The Real Cost of Miscommunication
Grammarly recently conducted a study on the overall state of communication (both verbal and text based) and its relationship with productivity and deal win rates. Interestingly, the ‘ROI’ on communication has been notoriously hard to track. Did that deal go through because of what was said, how it was said, the time of day, the length of the meeting??? What this study brings to light is the incredible time lost, deals lost and energy spent when communication misfires. According to their results, when communication skills are taught, training and enforced, the following positive outcomes can be measured: 72% increase in productivity 63% increase in customer satisfaction 60% increased employee confidence 56% increased job satisfaction 54% improved relationships with colleagues When communication misfires, and time is spent solving issues that derive from things like poorly delivered and understood instructions, time wasted in meetings, low levels of trust/rapport building, the following losses can be observed: 19% lost business (30% of business leaders say the deal was either won or lost specifically due to the quality of the communication throughout) 43% lowered productivity This amounts to a $1.2 trillion dollar loss spread across a multitude of organizational factors. In our world today, the need for effective communication is only increasing. Communication training is not keeping pace with these needs. Both written/asynchronous and verbal/real-time channels of communication are up year over year, and these skills need to be sharpened. With our new foray into verbal communication cues, we are looking forward to being a key support to organizations investing in the improved communication, and confidence of their employees. Give this report a read and a share.
Top 3 Soft Skills You Need To Master
A broad study was published recently surveying the soft skills employers are seeking vs the soft skills employees feel they need training. This is all within the context of a drastically, and continually evolving world of work. The top three soft skills that were identified in this study, are: 🗣️ Communication ❓ Problem Solving 🌱 Adaptability 84% of surveyed employees believe it is critical to get training on these soft skills in order for them to develop as professionals, and excel in their jobs. In order to upskill a team to excel in soft skills like these, they need to be seamlessly incorporated into onboarding, and ongoing (some people call this ‘ever-boarding’) training programs. One of the call-outs we especially appreciate in this study is around specific skills training and intervention. This is important to note on both the skill level, but also on the level of the individual. Some people need more support in communication and others need more support in creative problem solving. This means you also need tools to quickly assess where individuals stand on a spectrum of skills awareness to mastery. At Virtual Sapiens, our tools are fantastic additions to onboarding programs and ongoing, reinforcement training. If your team is lacking in the very real skill of communicating over video, let’s chat:)
How To Account For Cultural Nuance Over Video
In communication training, cultural context is always a factor to consider. Over video, since we aren’t entering a room, shaking hands, bowing or kissing, how do we account for cultural nuance? Does it even matter? While we may think that cultural nuance in communication is erased over video…this simply is not the case. In this gem of a video, Dr. Abbie Marono is asked to explain how we can think about cultural nuance and context in nonverbal communication over video specifically. Dr. Marono explains the difference between universal nonverbals, which we have collectively evolved to understand and express as a human race. Things like open palm gestures as a sign of peace and non-threat, smiling as a sign of happiness, there are many nonverbals that we can depend on when we are communicating with other cultures. What is truly fascinating, and a topic that is as deep as it is rich, is the nuance culture brings to the table. Differences in head movements to signal agreement, happiness or excitement for example. Or specific hand gestures that mean different things tied to specific cultures. These are all learned, and not necessarily universal. These are the nonverbal cues we want to develop a vocabulary and awareness around when we are communicating across culture – especially over video. One of my favorite examples is the ‘head wiggle’ or ‘head wobble’ in Indian cultures. This demonstrates agreement and the vigor with which the head is wiggling, signifies the level of agreement and enthusiasm. A simple head nod in this case, might not resonate, but a head wobble…well, now we are talking! As Dr. Marono suggests in the video below, it is always wise to pay attention to different cultural cues, whether on video or in person. A small behavior can go a long way when developing rapport and trust. Our technology at Virtual Sapiens is designed around universal nonverbal cues. We specifically don’t get too nuanced around gesticulation and biases that might contradict across cultures. When you are next on a global call, see if you can do a bit or research ahead of time and spot in realtime some of the culturally specific behaviors.
Positivity Bias in Nonverbal Cues
Positivity bias is the tendency to favor behaviors that appear “positive,” such as smiling or nodding, even when they don’t truly reflect engagement. In nonverbal communication, this can lead to oversimplified feedback about facial expressions and active listening. At Virtual Sapiens, we focus on dynamic, authentic cues that demonstrate presence and thoughtful engagement—because effective communication isn’t about appearing positive, it’s about being genuinely engaged.
Top Video Hack – Hiding Your Self-View
During a recent workshop on Executive Virtual Presence, a participant asked a question I love: Should you hide your self-view during video calls? My answer is simple—yes. Constantly seeing yourself on screen divides attention, increases cognitive load, and can contribute to Zoom fatigue. By hiding self-view, professionals can focus more fully on others’ nonverbal cues, strengthen connection, and build more authentic video communication skills rather than relying on real-time self-monitoring.
The Best Way To Interpret AI Facilitated Coaching
In this week’s AMA, Dr. Marono and I discuss the best mindsets to use when receiving and applying AI-facilitated coaching. As more and more AI coaching softwares present themselves, it’s important to be diligent in your selection process. As Dr. Marono and I discuss in the below video, there are many AI companies out there who lack real scientific rigor in the way they apply their models, providing inaccurate and often times irrelevant feedback. We are grateful to have Dr. Marono’s sharp eye as an additional watch dog keeping our insights and metrics aligned with the most up to date, peer-reviewed research. It is also critical to keep in mind that when AI delivers feedback, it is still up to you to interpret the results and decide how you would like to apply the feedback towards improved behaviors. At Virtual Sapiens, we take great care to ensure that we are not providing feedback that is too restrictive. We don’t want to prescribe specific actions, but rather, we want to help our users reflect on their behaviors and apply our feedback in a way that feels authentic. In this way, we can ensure our metrics are accurate, and directionally correct. Check out the full conversation below! https://youtu.be/ZRVDwNgtuQg
How AI and Humans Interact – Amplification…or Replacement?
