We can enjoy a cup of coffee together. With a cake. Or let’s have a breakfast meeting. What you want is to make our communication successful, don’t you?
In my work, having a meal together is not only a pleasure, but also a good way to understand a person better and communicate well. I agree with the Vietnamese proverb:
eating and death give real closeness to another human being.
Thanks to the magic of eating together:
- we meet at one table and the table unites us,
- we are equal and sometimes it is hard to share such a feeling in an office,
- we are really close, still keeping our natural and comfortable distance,
- we enjoy pauses – during a meal, silence is an obvious fact.
Additionally, we use the chameleon effect.
This means that we synchronize to each other by taking into account the amount of food we eat ( the amount of food one person eats depends on the amount of food eaten by another) and timing as eating is coordinated. If you want to know more, learn about the experiment by Roel Hermans. The chameleon effect – mimicking other people’s body language unconsciously, makes it easier for us to communicate and maintain a contact. Even if our talk is not perfect, we can still communicate while having a meal together. We get more familiar with each other. We get to know each other and it is priceless both in life and in business.
The proofreader: Monika Bajer
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