Effective communication is important for successful business relationships, whether with coworkers, clients, or executives in a company. What we don’t say can be as important as what we do say. For example, in a business training environment, there is a lot of talk about the handshake as a symbol of security in a person and the trust that it transmits to others. For this reason, in our business life, we try to give a firm handshake and a smile when greeting important people. We are going to discuss the importance of Body Language in Virtual Communication.
“Only when two people look directly at each other is there a real basis for communication” (Allan Pease, body language expert and co-author of fifteen bestsellers)
In the business world, face-to-face communication plays a very important role. For the social anthropologist Edward T. Hall, in a conversation, more than 60% is body language. Oral language conveys information and data; however, body language communicates emotions, moods, and personal attitudes. Non-verbal communication is often a pending issue for many companies. Companies spend a lot of time creating a good argumentation, a perfect presentation but we do not plan the gestures that must accompany the speech.
According to another study, 55% of the message is transmitted through body language, 38% via voice and tune, and 7% via words.
But,
Is this also the case in face-to-face communication online?
How can we control what our body projects, and in turn, decipher the gestures of our interlocutor when we communicate through videoconference?
These must be two of the many questions asked in 2006 by the creators of the European project PASION (Psychologically Augmented Social Interaction Over Networks), a project that aimed to bring virtual communication closer to reality and he studied a system that allowed us to capture and share psychological criteria to transmit our emotional state in a conversation. The system had detectors that captured a series of emotional indicators, such as heart rate, body temperature, gaze, facial gestures, etc. which processed the emotional state of the person and presented it on the screen of the communication device. The experiment, of which results have not yet been published, was carried out in multi-participant meetings and in online poker games, obtaining great results in the latter due to the high emotional level that is put into the game.
The utilities of this system are multiple; among them, it is worth highlighting its use in the selection of personnel by video conference, since the interviewer could objectively know the degree of interest and nervousness of the candidate, or in webinars, to obtain data on the level of attention of the participants.
Even so, there are many experts who believe that this type of device violates people’s privacy, considering them on the verge of illegality. We will have to wait for the results of the PASION study to observe what use is given to its conclusions, and whether or not this type of application has a future application or although we will once again find that technology exceeds reality, especially the legislation and regulations that govern us today from today.
And it is that non-verbal communication has been the object of study for many years, since it often reveals information that contradicts what we communicate orally, thus revealing lies or hidden intentions. Here’re the Secret Body Language Signals in a Romantic Relationship.
Doesn’t a situation come to mind in which you have thought ‘This one does not say what he thinks?
The latest technological advances in video conferencing provide high-resolution images, greatly facilitating the observation of the body language of the interlocutors. Something as simple as the synchronization of the voice with the movement of the lips has taken several years to become a reality.
These levels of realism today are already achieved with solutions available to any company, without the need for expensive equipment and facilities. This is the case with online meetings and video conferencing, with online meetings, a videoconference conversation has nothing to envy to a face-to-face conversation, and that is one of the keys to its success. Although it still does not transmit our emotional state beyond a true image of our face, but everything will come.
The Importance of Face-To-Face Online Communication:
Our expressiveness and posture communicate much more than our words and it is for this reason that face-to-face communication has so much power. Our body provides a series of emotional information (signals) so important that it allows us to judge and classify its strength at first glance. We integrate what we see and what this makes us feel predisposes us, either positively or negatively.
During any type of negotiation, whether having it with clients, suppliers, investors, or even during a job interview, non-verbal communication is one of the keys to success. Through posture, gestures, gaze, tone of voice, and smile, the interlocutors can convey credibility, security, and confidence.
This is one of the reasons why more and more companies are acquiring video conferencing and telepresence systems. The telephone and email cannot compete with face-to-face communication, and in a world that tends to relocate, more and more organizations are adopting these types of video conferencing tools (Zoom, Skype Meet Now, Google Meet, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, Bluejeans, and Cisco Webex Meetings), with the aim of improving communication among their collaborators.
Internally, increasing face-to-face communication with employees through the use of tools such as video conferencing increases engagement, the feeling of belonging, and productivity. Externally, it improves the relationship with customers and suppliers and increases loyalty. In both areas, the economic benefits derived from time optimization and savings in travel expenses are more than substantial. Here’s a detailed article on the Importance of Body Language in Communication.
How to Improve Body Language in Virtual Communication?
Here are the tips to improve Body Language in Virtual Communication and reduce the exhaustion of virtual meetings:
Maintaining good communication both internally (with our teams, colleagues, and managers) and externally (with suppliers, partners, and customers) is now essential.
Is it possible to unite videoconference and good communication?
We have been adapting for many days, accepting changes and even transforming ourselves and even evolving. Now our main means of replacing face-to-face communication are digital tools to basically do the same thing: talk and see each other. But why are video conferencing costing us so much? Surely the reasons are many, and varied, and depend on our circumstances (personal, family, space) but there is one that is common to all of us who are teleworking: increased exhaustion and increased stress with so many online sessions.
Why do videoconferences drain us psychologically?
The main objective here is that there are “key aspects of body language in communication that are lost in a videoconference, such as tone of voice, part of facial expressions and physical gestures”.
That is, what exhausts and stresses us is that we lack information since 92% is non-verbal communication. That is, the crossing of eyes in a meeting, the increase in the temperature of the room, the yawning, the tensions between people, the crossing of the arms, or the intermittent movements of the legs. But also the good energy in a room, the looks in the eyes that seek to agree on an idea, and the contagious laughter.
The absence of all this in virtual meetings means that we have to understand the messages with much more effort and more attention than face-to-face. The article talks about more details such as apathy or attention deficit related to confinement. But let’s focus on what we can do to improve our results quickly and directly in our virtual meetings.
You might also be interested in Body Language Tips for Video Conferencing on Zoom or Skype.
4 Tips to reduce exhaustion in videoconferencing:
You can improve non-verbal communication in virtual meetings by applying the following strategies.
- Reducing the time: Obviously, reducing the time of the videoconference would be the first step toward an effective virtual conversation.
- Reduce the number of people in meetings so that there is a more intimate and close environment, this also increases participation.
- Giving time at the beginning and at the end to say hello and goodbye multiplies interactions and increases spontaneity.
- Try to make the camera frame include the hands and posture, not just the photo booth face. This will allow us to be in a more relaxed and comfortable position.
Have you ever wondered what you are doing to improve the environment of your video conferences? Do you dare to ask your team?
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Body Language Do’s and Don’ts in a Job Interview
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