That’s right – listening is key to effective communication. And by “listening” I mean really paying attention: listening and also hearing, looking and also seeing. This is active, engaged listening. If we pay close attention to our listener or to our audience and reflect upon their communication style before we deliver our message, we can achieve more effective and generally better communication.
The research on nonverbal communication by Dr. Albert Mehrabian revealed that we transmit 7% of our message through words, 38% with various vocal elements, and 55% through nonverbal elements (hand gestures, posture, facial expressions, etc). So noticing tone of voice, choice of words, pace of speech (among other elements) will give us a better chance at reaching our audience with the message as we intended it when we sent it. This will help connect in a more meaningful way.
Back to School!
These were some of the topics we explored yesterday at my alma mater, Royal Roads University, where I delivered a workshop called “Decoding Personalities = Better Communication + Improved Relationships” to a wonderful group of engaged learners!
Participants learned about their natural communication and behaviour styles and explored characteristics of the other styles. Putting those two elements together, with an effective people-reading technique, is where the real magic happened! We brought the theory to life with real examples from work environments and home life too. After all, some might argue that your family is the most important team you’re on!
If you want to improve the quality of your team’s communication, get in touch today! Let’s talk about some easy steps we can take to create a more engaged and effective team, with better communication – in your department, across departments, with your board and staff, among your remote team or across your whole organization. Miscommunication is costly – you can read more about how it will hit your bottom line in my prior post here.
Back in class at Royal Roads University
Returning to RRU a few years after my MBA graduation!
Royal Roads University Grounds and Hatley Castle. A well-placed picnic table creates a perfect open-air meeting room!
