Words for the Workplace: A Deep Dive into Emotional Communication at Work - Day 4 - Connection

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Get ready to revolutionize the way you navigate the digital communication landscape in your workplace. We promise you an insightful conversation about the power of clear language, the underestimated value of punctuation, and yes, even the strategic use of emojis in our digital interactions. We also address the common pitfalls of relying solely on text-based communication, providing you with four actionable tips for fostering better digital connection.

Ever wondered about the silent language of digital communication? We've got you covered, as we discuss the intriguing concept of digital body language, drawing from Erica Dhawan's thought-provoking book 'Digital Body Language'. We dive into the wisdom shared by Brené Brown in 'Atlas of the Heart', emphasizing the need for intentionality in online interactions. The energy exchanged when people feel seen and valued, the dangers of digital disconnect - we address it all. And as we draw this enriching conversation to a close, we leave you with a powerful reminder to always trust and believe in the Lord. Trust us, you won't want to miss this!

Laughter, Love, and Blessings,

Heather

Resources and links mentioned in this episode:

• Continue the conversation on Substack
• Digital Body Language - Erica Dhawan
• Atlas of the Heart - Brene Brown Ph.D.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
When punctuation and acronyms set us off into bouts
of uncertainty, self-doubt,anxiety, anger, self-hatred and
mistrust, we can be sure we'reliving in unmapped times.
Erika DeWon Talking aboutemotions can bring up a lot of

(00:22):
emotions.
Embroaching this subject in theworkplace can add another layer
of complexity to theconversation, but it doesn't
have to be that way.
This mini-series will coverfive words or word categories
that we can start bringing intothe workplace to help
communicate our emotions in morespecific and helpful terms.
Hello and welcome.
To Connect the Dots, lead theWay.

(00:43):
I'm your host, heatherBall-Saric.
I'm a white female with short,strawberry-blonde hair.
I have on red glasses and agray t-shirt.
Today I am sitting in front ofa teal wall that has multiple
pieces of art displayed.
Welcome back.
It is day four of thismini-series and today's word
category is connection.

(01:03):
A year or so ago, I read thebook Digital Body Language how
to Build Trust and Connection,no Matter the Distance, by Erika
DeWon, and the opening quotecame from the first chapter of
that book.
I think it's on page four.
So like it started making animpact on me from the beginning,
and I can honestly do a wholeother series about this book,

(01:26):
but I'm going to try to keep itshort and sweet today and I'll
try to do a podcast on the booklater.
But before we dive into digitalconnection, I do want to
revisit the definition fromBrene Brown that I shared
yesterday from her book Atlas ofthe Heart.
And that's connection is theenergy that exists between

(01:47):
people when they feel seen,heard and valued, when they can
give and receive withoutjudgment and when they derive
sustenance and strength from therelationship.
And Erika calls our currentstate the digital disconnect and
she writes that it leads us tomisinterpret, overlook or ignore

(02:11):
signals and cues, creating anentirely new wave of
organizational dysfunction.
But why?
Why is this?
And the first thing that Erikasays is that we are cue-less.
Nonverbal cues make up 60 to80% of face-to-face

(02:32):
communication.
Anthropologist Edward T Hallcalled these signals and cues
the silent language, and thosewould be posture, proximity,
smiles, pauses, yawns, tone,facial expressions, eye contact,
hand gestures and volume.

(02:54):
Digital communication happenstypically over platforms like
Zoom, slack, teams, webex, etc.
We're not living in the agewhere we don't have this
technology and we're just allgathered around a conference
portal in a room or all callinginto the conference call lines

(03:14):
with the long numbers that youalways had to put in.
So the digital communication inplaces like Zoom, slack Teams,
webex, whatever if we're not oncamera, we can't communicate
with this silent language.
And don't get me wrong, bye.
To have worked from home for avery long time so I am fully
aware of what they call Zoomfatigue, bad hair days, being

(03:39):
sick, etc.
Etc.
But those are things thatshould be the exceptions, not
the rules.
We miss so much when we aren'ton camera, when we aren't having
this discussion with the silentlanguage.
It leads to things fallingthrough the cracks, things

(04:00):
getting misinterpreted.
Overall, connections justbecome difficult to form.
So what can we do?
How do we fix this?
I can't read you all of Erica'sbook today.
That would take way too long.
I'm sure there's an audioversion that's a much better
listen than me, but I'm going togive you four examples from her

(04:21):
book.
This is literally the end ofthe first chapter.
These are four examples on howyou can increase your digital
connection through your digitalcommunications.
So let me get the book.
The book is a very.
If you're watching the YouTubevideo, it's a very bright orange

(04:42):
color.
So if you do go look for it inthe bookstore or you're looking
for it on the internet, it is abright orange book, okay, so at
the end of the chapter there's asection that says so, you want
to communicate, and there arefour different examples that I'm
going to go through, and so thefirst one is trust.

