The Silent Language of Leaders by Goman Carol Kinsey

Author:Goman, Carol Kinsey [Goman, Carol Kinsey]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-12-07T01:43:07.167000+00:00

By creating a more natural, productive, and realistic experience, this new generation of videoconferencing makes participants feel as though they are actual y sitting in the same room with people who are on the other side of the world. In reality, attendees might be located in several different countries, but the image projected of everyone sitting at the same conference table is so realistic that the impression of actual y being in the same room is uncanny. Best of al , from a body language perspective, participants in a TelePresence conference are able to see how a negotiator responds to a demand, watch a leader lean forward to emphasize an important point, and observe fleeting glances of concern or head nods of agreement.

And if price has been an obstacle for your organization, now you don't even have to purchase the technology for in-house use. You can “reserve”

it. Last year, two major hotel groups, Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Marriott International, announced the addition of public TelePresence suites in key cities worldwide.

Second Life

Second Life (launched in 2003) is one of a number of simulated 3-D Internet imitations that make up a virtual world in cyberspace in which humans interact (as avatars) with one another for social and economic transactions.

Businesswoman and her Second Life avatar

Although it may look like an online game, Second Life is a virtual world where “residents” can travel, socialize, create things, and even do business. Col ege professors teach classes there, librarians set up “islands” to help people find resources, and wel -known companies (Sears, Coca-Cola, Mazda, and Starwood Hotels among them) create their own islands where employees attend global meetings, col aborate on projects, and meet with clients. Both IBM and Intel have developed private col aboration spaces in Second Life. IBM has even gone so far as to establish a

“virtual worlds conduct policy” for its employees.7

Leaders using Second Life should be aware that real-life body language “norms” stil hold true (for example, female avatars wil stand closer together than male avatars when conversing in virtual environments—just as humans do in real-life conversations). But the most intriguing nonverbal aspect of any of the cutting-edge virtual reality packages is that they al ow participants to alter their digital self-representations dramatical y and easily. And, as Stanford University researchers found out, when people change their self-representations, their behaviors also change (a reaction the researchers cal “the Proteus Effect”).8

In two studies, subjects were given avatars that were more attractive or tal er than other avatars in the experiment. After less than one minute of exposure to their attractive avatars, subjects exhibited increased self-disclosure and were more wil ing to approach strangers of the opposite gender. In other words, the attractiveness of their “better-looking” avatars actual y influenced their wil ingness to become more intimate with strangers. In the second study, participants who had tal er avatars were more wil ing to make unfair splits in negotiation tasks than those who had shorter avatars, whereas participants with shorter avatars were more wil ing to accept unfair offers than those who had tal er avatars.

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