New research highlights problems with choosing text-based communication for complex or ambiguous tasks. In Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, researchers published findings from five studies and concluded the following:

Findings suggest that communicators need to be aware that using text-based communication media, such as email for convergence tasks, can be tiring. As a result, they may not have the energy required to effectively deal with subsequent tasks requiring complex reasoning (e.g., writing a report) they may work on after they finish communicating.

Convergence tasks involve multiple perspectives and require creating a shared understanding, which is difficult to do by email or in Slack. When group decision making or negotiations, for example, starts a string of emails, the communication depletes our energy, making it harder to work on other complex tasks.

Study authors suggest what you might expect: choose a synchronous way of meeting instead. The authors acknowledge that meetings, particularly in person, are increasingly rare and challenging because of more remote work across time zones and varying schedules. But they say it’s worth the effort.

This advice is consistent with lessons in Chapter 1 of Business Communication and Character, which describes rich and lean media and reasons to choose one communication channel over the other. In-person meetings are best for complex decision making, building relationships, and emotional interactions.

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