Cameras on!

Do we really need to leave our cameras on? 😅

Employees are frequently ENCOURAGED TO UTILIZE THEIR CAMERAS 🎥 during online meetings because managers frequently believe that the MORE A DIGITAL CONTACT MIMICS A FACE-TO-FACE ENCOUNTER, the better the communication will be. A recent study calls that way of thinking into question. 

👨🏻‍🔬 198 pairs of remote participants were split into two groups before being given a variety of tasks to gauge their collective intelligence, a crucial component of group problem-solving. The partners in one group held video 📹 conferences, while the others held audio-only 🎙️ conferences. 

The researchers evaluated each pair’s ability to take turns speaking while also rating the SYNCHRONICITY OF THEIR FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND PROSODIC SPEECH (tone, rhythm, and other vocal cues)👩🏻‍💻

🤯 Surprisingly, VIDEO DID NOT IMPROVE GROUP INTELLIGENCE or the synchronization of facial expressions, and the audio-only pairings were better at coordinating their speech cues and taking turns‼️

❝Limited access to video may promote better communication and social interaction during collaborative problem-solving, as there are FEWER STIMULI TO DISTRACT COLLABORATORS❞

💬 “Speaking Out of Turn: How Video Conferencing Reduces Vocal Synchrony and Collective Intelligence,” by Maria Tomprou et al. (PLOS ONE, 2021)
📒 Source: HBR US Dec