How to Communicate Effectively when Leading Virtual Teams

by Katy Lindsay

In Aptimore’s recently published guide to Remote Working, we noted that video conferencing is not always the best option for people wanting to communicate effectively with their colleagues. This is particularly true of one-to-one conversations, such as the regular catch-ups that managers have with their direct reports.

In fact, one example of effective communication that we recommended was that managers make frequent use of one-to-one telephone calls with individual team members.

So, why did we recommend this?

Haven’t we all read that we get much of our information from looking at the other person and reading their body language? If that’s the case, then surely we get a better connection using a face-to-face video conference than from a telephone conversation?

 

Let’s start by debunking a myth.

If you read the paragraphs above and vaguely remembered hearing that one of the principles of effective communication is that 93% of information about what someone else was saying came from non-verbal information rather than from their actual words, then that’s the myth I’m referring to.

Some people call it the Mehrabian Myth.

It comes from some research done by Albert Mehrabian in 1967 at UCLA. He had people say single words, like ‘maybe’ and ‘terrible’ and asked observers to interpret what the speaker was meaning.

The experiment concluded that 38% of the information was conveyed through tone of voice, 55% through body language or facial expression. In comparison, only 7% of what people were meaning came through the word itself. It was an interesting experiment, and indeed, we do often get a great deal of information through tone of voice and non-verbal communication.

However, Mehrabian only asked people to say single words. If you think about how many different meanings you personally could convey when saying the word ‘maybe’, you can quite see how the experiment reached the conclusions it did, while at the same time understanding that the 93% figure is thoroughly misleading.

 

Even so, in normal times, I’m a great advocate of reading body language and picking up emotion in someone’s face. That’s because the non-verbal clues that I can pick up help me understand a lot about the emotions the other person is experiencing. However, I’m much less comfortable trying to pick those clues up on a video conference than in a face-to-face situation. This is because of the multiple distractions that I can experience on a video conference.

And I am not alone in this. Quite apart from getting distracted by seeing ourselves on the screen, we encounter glitches, face the constant risk of loss of internet connection, experience frequent delays between sound and picture and find ourselves constantly having to apologise for talking over someone.

In a face-to-face conversation, we are unconsciously alert for inconsistency between the words that someone is using and the non-verbal signals that accompany them, but in a video conference, there are too many distractions to do this effectively.

Even so, in normal times, I’m a great advocate of reading body language and picking up emotion in someone’s face. That’s because the non-verbal clues that I can pick up help me understand a lot about the emotions the other person is experiencing.

However, I’m much less comfortable trying to pick those clues up on a video conference than in a face-to-face situation. This is because of the multiple distractions that I can experience on a video conference.

And I am not alone in this. Quite apart from getting distracted by seeing ourselves on the screen, we encounter glitches, face the constant risk of loss of internet connection, experience frequent delays between sound and picture and find ourselves constantly having to apologise for talking over someone.

In a face-to-face conversation, we are unconsciously alert for inconsistency between the words that someone is using and the non-verbal signals that accompany them, but in a video conference, there are too many distractions to do this effectively.

 

We can exchange useful information through words, but when it comes to emotion, our VC mode is often more ‘transmit’ than ‘receive’ and we may get much less insight into the other person’s emotions than we would typically expect. You may feel you know someone better because you’ve seen their bookshelf and met their cat, but how much have you picked up about their emotional state?

Over the years, my work has involved a great deal of in-depth interviewing of senior leaders, often just before a significant event such as an acquisition or investment. My role is to understand the key individuals, the senior team, and how they run the organisation. My clients, the acquiring company or investor, do not want any surprises later.

Meanwhile, the interviewee is often keen to present a rosy picture of themselves and their business. I need to be able to work out which statements can be taken at face value and which need further probing. A brief hesitation in someone’s voice will very often open up a fruitful area to explore in greater depth. Or, the speaker may slow down, looking for the right words, or speed up, maybe using an incongruous sounding phrase to try to move on to another topic.

I’m listening for a change from that person’s ‘baseline’, the way they usually speak, and that change will often tell me something important.

 

There’s a clear scientific angle on this too.

Auditory scientists have shown that the pitch of someone’s voice can convey information about their emotional state. For instance, an increase in adrenaline makes the vocal cords longer and thinner, raising the pitch of the voice. This happens when the speaker is excited (which leads them to talk faster and at a higher pitch) but also when the speaker is anxious (when they don’t normally talk faster but do use a higher pitch). With depression or tiredness, the pitch of the speaker’s voice goes down, becoming flatter and more monotonous.

Tension alters the quality of the voice too, as the structures along the vocal tract squeeze and narrow. Someone experiencing a great deal of emotion may feel as if they have a physical lump in the throat, and their breathing may become erratic and difficult to control. They may start to talk in shorter sentences as a result and may also find it harder to articulate their vowels.

Much of this information about someone’s emotional state can be picked up by an alert listener, who will often be able to sense that something is different or wrong just by listening to the pitch or sound of the voice.

With people having to cope with working from home and social isolation, it is more important than ever for us to be able to pick up on clues about our colleagues’ mental health. People who are feeling bad will often avoid telling work colleagues how they are feeling, so we can’t expect that seeing someone on screen means we know they’re fine.

So, when deciding how to keep in touch with people, I’d recommend that remote teams don’t get too firmly attached to video conferencing but keep some one-to-one telephone calls in the mix. Undistracted by glitches or delays, it will often be easier to tune into auditory clues about how the other person really is.

 

Download the Guide

To read more about how to communicate effectively and the human side of leading and working within newly remote teams, we have created a more detailed guide on ‘How to get the best from your virtual teams’.

Download the guide to learn:

  • The psychology behind managing a successful virtual team
  • How to run productive team meetings online
  • How to adapt your approach for different types of people/personalities
  • Actionable insights to help your virtual team thrive

 

 [GET THE GUIDE]

 

About the Author

Katy Lindsay is the founder and CEO of Aptimore, an online learning platform that develops management and leadership skills. She has extensive experience in assessing and developing managers and teams in organisations of all shapes and sizes, ranging from SMEs to global corporates.

 

 

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