It’s NOT what you say… It’s HOW you say it!

 [display_podcast]Thoughts from Sandye Linnetz, Systems Goddess, Process ProdigyCommunication can be tough in this electronic age. Particularly in our businesses, we depend on email, faxes, cell phones and the blackberry to deliver our communications. Gone are the days of face to face meetings and conversations. The handshake has been replaced by an electronically generated salutation, and a friendly smile has been replaced by a happy face icon.When you consider that only 7% of our communication is verbal (the words we use)... with the other 93% divided between body language (facial expression, posture, gestures, eye contact) and tone of voice (volume, intonation, sarcasm, cadence, pauses and silence); a lot of what we communicate is up for interpretation by our listener. Add to that the background "noise" of any communication (mood, experience, judgments, preconceived ideas... and actual noise), and it's a wonder that humans can communicate at all! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU SAY... IT'S HOW YOU SAY IT!The recipient of your email cannot rely on observation; your dress, diction, tone and use of language are not evident. The recipient cannot judge if you are serious or joking; smiling or crying. You actually write with a tone. You know what you mean and how you mean it... expressing that in a way that translates over there can be tough. And, just in case you missed the breaking news: sarcasm really doesn't work! You have to say what you mean, and how you write really matters.Depressed yet? Face to face communication is ridiculously tough and electronic communication appears to be close to impossible! Relax, folks, help is on the way... and I should (and will) also point out that email, because it is so fast and has such amazing broadcast potential, does get your message across with great speed and has far more "conversational" potential than "snail mail". Because we can email back and forth so easily, the possibility does exist to clarify and/or probe with a quick question.FIVE FABULOUS - yet practical - PIECES OF ADVICE:1. Be Visually Effective: What you type into both the subject line and the body of your text should be short and to the point. In fact, in the body, you should even use short lines (50 to 75 spaces) so that your communications are easy for the eye to follow. Visually, choose a font and type size that is both appealing and easy to read. Consider that you can help determine the tone of your message by the font you choose.2. Be polite. Use good "netiquette". One good rule to practice is to use uppercase text very sparingly. Many readers consider the use of capital letters to be the equivalent of SHOUTING. And, yes, sometimes you do want to shout! Remember: sarcasm does translate well over email. If you are not serious say so or add one of those annoying smiley thingies.3. Be clear about the purpose of your email; utilize that subject line to set the purpose and tone of your message. When you are responding to someone else's message or referring to an earlier message that you sent, be careful to include only enough text from the original message to make it clear what you are referring to. Edit out unnecessary text.4. Be creative: Consider using fonts, colors, special characters and formatting to convey your tone and emotion. You can use underlining, italics and bold to make words and phrases stand out, asterisks (*please expedite*), upper case letters (WOW, THAT'S GREAT!), punctuation (I wish... or Love that idea!!!!!!!!), and, of course, there's the old space bar (It was so slow). Don't over use, but be familiar with, some of the basic "emoticons".5. Don't "flame" over the internet. In other words, take a deep breath before you type something that you might regret. Angry, vicious personal attacks by email can come back to haunt you. Unlike a phone conversation or other forms of immediate communication, email is permanent. It can be printed, forwarded, and saved, so be smart... be careful and be prudent.I know that I said five fabulous tips, but here's one more...Don't criticize mistakes in spelling, capitalization or grammar, more than likely, they were just typso.© 2007 Beth Schneider, Process Prodigy, Inc.Want to reprint this article? Feel free as long as you include the following:Beth Schneider, President of Process Prodigy Inc., www.processprodigy.com, has a team of highly sought after operations consultants who reveal the insider secrets billion-dollar corporations pay thousands of dollars for. Specializing in process creation, her tools and techniques have helped entrepreneurs increase productivity by as much as 600%, and revenues by as much as 250%. Visit www.processprodigy.com and sign up to receive her Ezine, “Your Tips”and for a FREE Report on how to Save Yourself Time Energy and Money.

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