Verbal vs. Written Communication

Quick reference

• 00:04 Once you figured out what you want to say, should you just say it?
• 00:09 Or another question?
• 00:11 Should you be writing using the same words you'd use in conversation or
• 00:15 should you choose different words?
• 00:17 The answer isn't yes or no.
• 00:20 It's, it depends.
• 00:23 As we learned before, the major challenge in communication is in making sure
• 00:28 that what you're trying to say is exactly what the audience will understand.
• 00:33 To do this, we need to answer the following questions whether we communicate
• 00:38 verbally or in writing.
• 00:39 You need to know who, what, and why.
• 00:43 That is who is the receiver of the message?
• 00:47 What's the message?
• 00:49 And why is it important?
• 00:52 In the case of writing, you need to determine if writing is even the best
• 00:56 channel for this audience or circumstance.
• 00:58 How does your organization's culture influence the choice to send
• 01:03 out a company memo?
• 01:04 Will email be more effective than a hardcopy bulletin?
• 01:08 Is there an even better suggestion?
• 01:10 Will a message sent on a chat platform be perceived as less formal or
• 01:14 less important than one sent by a more traditional method?
• 01:19 Since the channel we choose can change the way a message is understood.
• 01:23 What's the difference between choosing a verbal and a written channel?
• 01:28 Lots of research has been done on this topic, with one popular theory being that
• 01:34 we lose about 55% of the message when the facial element is removed,
• 01:39 and only 7% is attributed to the words themselves.
• 01:43 The remaining 38% we get from the tone or voice of the speaker.
• 01:49 Now this study sometimes challenged by other researchers, but
• 01:53 the takeaway is that communication consists of different dimensions.
• 01:57 And whether we realize it or not,
• 02:00 we're encoding our face to face messages in ways that we lose.
• 02:04 When we communicate in writing, at least half of it,
• 02:08 if this communication model is correct.
• 02:10 Assuming that this is correct,
• 02:12 this means that we start written communication with a 50% handicap.
• 02:17 So then we have to ramp up on the other aspects of our communication
• 02:21 because the distribution of the communication pie now changes.
• 02:26 When we use written communication,
• 02:29 our nonverbal cues are lost or greatly reduced.
• 02:34 Since we lose the ability to smile, frown, gesture, raise or
• 02:39 lower our voices, then we have to figure out a way to get our words and
• 02:44 tone of writing to do that for us.
• 02:47 This means that for business writing, we often have to choose different words when
• 02:51 writing something that we otherwise be saying verbally.
• 02:54 We also have to use appropriate punctuation to convey the right mood and
• 02:59 inflection.
• 03:00 So when we write something in a business setting,
• 03:03 we've gotta consciously realize that this is a one way transmission where
• 03:08 we can adjust what's being said based on the body language of the receiver.
• 03:13 For instance, if we're communicating with someone face to face, and
• 03:18 we notice a puzzled look on their face, then we might make a decision to pause,
• 03:24 repeat, slow down, change the words and so on.
• 03:28 But we don't have that luxury in a letter, email or text message.
• 03:33 So if we're doing a written apology to a customer for instance,
• 03:37 we may have just one shot to ensure that what's written is written in
• 03:41 the best possible way to get the message across.
• 03:44 And we'll have to hope that the receiver will at best receive the intended
• 03:50 message clearly, or next best, they'll ask for clarification.
• 03:55 What we don't want to happen is for the receiver to misunderstand the message but
• 04:00 think they understood, then respond based on that misunderstanding.
• 04:05 Meanwhile, we get confused or annoyed by their response.
• 04:09 And that's the definition of miscommunication.
• 04:13 The solution is to improve our communication methods by making sure
• 04:18 that we choose the right words.
• 04:20 But more importantly, that we understand how we might be conveying tone,
• 04:25 and voice in writing, and what we can do to get it right each time.

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