Sorry you are on mute.

12/04/20 • 5 min

One more Zoom or teams call and once again someone on the call has to be reminded that they are on mute. It's one of the bear traps of the online communications world we now inhabit.

On a recent call, I was intrigued to see a contributor chatting away on mute, and it seemed nobody was going to tell them - for an experiment I held back from being the one to say it - just how long would it be before someone said something.

You join a video conference call. You're one of twenty faces on the screen. About halfway into the call, your mind starts to wander, and you realize you have no idea what the last person just said.

But good old scient has an explanation...

In 1913, Max Ringelmann, a French architectural engineer, made a discovery that actually explains why virtual meetings are often so unsuccessful.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One more Zoom or teams call and once again someone on the call has to be reminded that they are on mute. It's one of the bear traps of the online communications world we now inhabit.

You join a video conference call. You're one of twenty faces on the screen. About halfway into the call, your mind starts to wander, and you realize you have no idea what the last person just said.

But good old scient has an explanation...

In 1913, Max Ringelmann, a French architectural engineer, made a discovery that actually explains why virtual meetings are often so unsuccessful.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Learning how to have a fight - the power of psychological safety.

Once upon a time, not too far from where I am sitting, there was a Bronze age settlement. Nearly 3,000 years ago - people came together in sophisticated groups and shared skills and labour to survive. Powerful families and groups were in constant competition with each other vying for power, and what most of these potential leaders offered was safety.

If you were pitching for a leadership position back then, you were most likely offering physical strength, cunning and access to allies and resources. And so long as you delivered - you got to keep your position.

Instead of our managers, leaders and CEO's keeping us safe from marauding tribes, we look instead for leaders that promise us psychological safety.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

What's in it for me?

It's on its way - the count down to Christmas - and the New Year - that time when we traditionally make some new resolutions - resolutions to change our lives - but research show that eight out of ten of us will fail to achieve those resolutions and we will go on as we were.

If it were about resolving to exercise more, give up your favourite treat or learn a new language then you can appreciate that failure is almost too strong a word for it and as that research shows 80% of us go back to what's comfortable and familiar.

But this year I think it's different - we have all in one way or another put in a tough year - more challenging for some more than others - and it's not a competition -but few have had it easy. When we go through somethings a problematic as the pandemic undoubtedly has been, we are presented with an opportunity - maybe even a reward for the stress and uncertainty we've experienced.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.