Seeing the Person Behind the Screen – Psychosocial Interaction in Digitalized Work
In the course of digital transformation, work processes have increasingly shifted into the virtual space. Online meetings, video calls, and chats replace shared encounters in the workplace; entering and leaving a room happens with a mouse click, and the digital coffee break replaces waiting at the coffee machine. Collaboration has become work at a distance, where interpersonal communication unfolds under conditions structured by hardware and software.
What effects do digitalized forms of communication have on our collaboration? What role does the presence or absence of the human body play under the conditions of digital visibility?
As a systemic coach and dance scholar, I am particularly interested in the significance of physical and spatiotemporal aspects for our interpersonal interactions. Questions of physical presence and choreographic organization directly touch upon the shaping of our relationships, which form the core of systemic coaching. At HIU, I have the opportunity to discuss these interests in dialogue with colleagues from Psychology and Sociology. The aim is not so much to highlight experiences of loss in digitalized communication, but rather to "see the person" within the changed conditions of collaboration.
A key concept here is psychosocial interaction, which encompasses not only verbal but also a broad spectrum of traditional nonverbal communication patterns and spatiotemporal behaviors. In digital video platforms, this spectrum is visually limited to the perception of facial expressions and hand gestures within the tile-shaped frame. Whole-body actions and spatial dimensions – such as a person's gait, posture, the ability to turn toward or away, change perspectives, and regulate distance – literally fall outside the frame.
To handle digitalized work processes in a solution- and resource-oriented way, we need heightened awareness of their preconditions and effects. As studies in systemic organizational and work psychology show, the key is to create a trusting foundation through regular physically present encounters, enabling us to act in a "relationship-capable" way even in digitalized work processes. Recurring shared presence at the place where people meet and collaboration happens forms an essential prerequisite for overcoming "virtual distances" and connecting with each other "behind the screen."