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We communicate with one another in so many ways. An American professor Albert Mehrabian found that in face to face communication we communicate as much as 55% of our meaning through body language, 38% throught the tone of our voices and only 7% through the words we speak.
As so much of modern communication, email facebook etc, removes the opportunity for face to face meetings and even spoken inter-action, surely we need to focus on what we say. The golden rule must be, the meaning of a communication is the response it gets. Effective communicators respect and understand other peoples' perspectives and consider this in how they send their messages.
How many emails have you ever seen where the tone is clipped or the message jumbled. For example, a delayed response to somebody, excused by a phrase like "sorry for the delay, but we have been so busy ... etc", can be read as a genuine apology or, that actually the person was not important enough to merit a more timely response. You will all have many personal examples.
Remember that email does not allow the addressee to see any of the face to face communicators and understand what you actually mean. Be careful what you write. As a leader it is a critical part of your skills.
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