Before You Jump To Hit Send…

Accurate communication is most effectively achieved through real time interaction. Whether spoken or signed, it is a complex combination of subtle inflections, body language, tones, and word choice. 

Context is Everything.

Email/ text is designed to transfer information.

There is a reason the word is text. The prefix con means thoroughly. Without this prefix, text is an incomplete form of communication and thus limited in its capabilities.

Electronic messaging is a send. It is the poorest form of communication.

Speaking live to another person is communication for it allows context to be clarified in real time.

How often have you failed to communicate what you intended over text and email? How much time and energy have you spent attempting to clean up a misunderstanding after hitting send?

Our listening and understanding is best achieved through live voice exchange where we rely on all our senses to detect tone, inflection, visual cues, and sometimes touch to convey our message and to receive their message. If we are truly interested in understanding another person then the more senses involved the better.

True and effective communication requires at least one person to be interested AND willing to listen to another with the only agenda being a commitment to understanding what it is they want you to know and that requires the opportunity to ask more questions in the context of that conversation.

Text and email is great for transferring information. They are not designed for transfer of emotion. In an attempt to save time we add emojis and exclamation points to an ineffective medium to make it a little better. The fact is that we are still relying on a fundamentally flawed foundation to understand and be understood.

If you value a relationship spend the time maintaining a strong foundation and nourish it with personal live communication. Show the other person you care about them by spending some of your valuable time letting them know that they are important and what they have to say matters.

#context #communicate #understand #relationship #lifecoach #clarity #accurate