It is one of the most frequent questions leaders ask in a world of virtual and hybrid work. A meeting begins, the screen fills with black squares, and only a few faces appear. Frustration sets in. The instinct is to fix it quickly with a rule: “Cameras on, please.”

Yet a visible face does not guarantee real engagement. People can appear attentive while their mind is elsewhere. Cameras may make the meeting look alive, but that does not mean people feel connected.

The deeper issue is not webcams but presence. What most leaders are longing for is a sense that their team is here, engaged, and part of something that matters. The question behind the question is this: how do I create conditions where people choose to show up fully, whether their camera is on or off?

Beyond cameras to connection in virtual meetings

A camera being switched off can mean many things. Sometimes it hides distraction. Sometimes it signals tiredness, discomfort, or the need for privacy in a shared home. What matters most is how the group chooses to relate to one another, not whether a screen shows a face.

Presence is not something that can be commanded. It is something that must be convened. The work of a leader in the virtual space is to create an environment where people want to be present with one another. This requires moving beyond enforcement and into a style of leadership that focuses on invitation and trust.

A remote leadership story from an an executive coaching conversation

In a recent coaching session, a leader told me, “I keep asking my team to switch on their cameras, but half of them never do. It feels disrespectful.” She sighed, clearly weary of leading black boxes.

I asked her what she most wanted from her team. After a pause, she said, “I want to know they are with me, not somewhere else.” We explored together whether a visible face was the only way to know presence. What if presence could be noticed through voice, through contribution, or even through silence?

Later, she experimented in a meeting. Instead of beginning with, “Cameras on, please,” she said, “I’d love to see you if you are willing. If not, just tell us what would help you feel present here.” Then she broke the group into trios to answer, “What is something you have received from a colleague this week?”

She told me afterwards that most people chose to switch their cameras on. But even those who did not were still part of the conversation. The team felt more alive, more human. “It was strange,” she said. “When I stopped trying to control them, they showed up more.”

That moment of realisation was leadership coaching at its best: the shift from rules to relationship, from monitoring to convening.

Why cameras feel like the issue in remote teams

Part of the tension comes from the loss of casual connection. In physical offices, we noticed one another at coffee machines, in corridors, or at lunch. We exchanged smiles, greetings, and small gestures that built familiarity. Virtual work strips much of this away. Leaders sometimes hope that switching on webcams will replace those missing signals. But technology cannot recreate belonging on its own.

There is also a subtle issue of power. Being visible on screen can feel like being monitored. Not everyone is comfortable showing their living space or their face in close-up for hours. A coaching perspective reminds us that good leadership notices these dynamics and resists the urge to control. Instead, it explores how to create shared agreements that make presence meaningful rather than obligatory.

 

The risk of forcing cameras on in virtual meetings

It may seem harmless to say, “Everyone, turn on your cameras.” Yet the hidden risk is that people comply outwardly while disengaging inwardly. A visible face can disguise an absent mind. When leaders equate control with connection, they invite politeness instead of participation.

This pattern is not limited to cameras. Organisations often rely on mandates such as filling in surveys, attending town halls, or completing training. These actions are important, yet when they are enforced without choice, they send the message that obedience matters more than contribution. People learn to show up just enough to avoid notice, while keeping their real views and energy to themselves.

Forced compliance erodes trust. It reduces the sense of ownership people feel for their work and their community. Over time, it teaches that presence is a performance rather than a genuine choice.

The alternative is slower but far more powerful. Leaders can create conditions where people choose to show up. An invitation honours freedom and opens the possibility of real commitment. A mandate may achieve quick conformity, but it undermines the sense of belonging that makes a team sustainable.

Practices for engaging remote teams without camera mandates

Structural design

 • Keep meetings shorter than you think necessary. Fatigue is real and drains one’s presence.

 • Use breakout groups of two or three every 30 minutes. Small circles draw people into real conversation.

 • Build in pauses and silence. Not everything has to be filled with talk or slides.

Relational gestures

 • Begin with a check-in question that matters: “What are you bringing into this meeting today?”

 • End with appreciation: ask each person to name a gift they received from the conversation.

 • Rotate who opens and closes the meeting, so ownership is shared.

Leader posture

 • Replace instructions with invitations. Say, “I invite you to join with cameras if you are comfortable,” rather than “Everyone must turn them on.”

 • Stay curious about the reasons behind disengagement. A black square may carry a story you do not yet know.

 • Model vulnerability. Share your own challenges in being present virtually.

Collective agreements

 • Co-create team norms rather than imposing them. Ask, “What agreements about presence would support us?”

 • Experiment with alternating camera-on and audio-only segments.

 • Review the norms regularly to see if they are still serving the team.

The paradox of visibility in online work

There is a paradox at the heart of this issue. Visibility can both connect and exhaust. Being seen by colleagues can foster trust, intimacy, and accountability. It can also feel invasive, draining, or performative. The task of leadership is not to resolve the paradox but to hold it with honesty. Leaders must make space for both the need for connection and the need for rest.

When the pressure to perform is high, cameras-on policies can intensify anxiety. When relationships are strong, people often turn their cameras on without being asked. True influence comes from designing spaces people want to enter, not from requiring compliance.

Wrapping up

In the end, the question of cameras is smaller than it appears. The larger work is about belonging. People turn their cameras on when the gathering feels worth entering. They participate more fully when the conversation goes beyond tasks and deadlines into purpose, appreciation, and possibility.

The role of leadership today is to shape meetings that feel alive, even across distance. This is less about technology and more about hospitality. When we design for relatedness, cameras become a tool rather than a battleground.

Reflective questions

 • What does presence mean in your team beyond cameras?

 • How might you design gatherings so people want to show up, rather than feel required?

 • When the square stays black, what other ways could you notice the gifts and voices that are present?

 • What might you need to let go of in order to host rather than enforce?