Influence of leaders´ non-verbal and verbal behavior on meeting effectiveness

Meetings are prevalent in organizations; they take up to about six hours per week of employees’ time on average. Previous studies have shown that specific non-verbal and verbal behaviors of leaders can help to make meetings more effective. However, there is a lack in the literature that examines effective leaders´ non-verbal and verbal micro behaviors integratively in relation to meeting effectiveness. This field study examines which specific non-verbal behaviors enhance meeting effectiveness; both in isolation and during task-oriented and relation-oriented behavior. A quantitative cross- sectional, multi-method study was set up. Forty-four videos from regular staff meetings, which were recorded in a Dutch public organization, were systematically coded: The non-verbal behavior, the non-verbal behavior during task-oriented behavior and the non-verbal behavior during relation-oriented behaviors of 44 leaders were analyzed by using a specific pre-set coding scheme. A questionnaire filled in by the followers of the recorded meetings gave more insight into the perceived meeting effectiveness. Non-verbal behavior was not found to influence meeting effectiveness significantly in a regression analysis. However, correlation testing showed a positive, non-hypothesized trend. Implications for theory and practice and directions for future research are discussed.