> People say the small interactions are important to build relationships, but I would like to challenge that.
In my experience, it depends a lot on the specific situation. Most people need a certain amount of conversation to "calibrate" on how to interpret others' words and actions. Who's a skeptic? Who's a neophile? Who uses sarcasm a lot? Who doesn't get sarcasm? Who expresses disagreement openly and often? Who hides it behind subtler signals, or avoids it altogether? (This one's often cultural BTW; the more diverse the group, the more important this calibration becomes IMX.) "Teamwork and common goals" don't ensure that this calibration will happen.
If it's a group who have already calibrated, you're more likely to get away with avoiding small talk. If you regularly have to interact with members of a broader group who don't already know each other well, things can take a bad turn. Tiny misunderstandings can add friction, and even snowball until people are working at complete cross purposes or are even in open conflict. In 30+ years, 10+ of that working full-time remote, I saw this happen over and over again. Introverts, extroverts, whatever. Nine times out of ten, just a little bit of conversation outside of the by-then-contentious subject areas helped a lot.
I'm not going to say your own experience is less real or important, but I will say it's a bit presumptuous to issue a general challenge or say things like "relationships aren't built on small talk" as an absolute truth. Often, they are.
In my experience, it depends a lot on the specific situation. Most people need a certain amount of conversation to "calibrate" on how to interpret others' words and actions. Who's a skeptic? Who's a neophile? Who uses sarcasm a lot? Who doesn't get sarcasm? Who expresses disagreement openly and often? Who hides it behind subtler signals, or avoids it altogether? (This one's often cultural BTW; the more diverse the group, the more important this calibration becomes IMX.) "Teamwork and common goals" don't ensure that this calibration will happen.
If it's a group who have already calibrated, you're more likely to get away with avoiding small talk. If you regularly have to interact with members of a broader group who don't already know each other well, things can take a bad turn. Tiny misunderstandings can add friction, and even snowball until people are working at complete cross purposes or are even in open conflict. In 30+ years, 10+ of that working full-time remote, I saw this happen over and over again. Introverts, extroverts, whatever. Nine times out of ten, just a little bit of conversation outside of the by-then-contentious subject areas helped a lot.
I'm not going to say your own experience is less real or important, but I will say it's a bit presumptuous to issue a general challenge or say things like "relationships aren't built on small talk" as an absolute truth. Often, they are.