Communicating in a Virtual Environment

It has been almost two years since COVID-19 dramatically changed the way we work, sending millions of workers from their corporate office to their home. Gallup reports that 43 percent of all employees currently work remotely at least some of the time. These numbers are expected to continue to increase, with The Future Workforce Report stating 36.2 million Americans will work remotely by 2025.

That said, working remotely is still new and challenging to a lot of people. They find not being physically located with coworkers makes it hard to connect, communicate and collaborate. Here are some tips on improving remote communication and for connecting more meaningfully with your team – even if you are never in the same room.

Put your best self forward.

The pandemic has taken a toll on how we present ourselves. It’s easy when we are home all day with minimal human interaction to think “why bother” when it comes to dressing up, putting on makeup or even combing our hair for video calls.

But the psychology behind people’s appearance and their performance has not changed. People who look like they are making an effort are perceived as being more professional and are more engaged. A study in Social Psychological and Personality Science found that those who wear formal business attire feel more powerful and in control of a situation. If you dress casually, you don’t feel as confident, nor will you take situations as seriously. In addition, The Journal of Economic Psychology finds that wearing make-up makes professional women seem more trustworthy which can result in being given more money. I’m not going to pretend this is right … but we need to be aware that fair or not, appearance matters.

This doesn’t mean you need to wear a power suit every day on camera. But be careful of the slippery slope into wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt every day. Have a routine before the start of your workday that helps you boost your confidence and your appearance so people see you as someone who is bringing their A game to the team.

Be aware of your environment

Are you looking directly into the camera or are you off to the side or looking down at your screen? Is the lighting bad? Do you have dirty dishes behind you? Are you eating or looking at your phone like you can’t be bothered?

Ask yourself how you want to be perceived, and make your environment reflect that image. Use a clean and simple backdrop. Buy an external light if you need to, or a platform for your laptop so you aren’t looking down. Wait to eat your lunch or do it off camera. The better all the elements come together, the more together you will look.

That said, don’t look at yourself.

A recent Stanford Study showed that it can be exhausting looking at yourself on conference calls all day. The distractions from being on camera all the time can affect performance and engagement and can cause workers to be self-conscious and negatively affect their self-confidence. Imagine if someone followed you around with a mirror all day. It would be awful! Yet that’s similar to what remote working is like.

Some people advise to just turn off the camera. Instead, I suggest starting the call on camera – smile and make eye contact with those on the call and say hello so they see you as a professional, personable, and real person who also values them as real people. Then turn off the camera for the rest of the call, when people should be focused on facts instead of faces. If you are presenting, you may also want to keep your camera on to emphasize points with your eye contact, facial expressions and body language. But don’t feel obligated to be on display all the time. And if you are on camera, try not to look at yourself by minimizing your video screen or just ignoring it.

Be deliberate and honest, and encourage the same.

In face-to-face meetings, non-verbal cues give people a lot of information. In virtual meetings you need to spell it out as there aren’t as many – if any – non-verbal cues. That means setting expectations that everyone be honest, clear and specific. Being subtle does not work in remote settings. But it does mean that people have to be more comfortable with direct communication. Help build a culture that values this by giving deliberate and clear feedback and accepting it as well.

Use chat liberally.

Many video conferencing tools have chat, which can be a great tool for people to share ideas while others are presenting. This is one advantage remote meetings have that in-person meetings do not. For people who find it hard to speak up during a presentation or to ask questions, group chat provides them a less intimidating way to have their voice heard and also doesn’t interrupt the flow of the meeting. Using chat should be encouraged, and everyone should monitor and acknowledge what’s going on in chat. Individual chat can also be leveraged in case you have a question to someone specifically in the group but don’t need to address it with everyone. This can save a lot of time and make meetings more efficient and focused.

Actively encourage engagement.

In a traditional face-to-face meeting, you can just scan the room to see who is participating and who may not be part of the conversation. In a video call, it takes a little more work. I like to write everyone’s names down at the beginning of the meeting and keep track of who is talking. If someone doesn’t say anything, I either proactively ask them for their thoughts, or I may chat with them privately and ask them to contribute their ideas. But for true collaboration to work, everyone’s voice needs to be heard. If someone on your team is having trouble communicating in a virtual environment, ask them how you can help them be more comfortable and encourage them. It will benefit you both, as well as the team.

Don’t make it 100 percent about work, all the time.

I hate ice breakers – especially when they give me zero insight into people’s personality or the work being done, such as “If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?” I would be a cheetah, fyi. Do you know me any better now? I didn’t think so … which is my point.

But I do find when I am able to talk to people about life outside of work it makes me feel closer to them as a colleague. It also helps me understand what inspires and frustrates them, which in turn helps me work with them better. This is much simpler when you are sitting in the same office, standing at the water cooler or together in a lunch line. You have to work harder at it in a remote working environment.

Leverage communication tools such as the chat feature on Microsoft Teams or Slack to reach out to colleagues separately on a personal level. Set up 1:1s to discuss mutual projects and interject some personal antidotes as well. Start the ball rolling with sharing something about yourself as that may make them more comfortable sharing something with you. You may even want to plan a virtual happy hour. The time you invest in building these relationships will help you feel more connected with your team.

For more help improving virtual communication and building work relationships remotely, please contact me.