so crazy that they may seem fictional, some are sad, some scary and many stories are hilarious. These stories are all centered around one thing. People. People and the connections that I have built during that time in the industry. Transportation is an industry extremely challenging and volatile yet very fascinating. This industry basically consists of large equipment consuming tremendous capital at often times low margins, with ever changing technology advancements and safety regulations, and beneath all of these things there is a core to transportation. The heartbeat and foundation for this great industry is comprised of smart, critical thinking, and passionate people. People that work together as teams to execute a mission of moving goods from one place to another. Transportation requires tremendous relationship skills due to its challenging work environments and ever changing market conditions. 

When I entered the industry in 2007, I often thought that the technologies and systems at the time were such phenomenal tools to support those hard-working people on the road, on the docks, or in the vessels moving goods across the globe. That technology did help. Fast forward to 2021 and that once innovative technology 15 years ago is now considered outdated and obsolete! In many ways, technology today is light years ahead of where it was at that time. We now have autonomous trucks being tested on the road although that is still a work in progress. None the less, digital technology has reshaped nearly every industry including transportation and will continue to evolve at exponential rates in the months and years to come.

As technology progresses at speeds faster than at any time in our history of human civilization, we as people should stop, take a breath, and reflect on what it is doing for us and possibly to us. Through digital technology innovations, we have multiple communication channels available today which have often taken the place of traditional face to face human interaction and/or phone calls. As a husband, parent, son, friend, and previous transportation leader, I began asking myself the question, “Are we as a culture losing our relationship and communication skills with other people?”

Humans are social beings that require human interaction and belonging. That need is programmed in to our DNA and unlike 99.9 % of all animals, we humans have multiple emotions including the ability to empathize and reason. Back to my transportation experience- truck drivers are some of the hardest working professionals in the transportation industry and are often behind the wheel of a truck for hours at a time and gone from home for weeks at a time. They sit alone in their truck day and night. Drivers navigate through extreme weather conditions, work long exhausting days and encounter sleep deprivation all while encountering various motorists on the open road. Trucks drivers have a tremendous responsibility at their fingertips and that is safety. Safety for their own lives, the lives of motorists around them and the safety of their equipment. Truck drivers do rely on people to help support their efforts day in and day out.

They rely on office personnel to support them in providing information to effectively execute their jobs such as load planning, claims resolution, road maintenance, safety updates and weekly settlement support. Considering all of the possible challenges drivers encounter above, my experience working directly with drivers is that a driver’s biggest complaint on the road centers around one issue, communication. The lack of communication and understanding leads to feelings of helplessness, loneliness and often a lack of value as an employee. If they call in to their employer and no one answers the phone or if someone does answer and they sound too busy or distracted to talk, the result is that many drivers feel helpless and eventually quit. 

For years, trucking carriers have utilized mobile communications or on-board messaging to communicate with multiple truck drivers as timely and efficiently as possible. On-board messaging is one major attempt carriers have made to resolve a driver’s concern for failed communication. Wouldn’t having the technology to instant message a driver fix this communication problem that drivers have complained about for years? The common answer is, No. Although there is an efficiency in communication, the question remains, why is it that the number one reason drivers quit a company is because of communication? In my opinion, this carrier/driver example is what I see in a much broader scale today. Digital communication and messaging isn’t so much a communication problem as it is a challenge in human connection and understanding. These driver communication challenges are an early example of the gaps in relationships and human interaction that we may see today in digital technology when thinking about our colleagues, children, spouses, whom may not feel valued or appreciated.

Take a minute and think about your own environments. We can travel to our office buildings, retail stores, restaurants, down the streets and in possibly in our own homes and see the same issues. Maybe we also hear the same thing? Silence. We see people with their heads down and messaging on their phones or computers having fewer vocal conversations with anyone around them. We as a culture have shifted our conversations to a digital communication channel and I believe many people today and, in the future, will lack basic social and behavioral skillsets. Through the advancement of technology, a pendulum balancing both communication efficiency and human relationships continues to swing out of whack. These communication efficiencies we gain from smart phones and computers may be simultaneously causing a gap in social development and belonging in many. The core human needs that we all long for such as belonging, understanding, empathy, trust, I believe are being tested with digital technology advancements. 

I cannot end this article without offering a piece of positive advice. It’s the same advice that I look into the mirror and reflect on as often as I can. First, stop and reflect on how far we have come embracing and adapting to new technology in just the last 15 years. Think about your own life and the computers and phones that you have used, then upgraded and then upgraded again and again in that short duration of time. How have they changed? Do they save you time or cost you time? Do you communicate the same way? Are you a better parent, friend, colleague or person ? My second bit of advice is do not lose sight of the most important things in our home and work life. People. People desire human connections and belonging not only for adults, but it is especially important for our children in their social and psychological develop. As social creatures, our brains are wired to have human connection and that generally only occurs when we see, hear, and talk to people face to face and/or over the phone. Simon Sinek shared in his leadership lectures, “Put your technology away when talking to employees, family or friends. Do not hold your phone in your hand. Do not place your phone on your desk. Put your phones away and listen to what people in front of you are saying. Take an interest.” Doing these simple, intentional gestures will allow each of us to continue connecting regardless of how far technology evolves as the years roll on. Focus on embracing relationships in a digital age.

Parker

Photo Credit NZ Business Magazine