Digital Body Language

Dhawan begins by saying “Today, we’re all “immigrants” learning a new culture and language, except this time, it’s in the digital space. Being a good leader today means not only being aware of other people’s signals and cues but also mastering this new digital body language that didn’t exist twenty years ago …” Replace good leader with good sales professional and we have a task cut out for us.

Some select takeaways for the sales fraternity

(i) Texts, emails, instant messages are crucial forms of communication – Our word choices, response times, email sign-offs, and even our email signatures create impressions that can impact. We send around 306 billion emails every day, with the average person sending 30 emails daily. According to the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50 percent of the time the “tone” of our emails is misinterpreted

(ii) It pays to be mindful in our screen based visual communications – These days, we don’t talk the talk or even walk the talk. We get on a screen to write the talk or watch the talk. Video calls are ultimate visual forms of communication. Our video meeting styles matter a lot. Today, roughly 70 percent of all communication among teams is virtual

(iii)Appreciate the difference between traditional and digital body languages – A sample of differences in communicating 2 basic responses

a) Trust

Traditional Body Language: Keep your palms open; uncross your arms and legs; smile and nod

Digital Body Language: Use language that is direct with clear subject lines; end emails with a friendly gesture (“Text me if you need anything! Hope this helps”); Mirror the sender’s use of emojis and/or informal punctuation; Smile, when on screen; Modulate your voice to show earnestness

b) Excitement

Traditional Body Language: Speak faster; raise your voice; express yourself physically by moving your body or tapping your fingers on your desk.

Digital Body Language: Use exclamation points and capitalization; prioritize quick response times; use positive emojis (smiley faces, thumbs-up, high fives) Let excitement show in your voice, face and on-screen expression. Raise voice and use inflexions to effect

The 4 Laws of Digital Body Language

The book sweeps across a large of canvas of completely new ideas. It starts with the Digital Elements of Style, covering what is this digital body language thing all about, suggestions to navigate power play and anxiety and tips on how to read between the lines. Dhawan then puts forward 4 laws of digital body language –

1. Value visibly (Possible Sales application – Appreciate),
2. Communicate carefully (Possible Sales application – Align it to needs and preferences of recipient),
3. Collaborate confidently (Possible Sales application – Redefine how you co-create solutions with Customers) and
4. Trust totally (Possible Sales application – Create psychological comfort in communication)

She wraps up the book with a brilliant contextualization of digital body language across differences of genders, generations and cultures

Takeaway quote – Brevity can be double edged in digital communications:

“Brevity from the upper echelons of power isn’t exactly uncommon. At Morgan Stanley, there was a running joke that the more senior you were, the fewer characters you needed to express your gratitude in a text or email. You started your career with Thank you so much! and after a promotion or two, this was cut down to Thanks. Another promotion produced Thx or even TX. One senior leader just wrote T … Brevity can make a person appear important, but it can also hurt your business. Getting a slapdash email means that the recipient has to spend time deciphering what it means, which causes delays and potentially leads to costly mistakes”

Author Bio: Erica Dhawan is an acknowledged authority on the subject of Collaboration and Connectional Intelligence. She is the founder and CEO of Cotential that helps companies and managers leverage 21st century collaboration skills and behaviours. She has degrees from Harvard University, MIT Sloan and the Wharton School