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Context is everything when communicating virtually, says communication expert Andrew Brodsky.
Humans have been interacting with each other in person for 100,000 years, points out Andrew Brodsky, author of the newly released Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication. “Compared to the amount of time that we’ve been emailing each other or having Zoom or team video calls, that’s minuscule,” Brodsky, a management professor at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, told Convene. “We’re only just starting to scratch the surface of how to use these technologies effectively,” he said. “And the better we get at it, the more that we practice it, the more effective that it will become with time.”
Ping: The Secrets of Successful Virtual Communication, Courtesy Simon & Schuster.
One of the key recommendations Brodsky makes in Ping is to understand that when it comes to communicating — whether by video calls, audio, email, text, or in person — context is everything. There is no single best mode, said Brodsky, whose Ph.D. research at Harvard Business School studied how technology alters communication. “There are benefits to each,” he said, “and they work better in different contexts.” And although many people simply default to their favorite communication modes without thinking about them, understanding their nuances and making deliberate decisions about when and how to use them brings rewards, he added. “Thinking about the strengths of each and when it could it best be used and how you can improve at it, can make you a far more effective communicator.”
Convene asked Brodsky about a few topics that consistently come up when people talk about virtual communication:
Cameras on or off in video calls?
There are pros and cons. If your goal is to minimize fatigue and exhaustion, camera-off is good — there are [fewer] things for you to monitor and for you to worry about. It’s a much lower-key kind of interaction. But if your goal is to try and build a relationship or seem present, camera-on is going to benefit you. Think about a first interaction. If you have no idea what the other person looks like, it’s hard to feel like you truly know the person in the first place.
It’s also true that people may think you’re doing other things if they can’t see you. They have no cues whatsoever that you’re paying attention. The recommendation here is to be strategic about it and think about whether this is an interaction where building relationships and making a positive impression is more important. Or is it one where we already know each other well and we’ve already built those impressions? Then your goal could just be to reduce exhaustion and fatigue. In the latter case, you turn cameras off. In the former case, you probably want your camera on.
Author and professor Adam Brodsky, Courtesy Simon & Schuster.
What about phone calls?
It’s funny, because a lot of people hate the telephone, but if you were to ask them to say what kind of meeting is their favorite, they would say cameras off, audio only. There isn’t something hugely different about phone versus cameras-off meetings, aside from the fact that phone calls are often not scheduled and thus they’re a lot more interruptive — which is, in large part, what people dislike. It’s not like an instant message or email where you can reply at your leisure or a meeting that’s scheduled beforehand where you’re aware of it. It’s one of these synchronous interruptive interactions, which is a lot of what is likely to cause that frustration.
Video or audio call? How to decide?
A lot of the time we just ask ourselves: “What is the best mode for me in this situation?” But one of the most effective things you can do is simply ask the other person what mode they prefer. There are two advantages. One, you’ll end up including a lot more people [who may have personal reasons for preferring certain modes]. And two, people are going to like interacting with you a lot more and are going to do so more in the future if you’re communicating in the mode they like. Whether it’s someone who really likes camera-off or someone who really likes seeing people’s faces, they’re going to want to interact with you more in the future because you’ve given them the choice to use the mode they prefer.
Barbara Palmer is deputy editor at Convene.