Communication is, without fear of contradiction, ESSENTIAL for teams, groups, and the management or growth of interpersonal and business relationships. It is a sought after skill and the topic for many personal, professional and leadership development trainings, courses and seminars.
The performer must be able to communicate what they want or need, and understand what others want or need from them.
Communication is the sending and receiving of messages. Often times, there is more focus on the sending portion of communicating to increase communication effectiveness, however, the receipt of communicated messages is equally important. Learn More
Sending a message clearly, concisely and calmly has just as much merit as being able to listen with an open mind and a willingness to understand.
Effective communication is essentially a dance with the music being the message shared. High performance outcomes rely on the ability to 'hear the music' and 'keep the beat' to respond effectively.
There are common challenges that are generally faced when building effective communication skills, such as learning how to send clear and concise messages, learning how to listen to hear and understand but not to respond, and deciphering messages from multiple sources at a time.
As if communication wasn't difficult enough, introducing...the MASK; which covers the nose and mouth. To many, the mask is perceived as a barrier or obstacle to effective communication, on both the sending and receiving end.
What new challenges arise or are amplified as a result of the mask?
Sending...
Reduced ability to emote, that is, using your facial features to display how you feel.
Receiving...
Reduced ability to get messages, not being able to hear clearly and receiving messages in more limited forms.
Here's an interesting fact.
Very little of our communication depends on what is actually said. In fact, 93% of communication occurs non-verbally. Of the 93% non-verbal communication; 38% is vocal (referring to tone) and 55% is visual (referring to cues). Learn More
Mask-communication can severely impair the already difficult job of communicating effectively.
So what do we do?
In all types of training; sport, business, medicine, and the arts, the strategy of Selective Impairment is used. This strategy, is where you impair one ability in order to strengthen another.
Instead of considering the mask as a barrier, consider it as a tool that you can use to strengthen your communication with others.
-Strengthen your ability to emote using your eyes and body language.
-Strengthen your ability to read cues and pick up messages that would have gone unnoticed.
-Engage more in your communication process, to dance.
Want to learn more about how to engage in your communication process? Yes
Wondering what you have missed when communicating with others? Yes
Interested in joining a MASK-Communication workshop or training? Yes
Great article....the eyes are the window to your soul....and that's how I communicate while wearing a mask....along with gestures.
I think there would be great value in teaching mask communication since many individuals believe they need to expose their mouths to communicate effectively. But exposing your mouths is not recommended in this pandemic time.