Researches give evidence that video conferences are slightly less effective than real in-person contact in building trust. According to a study of the University of Michigan, video conferencing comes second in the descending list of the effective forms of communication for building trust, while in-person contact still holds the first place. The worst result is for text-messaging and emailing which stand in the far four position. Audio conferences fall half-way, by positioning themselves in the limbo of the third position.
What is there behind these results? It seems that the main problem with communicating and building trust is the loss of information that is implied in the usage of these media. For example, both visual and audio communication gets fatally lost in text-chatting. Unfortunately, some important data like the tone, inflection, peaks and accents of voice, the facial expression of the speaker, his possible frowning, and any other facial movements, are basilar pieces of information for our brains, in order to decide whether our interlocutors deserve our trust or not. In their researches, Gill and Gergle found out the importance of eyecontact. When it is poor, the result is more labored conversations and difficulties in turn-taking.
An effective strategy to tackle with these issues is to compensate the loss of information that is implied in video conferencing in some way. When using TurboMeeting for video conferencing, it is then important to follow some few best practices that have been developed expressly for this purpose. First, it is obviously important to keep eye contact with your interlocutor in order to avoid seeming untrustworthy. But there are others.
1 – Smile. Not only does smiling increase life expectancy, but it also affects trust, as it induces positive feelings. Some tests have been made about a possible link between trust and genuine smiling. The results are positive: it is proved that actually smiles increase trust.
2 – Walk or move your arms. Professor Erin Meyers advices that walking or moving your arms can improve the sound of the message, as it helps to regain “the interpersonal or persuasive edge” that is often lost through the video medium.
3 – Use more explicit verbal assents and positive emotion words. According to the researches of Gill and Gergle, this is a quite effective way to show willingness to cooperate that is used by conference groups.
4- Provide a work-style/personality profile. According to a group of scientists (Rusmann et al) , this trick speeds up the process of assessing trustworthiness.
If you are interested in virtual workplaces and the new techniques to manage distant teams, you are going to find further resources on R-HUB`s blog at http://www.rhubcom.com. It is also possible to enjoy a free trial period of 30 days of R-HUB`s video-conferencing products like TurboMeeting.