Happy New Year, Shades readers!  We hope that you had an amazing holiday season and we wish you all the best for 2019! 

For the month of January, our weekly blogs will focus on communication.  Each week, we will tackle a topic centred on how we communicate with each other. To begin, let’s take some time to talk about how important the art of communication is and the ways in which we communicate.

When you were a kid, did you ever play the broken telephone game?  You know, you sit around with some of your friends and one person starts by whispering something in the next person’s ear and the goal is to pass the message along to the last person who then announces what was said to them.  Usually by the end of it, the initial comment would turn into a nonsensical mess and everyone would have a chuckle but if we look at this game a little more closely, it is a great example of how communication can go awry.  The broken telephone game plays itself out in everyday life when we are not clear with our message or how we are communicating that message to others and when those messages go sideways, the result or the reaction is not always positive.   

Another critical component of verbal communication is the way in which we use tone and inflection when we speak.  Our spouses may disagree (lol) but when we say things, oftentimes the WAY in which we say it can be the catalyst for how that conversation is going to end.  If you aren’t sure what we mean, try this simple exercise:  Make up a sentence, let’s go with ‘I didn’t tell you to open the door’.  Seems innocent enough right?  Now repeat the sentence and place emphasis on each word as you repeat: 

I didn’t tell you to open the door.

I DIDN’T tell you to open the door. 

I didn’t TELL you to open the door. 

Hopefully by the time you are done with the exercise, you will recognize the potential different meanings that came with each time you repeated the sentence.  The way we say things is such a critical component to how we are perceived or understood.   

Verbal communication is only one example of the ways in which we interact with each other.  In fact, non-verbal communication is often deemed as more important or significant   in sending or receiving a message than actually saying any words at all.  Not so sure about that one?  Well, let me share an example with you.  My team at work tells me that I have a ‘look’.  Yes, I wasn’t quite sure either but then they broke it down for me.  When someone is saying something that I may take issue with, I tilt my head, raise my eyebrow (like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) and I give them a stare that apparently, all put together, stops people in their tracks.  After I had a good laugh about it, I realized that they were absolutely right…I do have a look!  In and of itself, that may be ok but if it stops others from expressing themselves, then I need to be more cognizant of my non-verbal impact.  To all of my work friends, I am officially in ‘The Look’ rehab as we speak. 

Written communication is a little more complicated since we seem to have moved away from writing that is more formal to a more casual way of communicating due to the digital age we are in.  Terms are now deliberately abbreviated and imho, I thk tht is ok bt pls knw whn u nd 2 b mr frml.  I hope you got that, if not, ask the kids to translate. 

All in all, Shades readers, what we communicate and how we communicate are critical to how we are perceived and understood so make sure you think about that in all of your interactions on a day-to-day basis.  

Have a great week and please share on your social media channels!  We wld rly #love it!