Consider Words, Tone & Body Language
Based on the research of Harvard Professor Albert Mehrabian, face-to-face communication when sharing our thoughts and feelings, can be broken down into three areas –
1) the words that we speak
2) the tone that we use and
3) the body language that we use.
The words that we speak account for 7% importance in getting our message across, the tone for 38% and the body language for 55%.
The language of leadership extends beyond the actual “words” we are using then. We need to be aware of the tone and body language we use in our face to face communication. We need to understand that when words, tone and body language are aligned or “congruent”, when we “speak the meaning, not just the words”, we are ensuring our message has more impact thus contributing to the inspiration it imparts.
