Whilst the clamour to travel to visit clients or get back to the office may be overwhelming for some - and non-existent for others - for now at least, we’re still largely working from home.
I’ve been working with several global law firms this month and I have noticed the resurgence of the ‘I’m not camera ready’ expression….with the preference to remain off camera for a meeting.
It has prompted my curiosity and also my constructive challenge.
What’s going on here? What does this expression mean? And why do we think that it is an acceptable working practice to join remote meetings with lots of black squares and/or out of date photographs are at play?
To be clear, there’s a big difference between needing to go off camera because a child we’re home schooling is having a meltdown, or we need to answer the door to the delivery man. That’s a totally valid reason, and it is not what I’m talking about.
As leaders and influencers, our job is to show up. Being visible by turning our cameras on still matters for a wide variety of reasons:
- It sets the tone. Being on camera shows the world that ‘this is how we do things around here’. Linguists will tell us that 80% of our communication is non-verbal and being able to see and read facial expressions, posture and hand gestures all help create connection and improve the quality of the interaction. The ‘illusion’ of communication actually occurring was first observed by George Bernard Shaw. Working remotely has made the task significantly harder and so everything that we can do to counteract this challenge is helpful.
- It shows responsibility. By conveying to your team that you’re ready to work. I’m not talking about being fully suited and booted, or spending a lot of time grooming (however much that is), but putting on a clean shirt/top, brushing our teeth and putting a comb through our hair isn’t a lot to ask is it?
- It builds connection. As human beings we crave it; and after so long being separated from each other in so many different ways, being visible creates a powerful opportunity to do just that – connect. How we spend our time and how we spend our money tells the world what we care about, and by turning our camera on and our attention to the audience, we’re saying we care… about each other. If we show others we can about them; we encourage the same reciprocity.
- It makes us memorable. Expressions such as ‘out of sight is out of mind’ and ‘in one ear and out the other’ reflect what a significant amount of scientific research has already shown, namely that our auditory modality is not as good as our visual modality for remembering the message. Who wants to be forgettable? We jump on calls to talk to each other and influence each other and not to crank through a million emails and messages.
- It builds trust. Distance builds distrust. Harvard Business Review found that we’re 2.5 times more likely to perceive incompetence, poor decision making and mistrust our remote colleagues, versus those whom we see regularly at the office. The myriad of rituals that bind us in person are missing remotely, and so we have to work so much harder to that precious commodity which is the cornerstone of any successful relationship.
- We’re all in a relationship business, first and foremost. And we lose sight of that at our peril.
