Why Video Calling is the Best way to Build Trust in the Virtual Workplace

In descending order, in-person contact, video calling, audio calling and text messaging/emails are the most effective means of communication for building trust according to a research of Michigan University

When the going gets tough, talking face-to-face with your opponentis the only way to get out of it in most situations. This shows the power and importance of in-person contacts in building trust among people. Now, there is scientific evidence that back up the validity of the expression “we’d better talk in private”: according to a research of the University of Michigan (http://www.business2community.com/communications/video-conferencing-formation-workplace-trust-01778381#Kt51pdUzWH4cJZL3.97) that purposely targets virtual workplaces,  face-to-face meetings are the most effective way to build trust among people and virtual meetings the next.

This is not surprising at all, as video conferences simply recreate the experience of a face-to-face meeting across distance. The strong development of this technology in the last years plays a great role, as today video conferencing ensures their users high quality video sessions that are able to perfectly replicate the experience of a meeting in the reality. To give an example, we mention the suite of video conferencing servers TurboMeeting of R-HUB (http://www.collaboration-technologies.co.uk/) that allows its users even to cooperate in real time with very low frame delay (some few seconds) and get an enhanced experience of telepresence. Even the smallest non-verbal message is preserved through the usage of these light and compact devices that can be comfortably placed on a shelf of your bookcase as little as they are and that are sold at a price that does not go over a thousand of dollars.

A strong point of video conferencing is that all the initiatives and actions that are recommended by experts to build trust (like recognizing excellences, for example, or task delegation) can be easily included in any working relation that is managed through video conferencing. In other words, video conferencing allows managers to transpose and utilize the same tricks and techniques they learnt in traditional workplaces in an utter natural way, without the need of more or less long periods of retraining to get used to a new technology.

The fact that video conferencing is a technology that assures managers a smooth transition from the traditional workplaces to the new digital workplaces is certainly one of its key-factor of success. According to Credence Research, the growth of video conferencing in workplaces is explosive, with an expected rate of increase per year of + 20% in the next few years: in other word, it is a real technological revolution.

In conclusion, video conferencing is a very effective way to build trust thanks to its capability to perfectly render the experience of a real in-person contact and the possibility to transpose all the recommended actions to build trust into the virtual workplaces. However, it works if we use video conferencing tools that are able to ensure superb HD quality and seamless image streaming like TurboMeeting.