During the early days of the pandemic when so much of knowledge work migrated online, one of the interesting side effects was the “levelling up” of the whole affair. Virtual meetings proved much harder for certain participants to establish their status, with one’s virtual presence identical to everyone else on the call, regardless of whether you’re the CEO or the intern.
Research from Lund University explores how power and status could be displayed within the seemingly equalizing environment of a Zoom call. The researchers analyzed video calls involving political leaders to examine how they attempted to display status.
While some leaders positioned themselves in relatively mundane conference rooms, others chose locations with symbolic value, such as Xi Jinping, who sat in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Similarly, Emmanuel Macron joined the meeting from an ornate hall at the Elysee Palace. Both choices are clearly designed to symbolize the wealth and prestige of their respective countries. Similarly, President Trump joined from the “Situation Room” in the White House, which symbolizes the military might of the United States.
Corporate leaders
How do things unfold in a corporate setting? That was the question posed by research from Binghamton University, which examined how leadership can emerge in a virtual setting.
The researchers examined the performance of 12 virtual teams from a Japanese university. The analysis revealed that when participants were given inspiration or affirmation from their peers, they were more likely to be viewed as a burgeoning leader because the key role they were playing in the conversation was being pushed to the fore.
The researchers used machine learning to analyze the conversation and the verbal dynamics between team members. They were especially looking for affirmative responses and the level of engagement and responsiveness of each participant.
Conversation is key
Interestingly, whereas the previous study showed that people used various props and backgrounds to bestow prestige on themselves, in a corporate setting, leadership was bestowed far more organically and by virtue of the level of engagement an individual had on the call. It was this that tended to influence the conversations far more than any nonverbal cues.
This in itself isn’t enough, however, as leadership isn’t simply a case of one person bloviating throughout the session and dominating the conversation. Instead, effective leadership requires all of the members of the call to particpate.
“We found speaking in Zoom becomes quite important for everyone because, in these virtual settings, you cannot capture many nonverbal backchannel behaviors that would indicate whether people agree with or understand you in the same way as if you were meeting in person,” the researchers say.
“This work reminds us that the audience matters as much as the person speaking, so both should have some common ground. That will enhance the perception of leadership, making you more effective in that role.”
Strengthening communication
The researchers hope that their findings will help managers and organizations improve communication and leadership across hybrid and remote teams. They suggest it might even highlight the value of training to bolster the communication skills of leaders in virtual environments.
“Emerging leadership is really important in a virtual environment because we have to rely more on the effectiveness of our communication since we cannot observe formal leaders directly or as easily,” they explain.
“If you want to be recognized as a leader in a virtual group, you need to pay closer attention to how the audience responds to what you’re saying and support others’ ideas so you can better facilitate communication.”
The findings also provide a stark contrast to those examining leadership in the political domain, where status was more of a macho thing where leaders sought to one up themselves over their peers with displays of pomp and grandeur. In other forms of organizations, leadership is much more about how you are able to drive your team forward and get the best out of everyone.
“Regarding the scientific value of the key findings, we learn how leadership emerges from the complex interactions among people,” the researchers conclude. “A classic, traditional view would attribute leadership to individual traits (vision, determination, charisma, etc.), but our study clearly showed that leadership is more relational.”
