5 Vital Virtual Communication Skills

The way we work, meet, network, and collaborate professionally may never be the same. COVID-19 has inadvertently turned in-office teams into virtual teams, heralded the influx of remote workers, pushed live events to be held online, and created opportunities for people to learn to build their business networks from the confines of their own homes. Suddenly, virtual communication is the norm. 

During this transition from face-to-face to online communication in the workplace, effective communication skills are more important than ever. Scientists say that only 7% of our communication is in the words we use - 55% is body language and 38% is tone of voice. So sure, your teammates may be able to hear you on calls, chat with you over Slack, and see you on a videoconference, but all online communication methods miss out on some of the cues we take for granted. Even on a video call, your colleague can’t see you tapping your foot impatiently waiting for you to hurry up and get to the point! They can’t see you working away diligently at your desk or engrossed in a meeting in the conference room, and it’s challenging to build rapport when you can’t cross paths in the lunchroom or stop for a casual chat on your way to your desk.

There are a plethora of mediums and tools for online communication, and while they can be effective in bridging the gaps between us, it’s up to us as individuals to build our communication skills in the era of the virtual workplace. 

Hone these 5 virtual communication skills to increase productivity and morale for yourself and your virtual teams:

1) Be respectful 

Behind every avatar is a real person, so even if you are not seeing your colleagues or clients face-to-face, remember they deserve the same respect you would give them in person. Failure to respect others’ time and focus erodes trust and leads to disengagement and under-productivity. 

• Show up on-time: Just as you would not show up late to an in-person meeting, respect others’ time by showing up on-time (or even be there waiting early) for online meetings. Make sure you have the video link handy so you aren’t scrambling around at the last minute trying to find it, and make it easy for others by including video links directly in calendar invites you send.
• Be professional and prepared: A virtual meeting is still a meeting. Show up looking, feeling, and sounding professional. Check yourself - do you need to take a shower? Put on a clean shirt? Move your computer to a place with a professional-looking background? Take a quick break to get your mind ready and focused prior to the meeting? Grab a coffee or water? Do what you need to do to have a professional mindset and appearance. 
• Focus: When your teammates can’t actually see what you’re doing, it’s tempting to multitask during virtual meetings. Don’t. Focus on the person or people and the topic at hand. Silence your phone, minimize your other screens, and - even if you’re on mute or off video - don’t eat, go to the bathroom, or walk away.
• Don’t interrupt: Don’t derail purposeful threads or channels with off-topic conversations - just as you wouldn’t interrupt an in-person meeting to talk about non-work related issues.

2) Get to the point

Have you ever been on a call or video meeting where a speaker just went on and on until you tuned out? Without the in-person visual cues that let you know how the receivers of your message are taking it in, it can be easy to think you need to talk more or to just not clue in when you’ve already talked too much. Clarity and conciseness are basic, elemental communication skills that must be practiced for effective virtual communication. Clarity means expressing your point simply and directly, and conciseness means not wasting words. Remember, your colleagues are busy, too, so respect them by getting to the point.

3) Get personal

Even when working remotely, human beings are social creatures who crave a feeling of connection. Remote workers can feel isolated and disconnected, and the better we know our colleagues, the easier it is to work together. In fact, a recent Gallup study shows lack of social interaction with co-workers is a leading cause for remote workers’ morale, engagement, and productivity to decline. Close-knit teams are proven to be more empathetic and more invested in seeing each member succeed, leading to better corporate resiliency and business results. So, in lieu of in-person ‘water cooler conversations’, make time to get personal with your team: spend the first few minutes of a meeting asking what’s going on in your colleagues’ lives; get team members to share a personal highlight of their day; set up virtual coffee chats or ‘beer o’clocks’ to strengthen relationships and build rapport. Don’t mistake taking the time to build relationships as a contradiction to ‘get to the point’ - while you need to handle business issues concisely, you also need to build personal connections and create emotional bonds that will hold you together as a team in the face of challenges. Personally, I think whoever said “absence makes the heart grow fonder” never worked in a remote team!

4) Over-communicate

So many unscheduled conversations and clarifications take place when we physically work together, helping us stay both aligned and inspired. It’s easy for remote workers to ‘disappear’ if they don’t proactively communicate and also for them to feel forgotten or isolated if they are not proactively communicated with. It’s critical for virtual teams to over-communicate by asking questions, clarifying objectives, reporting progress on goals, encouraging and affirming others’ efforts, stating requirements, and providing feedback. Be deliberate in your communications, keeping in mind you are all lacking the insights you would gain from non-verbal cues and casual conversations. Ask or tell if you need something, if you’re waiting on something, what progress you are making, if you have extra time, or if you don’t understand. Over-communicating will help avoid surprises, keep everyone on the same page, and ensure invisibility and isolation factors don’t lead to diminished productivity.

5) Focus on the message received 

Any communication - whether in person or virtual - has two components: message sent and message received. The most competent communicators direct their energy toward how their message is received, thus focusing more on the audience or other person and less on themselves. All communicators should do this when their message is virtual. With virtual communication lacking the subtle cues of in-person interaction, it’s easy for messages to be misinterpreted or misunderstood. Emoticons - love them or hate them - can help add emotion to messages sent digitally. Gifs can also help convey the right nuances. Be aware of strong language; use exclamation points with consideration; be careful with dry humour and sarcasm; never use all caps unless you are intending your message to come across as yelling; pause for feedback and questions if you are communicating by video or phone. Misconstrued messages can lead to resentment, confusion, frustration, and disengagement. A useful tip for written communication is to read everything out loud to yourself before you send it.

Bonus Tip: Be Forgiving

Remember, for many of us, working remotely is an unexpected and unwelcome necessity during this pandemic. Some people thrive working remotely, and for others, it is a struggle. Many of us have our kids home from school with us now, too, adding extra distractions. And on top of everything, many of us - even those who are accustomed to working from home - are dealing with new and uncomfortable challenges and emotions. Let’s all cut each other a little slack and practice another vital soft skill that will help us survive this time both professionally and personally: empathy.

In conclusion... 

Whether we were ready for it or not, whether we like it or not, COVID-19 has pushed more of us than ever into the realm of remote work and distributed teams. To stay effective and inspired, we need to hone our virtual communication skills. Virtual communication requires more thoughtfulness than in-person communication because we miss non-verbal cues, we don’t have the opportunity for impromptu chats, and messages are more easily misconstrued. Try to be more deliberate with your virtual communication by focusing on these 5 vital skills. Why? Well, besides the human connectedness factor, according to a study by Watson Wyatt, companies whose employees communicate effectively, in general, have a 47% higher total return to shareholders and are four times more likely to report high levels of employee engagement. Communication is a soft skill that leads to hard business results, and in this COVID-19 world, virtual communication needs more focus than ever.