I've now spent over a month working remotely. My team are all at home. The office is closed. Video-conferencing, email and messaging now becomes the norm of any communication, so what do we lose in these times?
Professor Mehrabian, the pioneer of communications , combined the statistical results of the two studies and came up with the now famous—and famously misused—rule that communication is only 7 percent verbal and 93 percent non-verbal. The non-verbal component was made up of body language (55 percent) and tone of voice (38 percent).
So if we use email & messaging as our norm then we lose 55% of any meaning.
So what can we do to prevent this?
Understand it's still good to talk. Use video conferencing
Invite discussion, open collaboration and feedback. Give people a reason to talk to you
Use the phone
If you are on a video conference, then let people see you.
Be more aware that our usual mode of communication has been muted significantly, & make allowances
Staying connected takes work. Understand more effort is needed. Arrange more virtual meets
Create a work and life divide.
Sync with your team on a regular basis & don't forget to have fun and use the digital channels to your advantage. It takes 5 seconds to send a good morning happy gif.
Go outside and have a break
Know that this won't be forever. We are all in the same boat finding out way
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