It was a tense meeting. The kind where the air feels heavy before anyone says a word. Leaders from across the organization sat shoulder-to-shoulder while the executive team outlined a major change in direction.  

Some faces were tight with worry. Some looked wounded. A few were cautiously hopeful. You could practically hear the collective inhale.

To their credit, the leaders running the meeting did a good job. Clear message. Calm tone. Good structure. As official meetings go, it was one of the better ones.

But the most important part didn’t happen IN the meeting, it happened AFTER the meeting.

As colleagues packed up, I watched as clusters began to form. Small circles. Processing pods. These were colleagues who work together every day but rarely shared the same space. 

Across the room I heard laughter, frustration, honesty, reassurance. I saw hugs, eye rolls, fierce nodding, and hands on shoulders.

In other words, this is when the real change management meeting began.

Think about it. If that exact meeting had happened online, the ending would have looked very different. The final slide would appear, and someone would say ”Thanks everyone”. And that would be it. Each person would sign off and be left alone in their remote workspaces; each processing the news all by themselves.

No huddles. No shared processing. No collective sense-making. No “are you ok?” moments.

That’s the hidden cost of fully dispersed work…fewer “meetings after the meeting” where alignment, trust, and belonging are built.

When fake ZOOM backgrounds are replaced with real chairs placed right next to each other, we don’t have to guess quite so much about what the other person is thinking. 

We play by a different set of rules. 

We take on different roles. We communicate emotions more clearly and honestly because it is easier to “read the room”.

That’s exactly what fuels

Celebration works the same way. Digital applause is polite. In-room applause is thunder. Forty people cheering and “woohoo”-ing together always beats forty people clicking a clap emoji.

Plainly stated, if everything is virtual, nothing feels special. Gatherings give gravity to the moment.

So, yes, we will surely keep the flexibility. Keep the hybrid options. Keep the remote advantages.

But we can’t skip the in-person anchors: 

As we gather, we need to do so with purpose; know why we’re bringing people together and design the time accordingly. There should be a balance between structure and unscripted space for those informal, relationship and trust building moments. Because sometimes the most important meeting is the one that starts after the official meeting ends.

Face-to-face time isn’t just another meeting format. It’s a force multiplier. It accelerates trust, deepens understanding, and turns co-workers into collaborators in ways digital communication alone never will.xt