Few business leaders at the start of the pandemic would have thought that video conferencing would be anything more than a temporary solution to a temporary problem. Now, nine months down the line, we are still Zooming in order to hold business meetings. What was at first a safe and novel alternative, is now an exhausting chore.
Participants on your weekly video meeting become tired faster than real-life meetings, due mostly to the lack of body language that participants can observe. During in-person communication, our brains use Professor Albert Mehrabian’s 7-38-55 rule to decipher the meaning behind what’s being said. That is 7% verbal, 38% tone of voice and 55% body language. Video calls strip away most body language cues, but because the person is still visible onscreen, your brain continues to try and compute their non-verbal language. Therefore, your brain is working harder, trying to process information that is not available. This negatively impacts the amount of time your employees are able to concentrate because of mental fatigue.
