I was recently directed to a book by Dr. Albert Mehrabian, a communications researcher at UCLA. In his book, Silent Messages, Dr. Mehrabian outlines the way individuals respond to the messages they receive from others. According to the research, the way people respond to you is broken down as follows: 55% is based on your facial cues, 38% is based on your tone, and 7% is based on the information you provide.
Now think about your interactions with others during the course of a typical workday. You may be participating in meetings or providing direction to your direct reports. Stress levels may be high as you are nearing deadlines or meeting customer requests. During these stressful times, how is information communicated to those around you? If you are like me, it tends to be short, direct pieces of information delivered quickly. While in the moment, my focus is on the information I am providing – the 7%. Unfortunately 93% of the way people respond to me is being ignored. What I say has little impact if those around me are distracted by how the message is delivered.
The challenge is to keep as much focus on how you communicate (body language, facial cues, tone) as what you communicate (the information you share).
Tags: Albert Mehrabian, Beyond the Jargon, body language, Calibra, communication, facial cues, Leadership Development, non-verbals, Paul Dillenburg, silent messages, Team Dynamics, tone