(05:02):
So you're looking tocommunicate trust in traditional
body language right, you wantto keep your palms open.
You want to uncross your armsand legs.
You want to smile and nod right, you don't want to close
yourself off.
You want to be open to thattrust piece.
But with digital body language,you want to use language that

(05:23):
is direct, with clear subjectlines and emails with a friendly
gesture like text me if youneed anything.
Hope this helps.
You want to never be seensomeone without warning.
You want to mirror the sender'suse of emojis and or informal
punctuation.

(05:43):
So, communicating trust in thisdigital space there's, you know
, has a lot to do with how weare portraying ourselves in our
writing, right, that's howpeople are seeing us.
That's how people begin totrust us.
The second one is engagement.

(06:04):
So traditional body languageright, you're going to lean in
with your body as another personis talking.
Right, you're going to uncrossyour arms.
You're going to smile and nod.
You're going to make direct eyecontact In the digital space.
Right digital body language tocommunicate engagement is going

(06:25):
to be to.
You can prioritize time zone or, sorry, prioritize timely
responses.
Send responses that answer allthe questions or statements in
the previous message, not justone or two.
Send a simple got it orreceived if the message doesn't
merit a longer response.

(06:46):
Don't use the mute button as alicense to multitask.
Use positive emojis like thumbsup or smiley faces, depending
on your culture.
Also, make sure your emojis areculturally appropriate.
But engagement in the digitalspace, I think about you know,

(07:07):
when I'm doing this podcast andI know I think most people
probably listen to the audioversion, but if you do watch it,
you'll see I still talk with myhands.
I try to look right at thecamera.
I try to make eye contact withthe camera so that you feel like
we're together, because that'swhat I want.

(07:28):
I want us to be in thistogether.
And so when you're in a meetingand you know you're having a
conversation with your boss,with a direct report, with a
peer, if you're having thesekind of one-on-one or small
group communication, it isreally important that you're
making that eye contact, you'relooking at the camera.
It helps people know thatyou're engaged.

(07:51):
I mean, even in digital space,I lean forward, you know, to
indicate that I'm interested.
Those are again the silentlanguage there.
Okay, the next one is excitement.
Right, communicate excitement.
Traditional body language,speaking quickly, raise your

(08:12):
voice.
Express yourself physically byjumping up and down or tapping
your fingers on your desk In thedigital world right, digital
body language.
This looks like usingexclamation points and
capitalization.
Prioritize quick response times.
Send multiple messages in a rowwithout getting a response.

(08:34):
First, you know those people.
I mean, I'm one of those people.
Sometimes I'm like, oh, this isgreat.
And like three messages.
I don't even get to give you achance to respond because I'm so
excited.
Use positive emojis againstsmiley faces, high fives, you
know things.
The heart emoji, a gift, evenan appropriate gift, let's put

(09:01):
it that way.
But you can relay yourexcitement in so many ways in
the digital form that still letthe other person know it helps
you connect with them.
All right.
And then the fourth example thatshe gives is urgency.
So if you want to communicateurgency, so traditionally right,

(09:23):
traditional body language.
Raise your voice, speak quickly, point your finger If you're
watching the YouTube video, I'mpointing my finger at you or
make any other, like exaggeratedgestures In the digital space.
For your digital body languageto communicate urgency might
look like using all caps pairedwith direct language or

(09:46):
sentences that end in multipleexclamation marks, opting for a
phone call or a meeting over adigital message, skipping the
greeting at the top of a meeting, using formal closings, reply
all or CC to direct attention.
Issue the same message onmultiple digital channels

(10:08):
simultaneously.
So urgency, right.
So we talked about trust,engagement, excitement, urgency
and the difference withtraditional body language and
what digital body language mightlook like, and there's so much
more, like I said in this book,but I'm going to shut it down
right there because I could talkabout it for a long time.

(10:32):
But I would love to know fromyou, right this brief
introduction on digitalconnection, on ways that you can
make digital connection, andI'd like to know you know what
resonated with you and hearingthe differences between
traditional body language anddigital body language, or what's
something you do to connect inthe digital world.

(10:53):
I think about this, too, interms of in the digital space,
and you have to be very.
What's the word I'm looking for?
You have to be very.
All the words today, y'all.
It's not diligent diligencepart of it.

(11:16):
You have to be very purposefuland you have to be very
strategic in creating connectionin the digital space.
It's not like in the office,where you would walk by somebody
in the break room or walk up tothe water cooler or whatever.
It's not like that in thedigital space.
So you have to be intentional.

(11:36):
There's the word I was lookingfor intentional about making
connections, and that's why it'simportant to not ignore that
silent language.
So being on camera and beingable to express that silent
language, so you can get to knowthe other people or person that

(11:59):
you're talking to.
Okay, let me get it like Icould go into this for a while,
but let me know, head over to mysub stack.
The link is in the descriptionComment.
Let me know what resonated withyou or how you communicate in
this digital world.
Make sure you check out thelinks in the description to

(12:19):
learn more about Erica's bookDigital Body Language how to
Build Trust and Connection, noMatter the Distance, as well as
Brunne Brown's book Atlas of theHeart.
I'll be back tomorrow with ourfinal words of workplace segment
.
Until then, I want you toremember that you are loved, you
are worthy and there are greatthings ahead for you in this
life if you trust and believe inthe Lord.
Bye.