If you were asked to think of the best leader or supervisor you had ever worked for, or the best team you had ever been a member of, what would be the criteria you would use to make that distinction? How much of your evaluation would be based on the social relationships between you and your boss or your fellow teammates or the positive working environment? Chances are that they would play a big part in your evaluation, even if you don’t realize it. Recent research has shown that we have biological reactions to others’ moods and behaviors, both in face to face meetings and online. Leaders can positively influence teams or organizations through their moods, behaviors, and social skills as others will follow the tone the leader sets.

In this post I cover the following:

• Emotions are contagious,
• What is social intelligence, and
  
• Using social intelligence in virtual teams.

This post is based on the work of Goleman and Boyatzis and their recent Harvard Business Review article.

Emotions are contagious

It’s been known intuitively by leaders and followers for years that personal connections and positive interactions are important for good working relationships, motivation and satisfaction. The idea that a leader needs more than just brains and good ideas is not new. This has been followed up with many leadership studies over the past decades. Recently there appears to be biological research backing up these notions, which might explain just how leader behaviors affect the behaviors of others. Special sets of neurons have been found in the brain that mirror interactions with others (see Surinder’s previous post on the topic of mirror neurons). So, for example, when you smile, the mirror neurons in your colleague will be activated and the smile will spread through biological reactions–a truly contagious smile. Or, when you receive bad news or constructive criticism, you’ll feel better about that conversation if the person delivering the news uses positive body language and facial expressions. Recent research at Cornell University suggests that emotions are contagious even over instant messaging. In their study, researchers found that people who had IM partners who had watched a harrowing film clip prior to their IM communication felt sadder after the conversation than those who had a partner that did not watch the film clip. Goleman and Boyatzis suggest that a high level of what they call social intelligence will improve relationships between leaders and followers by capitalizing on our ability to transfer positive emotions and moods.

What is social intelligence?

Social intelligence is a set of skills that help influence positive communication and relations. Intuitively we know it as the ability to say the right thing or in the right way, or to understand what others are feeling in certain situations. Goleman and Boyatzis identify several skills that lead to a high level of social intelligence. They include: empathy for what motivates others and what their needs are; attunement to others’ moods and feelings; awareness of group or organizational norms, values, and modes of communication; influence through communication with others and ability to get their support or appeal to their interests; constructive investment of time and energy in others for their professional or personal development; inspiring a common vision, positive tone, or group cohesion; and encouraging team work. Understanding the contagious nature of emotions and behaviors and developing strong social skills can help leaders establish positive working climates in teams and promote effective collaboration. How?

Using social intelligence in virtual teams

Virtual team leaders might face special challenges in using social intelligence skills in a virtual team. Many of the cues available to face-to-face teams are not available in the virtual team—cues that give information about how team members are feeling in general or how they feel about the direction of the work at hand, etc. Such cues are very important for the functioning of the team, especially at the beginning of a team’s working together. How can we overcome this limitation of virtual interaction?

1. Ensure that there are opportunities for synchronous communication. The Cornell study would suggest that even IM would facilitate understanding the moods and needs of others. Voice-based or even video enabled communication might make it even easier. This would allow others to hear tones of voice, inflection and get a sense of feelings or possible inhibitions.
2. Virtual team leaders can also set aside time at the beginning of a meeting to check in with team members and get a sense of their general well-being. I have been in face-to-face groups where this was even done explicitly as an agenda item called “climate check.” Although at first the idea may feel strange, the designated time for this type of communication was actually helpful to those who might not volunteer it otherwise. This was a time for team members to say whether or not they were able to work effectively that day and to also say whether or not they felt group norms were being followed. This information gathered formally or informally, can help the team leader attend to the needs of the group members and help ensure that the tone of the group climate remains positive.
3. Lastly, pay a little extra attention to the behaviors and moods that you are projecting, as this can go a long way in virtual teams, regardless of the communication method. It is said that people can hear the smile in your voice when talking over the phone. Easy-going laughter can also be easily transmitted through voice-based communication. Even over email, small things that express a positive tone can make a big difference. I had an advisor in my master’s program who began every email to me with an exclamation point after my name, as if he was excited to be emailing me. There was one after the sign off remark as well. That simple exclamation point brought a smile to my face every time and I found myself looking forward to our work meetings.

A little extra effort and attention to enhancing social intelligence skills and creating a positive group climate (without forcing or faking it) can help spread it to other group members. Research is showing that a smile literally is contagious!