Communication is more than just sending an email or responding to clients message, especially in a time when we are spending more time behind our laptops than ever before. The global remote workforce grew by 140% between 2005 and 2019. This number has accelerated significantly since the start of COVID-19.
For many who were previously not allowed by their employer to work remotely or who chose not to this has become reality overnight. This has forced many of us to start using tools such as Teams, Google Meet or MS Teams for our daily meetings and also to find new ways to connect better with our colleagues and client.
That said, we are social creatures and we build trust normally through day to day communication and interactions with other people, face to face. The results of combined studies by Professor Mehrabian show that humans 93 percent of human communication is no verbal. i.e. made up of tone and body language. While this is only made up of two studies the results are interesting and do highlight the need for visual interactions for a complete communication experience.
So while we are restricted in meeting colleagues, clients, friends and family, the following tips may prove helpful to improve the quality of your communication and aid in building rapport and trust with new connections.
Turn your camera on whenever possible.
Position your camera so that others on the call can see as much of your upper body as possible (improved body language communication)
Leave your microphone unmuted with smaller groups to make the conversation more natural.
Use a quality headset to avoid echo's, reverbs and excessive external noise making its way into your call.
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