Having worked with hundreds of teams over several years, the one elusive challenge that keeps raising its head is this thing called “open communication”. It comes up all the time. So how do you improve it?

First of all you need to recognise that communication is a two-way street so regardless of who is raising the issue, everyone involved has a part to play and a contribution to make. It’s amazing when I ask a follow up question to find out more, how everyone shuts up! Talk about open communication!

You need to appreciate that we often over use certain communication channels thinking that our message is getting through. The reality is, only part of your message is being received. Let’s take a closer look.

Have you ever received an email only to misinterpret what the message actually was? That’s because only about 7% of your message is delivered through the words you use.

What about an experience over the phone? Have you ever had a conversation where you could almost feel the smile in the other person’s voice yet you couldn’t see their face? There is certainly more of the message getting through however only about 38%. We call this tonality. It relates to the tone, the timbre and the pace with which you deliver the words.

This leaves a massive 55% of your message being delivered through your physiology or more commonly referred to as your body language.

Think about it! When you see someone in person or on the other end of a video-conference, you get the full experience of the message being delivered. Using gestures, facial expressions, and other movements, you can deliver some pretty powerful and accurate messages.

So, if communication is an issue for you and your team, start by looking at what you are using to communicate. From there remind everyone that open communication requires contribution and response to the messages being delivered. Without it, you don’t have open communication.

Build massive momentum!