Can an anthropological perspective transform your digital workplace? We think so!

The workplace is more than just technology and tools; it’s an ever-evolving cocktail, where culture, communication and collaboration blend. As businesses increasingly see digital platforms as the default to connect and work, understanding the human element behind these interactions can give you a significant edge. 

Why an Anthropological Perspective?

Anthropologists study human societies and cultures by observing how people interact within their environments. In the context of a digital workplace, this means looking beyond the surface of your communication tools and platforms to understand the unique behaviours, norms, and cultures that shape how your team interacts.

Adopting this perspective means leaders can gain deeper, specific insights into the dynamics unique to their organisation, leading to more effective strategies for communication, collaboration, and overall productivity.

Observing Digital Interactions

The first step in thinking like an anthropologist is to observe how your employees interact in the digital space. From email usage to meeting attendance, it's all about understanding the subtleties of communication.

Interaction Patterns: Look at how your team members communicate with each other. Is their language formal or informal? Do they prefer real-time communication, like Zoom calls or live chat, or do they lean towards an asynchronous method, like email? Understanding these patterns can help you tailor your communication tools and protocols to match your team’s preferences, making interactions more fluid and effective instead of an interruption to their work day.

Digital “Body” Language: Just like face-to-face interactions, body language plays a role in digital communication—it just looks a little different! Key indicators here are things like response times, body language on video calls, the use of emojis, and the frequency of message exchanges. These all offer clues about engagement levels, emotional tone, and even underlying tensions within the team.

Collaborative Behaviours: Watch how collaboration happens in your digital workplace. Are certain tools or platforms more popular than others? Do employees gravitate towards specific groups or channels when working on projects? Understanding these collaborative behaviours can help you identify which tools are working well and which might need adjustments to enable better teamwork.

Digital culture develops over time, influenced by the tools you use, the norms you set, and behaviours that are encouraged or discouraged. Thinking like an anthropologist means digging into these cultural elements to decoding how they impact your team’s effectiveness.

Every workplace has its own set of norms - expectations on how things are done. These can include expected response times, how meetings are conducted, and how mistakes are handled. By observing, identifying and understanding these norms, you can ensure they align with your organisational values and goals.

Within the broader digital workplace, there can be subcultures—smaller groups with their own distinct ways of working and communicating. These can be based on departments, teams, or even social groups with shared interests. Recognising subcultures can help you tailor your approach to different parts of your organisation and help ensure everyone’s needs are met.

Digital workplaces often develop rituals or routines that reinforce their culture. It might be a weekly check-in meeting, a monthly virtual happy hour, or the way achievements are celebrated online. Rituals like these can help reinforce positive behaviours and create more cohesive and engaged staff.

Enhancing Communication and Collaboration

Once you’ve observed and understood the digital dynamics and cultures within your organisation, you can start applying these insights to enhance communication and collaboration.

●      Tailor Tools to Fit Your Culture: Use your anthropological insights to choose or adapt digital tools that fit your team’s communication style and culture. According to this article at Sony, 42% of surveyed office workers believe asynchronous communication is the future of work. If your team prefers to work asynchronously, consider supporting your staff to exchange information independent of time by using collaborative documents for projects, Email or Slack for messaging, and recorded video training instead of live Zoom sessions.

●      Prioritise Inclusivity: Ensure that your digital workplace culture is inclusive by recognising and addressing the needs of different subcultures within your organisation. This might mean offering extra training or resources to help less tech-savvy employees engage with digital tools or creating channels where quieter team members can contribute without feeling overwhelmed.

●      Encourage Positive Rituals: Use the digital rituals and routines you have identified to reinforce positive behaviours. For example, if your team values recognition, you could create a virtual “Shout Out Wall” where employees can acknowledge each other’s contributions.

Thinking like an anthropologist helps you uncover the hidden dynamics of your workplace, leading to much more effective communication, collaboration, and productivity. It helps you understand the people behind the technology and use your insights to create a digital environment where everyone can thrive!

Need more?

As our digital workspaces continue to evolve, the ability to observe, understand, and adapt to human elements will become more and more important. If you need help exploring the rich but often complex world of your digital workforce, that’s where we come in - Get in touch!

About the author

Tricia Martin is an FYA Young Social Pioneer and an Australian Women Leading Tech Finalist. She also coached an Under 9’s netball team in her local community, which she thinks is just as impressive. She continually looks for ways to use technology, behavioural science and digital experiences to meet people’s needs and find people-centred solutions to messy problems. She spends her free time reading sci-fi books, scouring thrift stores and watching Buffy for the fifteenth time.