From my last article:
https://steemit.com/steemiteducation/@allandharvey/hear-see-feel-humanity
How many messages?
Take a careful look at each person in this picture and ask yourself how many messages are you picking up?
What is your interpretation of what you see?
In other words what messages are you picking up from their 'silent' non-verbal language?
The emphasis of this article is on improving face to face communication. A rule of thumb - the more important the message is that needs to be communicated, the more 'face to face' it needs to be.
Smart phone technology has its pros and cons. The greatest downside in my opinion has to do with texting and how that has changed the way we talk to each other, specifically how we communicate with each other when it comes to the more sensitive content, for example handling tension and conflict. Texting is literally an escape from dealing with the discomfort of face to face communication.
I was chatting with a young millennial the other day and was horrified to learn that they had ended a relationship via a text message.
VERBAL FACE TO FACE COMMUNICATION
Verbal communication uses words, tone of voice and body language to send a message. Imagine dividing a pie chart into these three segments by allocating the percentage importance to each of these aspects of communication. What would your chart look like?
Words is what we say. Of course words are very important. However take for example the word 'shame'. The word is important but how it is said will relay just how sincere we are.
Tone of voice is how we say something. We have all heard 'It's not what you said but how you said it.' Think about sarcasm and just how many people struggle with it. It has become for them an unconscious behaviour - an unfortunate habit.
Body language on the other hand is what people see when we say something. For example I can say 'shame' in a sincere way but have a smirk look on my face when I say it. Now all of a sudden the message carries a very different meaning.
There are literally thousands of examples I could give but I am sure you get the message.
Not sure what you imagine your pie chart to look like in terms of the importance of these aspects of communication, but here are the the correct percentages.
Look out for more on the all-important life skill of communication coming up in my next article.
In the meantime may I encourage you to become more aware of what message you are sending in all three aspects of your face to face communication, even ask for feedback so that you get to know what needs to change.