At a recent documentary film festival, AI was a big topic of conversation. While a lot of uncertainty exists around exactly how AI will continue to evolve and interact with humans, a few specific questions are on everyone’s minds… In this week’s Ask Me Anything, Dr. Marono and I take a slightly deeper dive into the following question: Could AI Replace Humans in Relationship Driven Roles? The answers are nuanced, taking to light where we are with the technology today, where we aren’t yet, and also, where we might go. While it’s easier to see how AI could replace certain more technical or content oriented tasks, it is even scarier to consider how AI might grow into more relationship driven tasks, which require a much higher level of accuracy, understanding of context and idiosyncratic/interpersonal dynamics. Already we see conversational AI being applied to chat bots that are increasingly personalized and human-like. In some cases, as seen with Replika AI users and with the Human-like robot, Sophia, the future doesn’t seem so far off. Check our conversation out and let us know what you think about the future of AI and human interaction! https://youtu.be/1eIrCl5t3KU
AMA: How AI Can Be Used To Coach Body Language
AI is slinging insights left and right – but almost all of the insights are based on what is being said. We have a fresh new series of Ask Me Anything videos with myself and Dr. Marono. In our first video of this series, we are digging into how AI and body language/behavioral communication interact from a coaching perspective. For us at Virtual Sapiens, we are extremely focused on the ‘why’ behind the insights our AI reveals. The need to be clear about the ‘so what’ has never been more important. Whether the AI is picking up on what is being said, or how, the coaching application means this AI will likely end up influencing the way we behave. The only way to do this well, is if we understand how different behaviors influence ourselves, and our audiences. Similarly, supporting insights backed by real science empower the user with education around why they should even care. Check out this short video explaining how AI can be applied to provide coaching and feedback on your body language and nonverbals, and what we keep in mind at Virtual Sapiens. (BONUS! I also mention the difference between AI and Machine Learning…for the nerdier bunch out there 😊 ) https://youtu.be/rcRi4mxcLu0 Try some AI body language coaching out for free. Start with our Assessment Free Trial.
How To Use AI As A Coach – Sales Hacker Guest Post
Over the past couple of months, the increasing presence and applications of AI have sent many minds for a spin. Many professionals I have spoken with are desperately trying to understand the connection between AI and human interaction. For some, this new technology can feel especially threatening. For others, it can feel incredibly exciting, unlocking whole new worlds of possibility. At Virtual Sapiens, we believe there is magic to be had when AI and humans interact, working together each with their strengths, to overcome certain weaknesses. One application of AI highlights this possibility quite clearly – and that is in using AI as an aid to coach at scale. I teamed up with Sales Hacker, a dynamic community with over 60,000 sales professionals, to dig a little deeper into the ‘how’ of using AI as a coach, from a sellers and sales manager’s perspective. Imagine the power of using AI as a tool, not to replace sales professionals and sales managers, but to support them in the ongoing need for personalized coaching and feedback, delivered consistently and without bias, across sales teams. Now that is 🤯 🤯 🤯 Check out the full scope here. ***And yes, that image was created by Dall-E 😜***
New Study Backs The Power of Nonverbals on Video
More research is being done everyday to support greater efficiency in our new world of work. As we know intuitively, communication is at the core of any successful business. Whether this communication is happening in person, over video, or a combination of both, a clear understanding of how to communicate effectively is essential. Business Insider released a new study led by BetterUp’s Lead Scientist, Andrew Reece. This study goes into a deep dive of the platform’s 1:1 coaching conversations, all happening over video, studying the impact of different nonverbals (both body language and vocal) during video calls. Our work at Virtual Sapiens is built on the shoulders of behavioral science, anthropology and the increasing amount of new research that focuses specifically on interactions over video. One finding from this study jumped out at me immediately, and it revolves around ‘active listening’. This includes nods, head shakes, head tilts. It includes various changes in emotion and expressivity as well as certain vocal bursts (mhmm, ahs, ohs etc.). Our focus on the back and forth elements of conversation set us apart from other AI coaches which bias towards the behaviors of the user as active speaker only. On video, vocal bursts can be hard to pick up on since the audio typically focuses on the primary speaker. Our body language on the other hand, is on display consistently. This means it is a powerful way to build trust, rapport, and likeability on video: “Better-rated conversationalists nodded “yes” 4% more often and shook their heads “no” 3% more often. They were not “merely cheerful listeners who nod supportively,” the researchers note, but were instead making “judicious use of nonverbal negations.” Translation: An honest and well-timed no will score you more points than an insincere yes. Good conversationalists are those who appear more engaged in what their partners are saying.“ This study also found no evidence to support the assumptions that people dislike zoom itself. We also believe this to be true. When people understand the skills required to be an engaging conversationalist and speaker on video, this channel can be energizing and help people feel more connected. This stands true when you think about past video calls that were energizing, that left you feeling excited and more connected. If video calls were de facto as exhausting as some people assume, we certainly wouldn’t continue to invest in this space and certainly more of us would be back in the office, and traveling around to meet everyone in person. In conclusion, our work at Virtual Sapiens continues to become more and more relevant as we move away from the trauma of the Pandemic, and further into a renewed world of work. One wherein we are fluent as communicators both in person, and over video. Leveraging each channel for what they are strongest at – with the overall goal of building a more connected and efficient world. Get started now with a free assessment!