THE NEW NORMAL seems to favor scheduled meetings where discussions are based on the agenda, and questions and answers are recorded in minutes of the meeting. Formal conversations also include media interviews conducted even when the interviewee is in a different time zone from the interlocutor. Replies to reckless questions need to be carefully couched as these are retrievable as video clips — yes, we were elated by his apology.
Is there room for informal conversations when the admonition of the health scolds requires people, especially the elderly, to stay home and avoid unnecessary outings, including lunches with no stated agenda? Idle chit-chat or the inconsequential exchange of pleasantries and unauthorized leaks belong to the “old normal.”
Informal chatter touches on trivial topics, like the light traffic along C5 and the rise of bicycle use, the race for vaccines, and the fate of art auctions in a time of economic uncertainty.
Formal conversations invite controversy. These include postings on the fate of franchises and a conviction in a libel suit being equated to an issue of press freedom. The introduction of a contentious topic, say an investigation on the distribution of face masks or how the social amelioration funds were doled out, is sure to invite heated discourse even in chat groups.
Only the discussion of sex can bring back a runaway debate to the desired level of triviality. Sex, after all, is always relegated to informal conversation, unless the topic attaches to political figures which can invite libelous charges… again.
Informal talk can precede a formal meeting. The former is used as diversion, while awaiting the arrival of the convener without whose attendance the meeting is invalid. However, too abrupt a halt in the ebb and flow of small talk when the big boss walks in (or joins the virtual group) can be misconstrued as being caught mid-sentence in some improper comments about him — where can he be?
The convener formally calls the meeting to order, as if there were other reasons and not his tardiness that delayed the proceedings. An abrupt switch of gears from informal to formal talk only emphasizes that everybody has in fact been waiting only for the boss. Finally, we can start.
The start of a formal meeting and the end of aimless conversation are clearly delineated, often with a ceremonial clearing of the throat — can we call the meeting to order? No matter how riotous the still unfinished joke is, it has to come to an abrupt stop. The conversational gears audibly click from the informal to the formal.
To carry on with informal topics after the meeting has formally started runs the risk of the chatterer being tagged as lightweight, distracting, and irresponsible; somebody who should be sent out of the room.
Formal types in audit or finance can find the extended small talk unnerving. They may need to chase down an uncollected invoice or meet with the external auditor to explain “cash advances to officers.” The rush to get to the main course and skip the appetizer of informal talk, especially when it has gone on too long, leads to undisguised irritability. Rushing too eagerly to discuss the engagement of some consultancy being proposed is seen as being too pushy — why don’t you just go ahead and leave early?
Informal conversation is part of the flow of information in any organization.
The grapevine, which is the touchstone of informal conversation with its entwined roots and low-hanging grapes, is a necessary fount of information. Even in formal matters like the price of stocks, the direction of an embattled company, or the fate of a new entrant in a duopoly, informal rumblings can tell the real stories of organizations.
In the restricted interaction dictated by social distancing where low voices are hard to catch, the informal conversation can only suffer a setback. Isn’t gossip dependent on the whispered musings of an un-distanced pair?
The grapevine needs to be watered and tended in order to spread its tendrils and leaves. Only with unmasked heads nodding closely together can gossip be transferred. Informal conversation, which even analysts of the stock market rely on, gives context to the numbers and where they’re headed.
Formal conversation is meant for the record. It’s the informal “off the record” remarks that make the numbers reveal the real story… and not the one who told it.
Tony Samson is Chairman and CEO, TOUCH xda.
