Also, without the face-to-face audio-visual cues, we’re unsure when the other person is winding up their remarks and tend to interrupt each other more.Īnd, there are other elements conspiring against us, virtually. The audio we hear over the phone and the computer is compressed, so we’re missing the inflections and emotion gets muted. “By the end of the day, we’ve been in low-stress mode for a number of hours because our proprioception is going haywire trying to figure out where everybody is,” he said.Īnd it’s not just what we see. Meanwhile, on video meetings, we’re all in 2-dimensional little boxes, so proprioception-how we perceive our spatial relation to others-is askew, and it’s fatiguing. “Over time,” said Morgan, “the many little misunderstandings that come about, because of the complicated nature of the communication, gradually add up to a degradation of trust and camaraderie.” Lacking that feedback, all-virtual relationships tend to steadily erode, he said. On video meetings, many subtleties get lost and it’s harder to read body language-the nods, shrugs, knitted brows, glazed-over eyes. In person, we use social cues to sense the other person’s intent and adjust our reactions. Over the years, Morgan has come to realize that real-world communication isn’t easily replicated online.

Morgan offers useful tips to help us communicate better virtually. When he awoke from the coma, he had to relearn cognitive and communication skills, including how to read body language. Morgan’s lifelong interest in communication began as a teenager, when his sled collided with a tree, fracturing his skull. “If we’re going to get through this pandemic, and this difficult period of social isolation, then we need to spend more time and take more care in understanding each other’s intentions,” said Morgan, speaking at a recent virtual Deputy Director for Management Seminar Series lecture. This disconnect is also a recurring headache with video meetings, our customary form of communication during the Covid pandemic. When we send and receive emails or texts, “we believe we are understood, and understand correctly, 90 percent of the time when, in fact, our success rate is maybe 50 percent,” he said. These are common concerns in the virtual world, where our intentions and reactions are easily and frequently misunderstood, explained Nick Morgan, a communication coach, commentator and author of numerous books, most recently the 2018 bestseller, Can You Hear Me Now? Ever receive a work email with only the words “nice job” and wondered if the sentiment was sincere or sarcastic? Ever ask a question on a Zoom meeting only to become flustered at the deafening silence?

Can You Hear Me? by Nick Morgan