As a presenter your body language is more than 75% of the message. But in today’s virtual world we must master a new communication-digital body language. Even on a virtual platform we can observe facial expressions, gestures, eye contact and how people use space. But what about digital communication where you are not reading the room but reading a text?
Erica Dawan a digital body language expert, who studied connectional intelligence, believes “First impressions are not the handshake or eye contact. It’s about writing clear messages.”
Nearly 100% of teams collaborate virtually. And when communicating by email or text we can quickly misunderstand each other. For example, in verbal presentations, brevity is valued. A brief message is clear compared to a lengthy response.
In digital communication, brevity creates confusion. That’s because the reader doesn’t have context. The communicator must provide context which means a longer message.
In addition to the length and context of a message, response time is a factor of digital body language. How long you wait to respond, can send a message of urgency, priority, or pecking order. Your wording ( cc, bcc, fwd, re) is a measurement of inclusion.
It’s one thing to read the room when you’re in person. But how do you do that digitally?
Digital body language will be different for digital natives vs digital adapters. Digital natives communicate more frequently with shorter text messages. Digital adapters prefer higher quality, less frequent messages.
Culturally, people from the Eastern hemisphere use titles and surnames and want more content and background. In the Western world, communication is direct, less formal and doesn’t require a cc of a manager.
Males generally prefer to get to the point, skip proof reading, and choose speed, short messages and no emojis. Females will use niceties, write longer responses and use intensive adverbs such as Sooo.
Trust and power are communicated by response time to answer, direct language (“For future reference..” “As previously mentioned…”) and providing context. Don’t assume a brief message is clear.
Finally, there are four laws of digital body language according to Dawan.
Value Visibility-Watch the clock and acknowledge individual differences.
Communicate Clearly- Choose the right channel. Does the recipient prefer text, email or phone? Think first.
Collaborate Confidently – Be attentive to details. Prioritize, Stay in touch. Inform the right people at the right time.
Trust Totally-Give people the benefit of the doubt. Mistakes will be made. Assume good intentions.