I've travelled a lot over the years. Mostly for business, and often in tight bursts with longer gaps in between. I think I just figured out why. Right now I am spending more time working from home. Apart from driving my wife crazy, it has substantially changed my working patterns. I rely on the modern electronic methods of communication and much less on face to face. When I do go to the office, I spend way more time walking around and talking to people, and virtually no time at my desk.
I travel whenever there is a new team or new group that I need to meet or a new context or relationship with people I know less well. I didn't get this until very recently. That's because i can work quite effectively with people that I have a good relationship by email, im, phone and conference call. But for me to be truly effective, those relationships have to have been built with a personal meeting and working together.
Otherwise there is just way too much misunderstanding possible. Especially if there are different cultures involved. Right now I am having a lot of trouble with someone in Korea. I know them, we have worked together, but we don't know each other in the current context and we haven't been physically together to work on current problems. For it to work going forward, we will have to get together. Someone is going to have to travel, and we need to work together on solving both the business problem and the relationship problem. Or it won't work. I should be smart enough to avoid the cost and the hassle of getting on an airplane, but for me there is no substitute for face to face.
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