I'm back from a fairly extended (intended), and "off the grid" (unintended), vacation (very intended).  Nothing like a trip down into the West Indies to clear the brain and have time to appreciate all that nature and simplicity has to offer.  If you don't believe me, just take off on a sailboat for a period of time down there, or anywhere and I guarantee you'll come back a changed person. And if the basic experience of sailing for a week or more isn't enough to test your senses, do it with people you know but maybe not all that well. Sharing space on a small boat is an interesting exercise all on its own. And what I want to share with you today is some of the conversation and communication techniques that worked naturally without much effort, as well as both the frustration and also the pure joy of being so "off the grid" from a technology perspective - it was nearly impossible to communicate back to home or office for about nine days.

First the tech part.  I was pretty much green with envy as the other couple we went with used their devices and pretty solid AT&T coverage to stay in touch with family (they, unlike me are retired), via phone, email and FaceTime. They could find answers for us on the web and check weather which is pretty darn important when sailing and I on the other hand could not. My carrier Verizon was quick to sell us the extra airtime we needed, but neglected to tell us that it wouldn't be needed since their coverage was so spotty. I'm not slamming Verizon, but it wasn't easy to determine their coverage ahead of time. The other thing I learned is that my HTC smartphone didn't/doesn't have the SIM card needed to allow for better international coverage so guess who's getting a new phone.

The lesson here is that while we have a lot of information coming to us that suggests we can use our technology on a global basis; if you're traveling just remember, it's not as easy as you might think. So if you don't want to be caught short and feel like you're in a bubble, unable to be fully engage with those you left at home as well as those you're with, do your research and be careful what you find on the web. Always take the grandiose claims about "global connectivity" with a grain or two of salt. Even checking out solutions such as iPhone Trip, Tep Wireless and XCom Global and others, I found that you need to do your research well in advance of your travel and expect to pay somewhere on $15-$20 a day to become connected. And don't forget that if you decide to go off the grid like I did there really are some benefits; it just takes a couple of days to get through withdrawal. 

Now onto the human part of conversations and being connected.

We all know how important it is to be able to talk to people. But somewhere along the way I'm afraid we are losing the subtle art of conversation. And without that subtle art, I think it can lead to people living in their own bubbles. Now the good news is that the folks we traveled with on the small sailboat for 9 to 10 days were absolute experts at the subtle art of conversation. The confined quarters called for good, succinct conversations as well as exchanges that helped us get to know one another better and be respectful of each other's style of conversation. I guess. In a word you could call it politeness. Something that sometimes people feel is being lost because of our modern methods of communication and conversation.

As more and more of us work across broad spectrum's of age groups in our work environments it's important that we don't put ourselves inside of bubbles. I envision bubbles as silos where we're giving less thought than we should to using good conversation skills. It's really important for both sides to think about what politeness means in a conversation. People have so many choices, both to form and style, so the "politeness" I speak of refers to the subtle art of conversation which is more important than ever before. While in the close environments of the sailboat, one of the aspects of good communication was being honest, particularly if something bugged one of us. A little honest communication goes a long way, although sometimes it's not as easy as it sounds.  

I think the mission for good communication is relatively simple - to be as honest and polite as you can possibly be, weighing both honesty and politeness equally. If people in their work environments could envision themselves in the space of a four cabin sailboat and the need to communicate for important things like how to raise sail, anchor, read maps in high winds et al, as well as casual things like easy social communication, the offices we find ourselves in would be pretty pleasant.  What do you think?