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This conversational awkwardness can be overcome through cueing, which is related to a key principle of improv: “one voice at a time.” In cueing, signals are established to keep the conversation moving from one person to another in an orderly way. In either case, the result is that others either opt out of the conversation or become passive.

This can lead to “virtual logorrhea”-people talking way too long-or people interrupting each other. When people communicate virtually, many of these important cues are missing, which can be disorienting. In a physical face-to-face meeting, people primarily rely on a combination of nonverbal cues, including bodily and facial movements, and paralinguistic vocal cues such as throat-clearing, to know when to interject. One of the most awkward aspects of virtual meetings is conversational turn-taking. Here, we describe them-and why they can be so effective. With a little effort, there are ways to bring spontaneity, cohesion, and even fun into virtual gatherings-whether we are presenting data to the CEO, leading a discussion, or just looking to connect with colleagues.Īs a social-organizational psychologist ( Thompson) and an improvisor, actor, and communications coach ( Scott), we have teamed up to offer six “devices” borrowed from the world of improv that allow business leaders to inject this needed element into virtual meetings.

Research suggests that people interacting online are more task-focused, or more likely to get down to business.īut this doesn’t need to be the case. In short, virtual meetings often suffer from a lack of improvisation and natural “collisions,” or unplanned, high-energy encounters with others. We mention this because, now that most business leaders are involved in back-to-back virtual meetings, many of them feel that something is missing: that feeling of inspiration, the desire to take risks or innovate, their connection to each other. Rather, it was to build a toolset that students could use to find inspiration in the ordinary and camaraderie among team members-and ultimately to pave the way toward risk-taking and innovative thinking in their business pursuits.