Young professionals are having lessons in how to make phone calls… yes, you read that right. There was an article in The Telegraph that reported a UK accounting firm had developed a training program on how to handle phone calls for its young professionals.

As a Gen X I’m shocked by this, but as an expert in Communication Dynamics, I see it as an inevitability.

The Gen X’er in me wants to rail against this situation with knee-jerk reactions like:

‘What the heck? How will these young people survive human interaction at work?’
‘How can they do their jobs if they can’t speak to other people?’
‘No one likes making phone calls necessarily, but we had to suck it up, so should they. It’s about being an adult.’

And then the professional in me kicks in, and I see it differently.

I see years of COVID, of social media, of instant messaging, of connection at the end of a device – but not in the moments of real life - and I sigh.

We should have seen this coming.

We should have prepared our young people with more skills.

We shouldn't be surprised.

We have been allowing the social fabric of connection to erode away, one text message at a time… And now our young people have hit the workplace and they are struggling, and we are shocked. But we shouldn't be. It’s human nature.

Losing these phone skills is simply a result of ‘use it or lose it’.

To find some perspective on this, I think back to my early years as a professional.

I never liked phoning people at work. I would much rather pick up a call than make one. But I did it, because I had to. It was expected. And over time, with practice and repetition and no other option, I got better at it. Use it or lose it.

Reaching out to people you don't know (or sometimes even do know), can be hard if you don't’ do it often.

Maybe you’re an introvert.

Maybe you’re not very social.

Maybe you just don’t like talking on the phone.

There are many reasons why we might prefer not to use the phone, and when we add to these a plethora of other options for connecting, it becomes too easy to avoid. Use it or lose it.

Young professionals need our support. We need to scaffold the development of social skills because they are no longer part of the building blocks of connection we once took for granted.

Social skills are the skills of the future. For the sake of us all, let’s help the next generation develop theirs.