Have You Assessed Your Digital Body Language Lately?

Technology has dramatically changed – and some would argue ruined – the way we communicate with others in both our personal and professional lives. With vocal intonation and body language stripped away, conversations that happen via text message, email and a multitude of other digital apps and platforms can easily lead to confusion and mixed messages among their participants.

Digital communications have even lowered our expectations for the politeness and respect we show one another. For example, if someone asked you a question in person, you wouldn’t silently stare at them for two days before giving a vague response, right? But in the digital world, that type of behavior suddenly becomes acceptable. It’s funny how the barrier of a screen enables our brains to think it’s OK to treat the human on the other end a little less like a human.

Email communication in a workplace can be especially problematic – while valuable in many ways, it’s often counterproductive and a source of frustration. You might recognize the feeling: Your team tries to coordinate a big project via various email chains, and the time spent trying to translate strings of messages into actionable tasks takes valuable time away from the actual project.

A few weeks ago at REACH 2019, the California and Nevada Credit Union Leagues’ annual conference, one speaker brought up all the agitating things coworkers do over email (and IM and other messaging platforms), which we all think about but rarely talk about, probably because we’re guilty of doing them, too. For instance, the forwarded “FYI” email – what’s the recipient supposed to do with that? Just read it? Read it and say thank you? Incorporate it into a new project?

The speaker, Erica Dhawan, founder/CEO of consulting firm Cotential in New York, N.Y., said around three-quarters of communication is now nonverbal, which has created a “major empathy deficit.” “We’re more likely to be rude with people if we’re communicating from behind a screen,” she noted. But since most of our communication will continue to take place from behind a screen for the foreseeable future, we must learn how to work better in this environment, and improve our “digital body language,” Dhawan said.

Here are some things – little cues and signals we subconsciously send through our typed messages – that she recommended being mindful of:

CCs, BCCs and order of recipients: The order of your email recipients might imply their order of importance to you, while CCing recipients can symbolize exclusion (BCCing, on the other hand, might show a respect for privacy). CC too many people on an email, and all recipients are likely to get annoyed and be unwilling to take ownership.

Speed of response: Replying too quickly can make the recipient feel bombarded; reply too slow or not at all, and you can come off an uninterested.

Emojis: They’re socially acceptable for adults to use these days, but consider who you’re messaging – some people will see them as friendly and others as immature.

Clarity: Dhawan gave an example of a no subject-calendar invitation that led the recipient to assume they were being invited to the termination of their employment. A short description can go a long way.

Versions of “OK”: How you type out this equivalent of the thumbs-up emoji matters. Think about the varying impressions these versions of the word leave: “OK.” “OKAY!” “ok.” “Ok???” and “Kkkk [insert smiley face emoji].” They might range from, “This person is angry at me” to “How old is this person?”

Dhawan’s recommendations for email communication management included adopting a “hold your horses” mindset, especially for group emails. “In our world of 24/7 communication, people expect a response in a few minutes, but that creates a disconnect,” she said. “Practice patient and careful responses. Create a way for your teams to slow down to speed up in our communication world.” She also said it’s important to assume the people messaging you always have the best intent, even if the tone of their message could be interpreted as rude or cold. “How are you giving others the benefit of the doubt and ensuring they give it to you it as well?” she asked.

Going deeper into the topic of creating efficiency in workplaces, Dhawan also discussed how enabling all employees to contribute their ideas for process changes can help credit unions reach their maximum potential. She gave several examples of how other companies used technology to make employees feel comfortable speaking up:

• Lowe’s launched a cashier-to-cashier internal knowledge sharing network, creating an online space for cashiers from different stores to ask each other questions. One cashier posted about a pet treat that was always being returned, and other cashiers confirmed they were seeing the same treat being returned at their stores. The manufacturer later recalled the treat for containing a poisonous element, but because of the network, Lowe’s took it off its shelves early.
• At Amazon, an employee in software engineering named Charlie Ward posted an idea on a digital employee message board for a club membership for rapid shipping, similar to the club membership offered by Costco. His idea is now the service we know as Amazon Prime.
• At a law firm, attorneys found it unusual when their young millennial employees began billing for fewer hours than ever before. It turned out they had created their own digital peer-to-peer network, where they would share information to help each other solve cases more quickly.

We often talk about the harm digital communication has caused, but what we should be talking about is the ways it can do good – like in the cases of the companies above that created digital platforms that opened up communication, birthed big ideas and ultimately led to business success and growth.

For credit unions looking to accomplish more in limited time and with limited resources, the solution goes beyond cutting back on unnecessary emails and monitoring your digital body language. Credit union leaders should ask themselves, how are we making it easy for employees to share their ideas and feel welcomed to do so? Are we building walls between departments or between upper management and the rest of the staff, or are we encouraging collaboration across the organization? And perhaps most importantly, are we proving that every idea has the likelihood of being seriously considered for implementation, no matter who it came from?

Natasha Chilingerian is executive editor for CU Times. She can be reached at nchilingerian@cutimes.com.