At the most basic level, communication is one of the most important aspects of modern life. Throughout a given day, one communicates with their spouse, children, store clerk, business partners, neighbors, and any other people they come in contact with. Everything we do and everything we say portrays some level of communication. Communication is way more than saying the right words but is rather about saying things the right way.
Nonverbal communication is is one of the most key and important aspects of how we communicate with people. Studies have shown that roughly 55% of communication is body language, 38% is tone of voice, and 7% is the actual words spoken (Thompson, 2011). Because of this, miscommunication happens way more than we generally accept. We often forget that way we’re communicating is more based around our body language and less around words even though we place such an emphasis on the actual words spoken.
Miscommunication is something that every leader needs to avoid. Three things to be aware of are context, clusters, and congruence (Thompson, 2011). Context is taking the situation around everyone and building an idea as to what the person is trying to communicate. In many ways it is making an assumption and hypothesis about what the other person is and should be saying and testing to see if the test passes. Clusters is making sure that one doesn’t take a single gesture and base everything off it. For example, if someone crosses their arms, many would think that is a symbol of resistance. However, if their teeth are chattering they could potentially just be cold. And congruence is making sure that the tone matches the body language and the words being spoken. Build a complete idea about what is being communicated and miscommunication will happen far less.
Leaders need to be some of the best communicators. It is a tricky task to be able to communicate with large teams but is critical to the success of the team. If the leader isn’t capable of good communication that will trickle throughout the rest of the team. Focus on communication and your team will be far more successful.
Sources:
Thompson, J. (Sept 30, 2011). Is Nonverbal Communication a Numbers Game? Retrieved April 20, 2015, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beyond-words/201109/is-nonverbal-communication-numbers-game
Communication – What Percentage is Body Language? (n.d.). Retrieved April 20, 2015, from http://www.bodylanguageexpert.co.uk/communication-what-percentage-body-language.html
Communication is critical on all levels. It establishes us a leaders and builds the opinions of others around us. The whole discussion around the 3 c’s demonstrates the importance of awareness. No communicator can be a good one if they’re not aware of the perception of the group. Because communication is so instrumental to nearly every facet of life, developing awareness is important. Being aware of peoples perceptions gives the communicator a distinct advantages. Body language and tone of voice place such a huge role in all types of communicating, but people generally focus so much on just the words being spoken. This is a real mistake as we need to be aware of so much more.
Thank you for the post.
Josh
Good post. Communication is the foundation on which any relationship is built, this being said our ability to communicate usually determines how a particular relationship will develop. When we communicate we must not only consider the things we say we must consider the manner in which we present them. The reason is because there is a gap between the sender and the receiver of a message that allows for misunderstanding or misinterpretation of a message. Considering this it is important that we verify that the message we were trying to send is the message that was received, this will help ensure efficiency.