The art of communication includes many things. There are however none as important as the ability to relay the written or spoken word to other human beings. Other human being generally derive the meaning from your words in the following manner:
• The Written Word – 17%
• Tone of Voice – 34%
• Body Language – 49%
The Written Word – 17%
Reading an email or this blog for instance only gives most people 17% of the entire picture. You can’t hear me or see me. What do I look like? What do I sound like? Am I shouting? Am I angry? Am I saying this to be nice or am I talking down at you? There definitely is something missing…
Tone of Voice – 34%
My tone of voice will determine if I’m angry or happy(by sound only). It will give you the ability to add up the words (17%) as well as the tone (34%) and have a pretty good picture of exactly what I’m trying to get across to you.
Body Language – 49%
When you can see me, you see my eyes, my confidence, my bodylanguage. You can now hear the words, hear my tone of voice and see my body language. You now have a full 100% of the conversation. You can engage all of your senses. Look me in the eyes and we have a conversation.
As an example, you can view my Christmas video for 2007 and see how the 17, 34 & 49 percent tie together. Bear in mind, I didn’t think of this when I filmed the video and that probably makes it a much better example.
Imagine only reading the words on the video, then only hearing it. Lastly, imagine viewing the video and ‘feel’ how you get a much better picture of what I’m putting across.
Here are some ideas you can keep in mind when talking to people:
Are You Projecting What You Mean?
When you look someone in the eye, you are trying to make an impression with them. Whether it’s for personal reasons or for business affairs, taking the time to look directly at someone shows that you are serious about what you’re saying. But are you projecting what you mean? In order to project success, communication in all manners needs to be considered.
Physical Communication
If you want to project success, communication needs to be both verbal and physical. Not only do you have to look directly at someone, but you also need to assume a body stance that is confident and assertive. If you are standing up, this might mean that you keep your arms to your sides when you’re not speaking or gesturing, rather than crossing them across your body. Crossed arms can signal a defensive position. When you are talking about something you support, you don’t want to look like you are not certain of what you are saying with your body language.
Verbal Communication
Of course, what you say is just as important as how you say it. But when you’re trying to show that you feel strongly about something, you need to look at the way you’re wording your thoughts. Make sure that you are staying away from words and phrases such as: like, maybe, sort of, kind of, I think, etc. If you want to create success, communication choices like these show you aren’t quite sure what you are saying and you aren’t quite sure if you believe what you are saying.
No matter what kind of lifestyle you lead, or what situations you need to be in, success, communication, and choices all go hand in hand. If this means that you should practice your communication before you head into the boardroom, that’s fine. Those who are able to project their feelings successfully are more likely to get promotions and to get noticed.
And that’s all the motivation most people need to start examining their own communication style.
All the best and Merry Christmas! Here is my Christmas video for 2007
Sean Rasmussen
Success Communicator
SeanRasmussen.com © 2004 – 2007
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
The fact that humans are used to absorbing a message in different ways is an important thing to consider on the internet. As you point out, in the written word, the reader doesn’t have the benefit of tone of voice and body language to help absorb a message.
I have found that the language and style used in the written word becomes particularly important as the reader may use this, perhaps unconsciously, as a substitute for the tone of voice that would otherwise be useful when interpreting what someone is speaking. As such the written word needs to be much more precise, to ensure the way it is conveyed doesn’t cause problems in getting the message across.
What may be fine via audio or video may not work in written form. Something to be wary of, as things can easily get out of hand. I remember an example a couple of years ago in an Australian law firm where group emails started out dealing with a cheese sandwich that went missing from the office fridge, but quickly turned nasty and resulted in 2 employees getting fired.
.-= Tom McEwin´s last blog ..Getting Targeted Internet Traffic and a Hungry Crowd =-.
Have you noticed that it is much easier to communicate in person rather than on the phone? Quite apart from the annoying drop-outs and distortion on mobiles the reason for this is that while a person can hear your words, they can’t read your body language.
Humans have communicated for supposedly millions or at least hundreds of thousands of years since the cave-man but apparently language took a lot longer to develop. No wonder body-language and tone are super important. There was a time when reading body language and interpreting tone meant the difference between life and death.
Body language is inate to humans. No matter what language a person speaks, with some very minor exceptions we all laugh the same, we all frown the same, we all show excitement, puzzlement, agitation, delight and many more emotions in the same way.
It is very much harder to send a clear message only in writing which is why so many people misinterpret emails, blog posts and letters. This is why the new wave on the internet is video. Youtube is huge. Google loves it and rewards sites that have video with higher rankings.
The next major paradigm shift we will see is the replacement of the home phone with video phones. We are already seeing mobiles with vidoe-calling capability.
Isn’t it amazing how technology can now enable us to communicate the way we were meant to!
There are other forms of communication, too, but they are nearly all one way because so few of us use them. If everyone could communicate in these other ways, the world would be a very different place, indeed.
.-= Wal Heinrich´s last blog ..Internet Marketing Why? How? =-.
Hi Sean,
I really enjoyed this post as it’s something I’m working on to improve. I spend a lot of my time each day communicating through the written word only. For example, text messages, emails, Twitter and Facebook updates etc. Sometimes what I mean to say is not what the other person gets by reading what I wrote.
I didn’t know that the written word only gives 17% of the whole picture of my message. I’m definitely going to have to work out ways to add in the other 83% because it’s so important to be able to establish a connection with your readers.
Definitely a lot to think about.
I have had a love affair with the written word nearly all my life – and find in some ways, it is a bit like radio where the imagination plays a great part in the whole process. Physical communication is also very critical, but from a slightly different perspective.
All in all, a most interesting subject. I am sure we all can remember non-verbal communication that was profound, and as mentioned above, the media we use enable us to explore and incorporate these aspects in our blogging and presentations.
.-= Jo Carey-Bradshaw´s last blog ..Empowering Mindset – Mindfulness =-.
I think that this is where the beauty of video comes into it’s own. Using video to reach your target audience via video allows you to marry up the large portions of the communication spectrum.
.-= Cemil´s last blog ..Entrepreneur Characteristics =-.
Hi Sean,
I agree that your body language plays a huge part in communicating with others & will make or break wether or not you will successfully connect with a person.
.-= jeremy´s last blog ..jlagatule- RT @tonyrobbins For you night owls still upCome be the first to have a sneak peak of R Breakthrough insiders site http-bitly-caSRxw =-.