Working from Home: Google has these 5 video-calling tips

| Jun 26, 2020, 08:43 AM IST
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Working from Home: Google has these 5 video-calling tips
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Working from Home: Google has these 5 video-calling tips

Work from Home (WFH) is the new normal for many of us today. And with this, are the video calls and remote meetings. While with time, most of us have got used to these remote meetings via video calling apps and tools, there's still, at times, some inherent awkwardness. Zachary Yorke, a UX researcher at Google, has shared tips that he claims can bring the human touch back to these meetings and make them less stressful.

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​Milli-seconds matter: Try providing some verbal feedback
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​Milli-seconds matter: Try providing some verbal feedback

As a species, we’re hardwired for the fast-paced exchange of in-person conversation. When the sound from someone’s mouth doesn’t reach your ears until a half second later, you notice. That’s because we’re ingrained to avoid talking at the same time while minimizing silence between turns. A delay of five-tenths of a second (500 ms)—whether from laggy audio or fumbling for the unmute button—is more than double what we’re used to in-person. These delays mess with the fundamental turn-taking mechanics of our conversations.



On your next video conference, pump the brakes on your speaking speed to avoid unintended interruptions. If it’s a smaller group, try staying unmuted to provide little bits of verbal feedback (“mmhmm,” “okay”) to show you’re actively listening.

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​Keep time to catch up and connect with colleagues
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​Keep time to catch up and connect with colleagues

At the office, my meetings usually start with some impromptu, informal small talk. We share personal tidbits that build rapport and empathy. Making time for personal connections in remote meetings not only feels good, it helps you work better together. Science shows that teams who periodically share personal information perform better than teams who don’t. And when leaders model this, it can boost team performance even more.

Carve out time at the start of a meeting to catch up and set aside time to connect with colleagues over virtual coffee or lunch breaks.

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​Try making eye contact
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​Try making eye contact

If you’re face-to-face with someone, you might notice they’ve leaned forward and invite them to jump into the conversation. Or, you might pick up on a sidelong glance in the audience while you’re giving a presentation, and pause to address a colleague’s confusion or skepticism. Research shows that on video calls where social cues are harder to see, we take 25 percent fewer speaking turns.

But video calls have something email doesn’t: eye contact. We feel more comfortable talking when our listeners’ eyes are visible because we can read their emotions and attitudes. This is especially important when we need more certainty—like when we meet a new team member or listen to a complex idea.
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​Have open conversation with your remote teammates
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​Have open conversation with your remote teammates

When things go wrong, remote teams are more likely to blame individuals rather than examining the situation, which hurts cohesion and performance. Different ways of working can be frustrating, but they’re important. Biological Anthropologist Helen Fisher has shown that we can harness the “productive friction” of diverse work styles today similar to how hunter-gatherers did 50,000 years ago to determine if a newly discovered plant was poisonous, medicinal or delicious.

Have an open conversation with your remote teammates about your preferred working styles and how you might complement each other.
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Try sharing the floor equally
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Try sharing the floor equally

Conversations on calls are less dynamic, and the proverbial “talking stick” gets passed less often. That’s a big deal for remote teams because sharing the floor more equally is a significant factor in what makes one group smarter than another. Computational social scientists like Alex ‘Sandy’ Pentland and Anita Woolley have shown that higher performing groups aren’t made up of individuals with higher IQs but instead people who are more sensitive to emotions and share the floor more equally.

Identify calls where conversational dynamics could be better. Encourage more balanced conversation, help some get their voice heard and remind others to pass the talking stick.
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