MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2012
From often quoted research of Professor Albert Mehrabian Professor Emeritus of Psychology, UCLA
7% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is in the words that are spoken.
38% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is the way that the words are said.
55% of message pertaining to feelings and attitudes is in facial expression.
Egad.
It’s no wonder we find ourselves more frequently insulted, put off, and frustrated by our communications these days.
It’s been my observation that Architects, as a rule, are busy. Perhaps, as a rule, too busy.
For me, it’s been relatively non stop – starting in college with all night studio marathons; and continuing to this day. Even when business is ‘slow’ – I’m still going FAST. In fact, I’ll admit – to the delight of my wife Kris – that she has nailed my habit: as soon as a glimmer of free space opens up, with the unbridled optimism of a child (or better analogy? state legislator with a temporary budget surplus) I pounce on that bit of ‘light in the tunnel’ with a passion of new ideas.
With so much to do … it’s unfortunately easy to treat as indulgences such importances as pleasantries, cheerful chat, and even conversation … after all, thebusiness part of talking can be more efficiently managed by email … or can it ?
The shortcuts to simple, slow and rich communication that technology has put at my disposal, are not so good at sharing feelings and attitudes – as professor Mehrabian has documented. In fact, they are terrible.
Need to bark orders? Email works great! Get in touch with inner feelings of a co-worker or friend – not so much. Without the visual clues of meetings, or even the subtle tonal variations of talking – 93% of the ‘feeling and attitude’ associated with messages evaporate.
Ouch.
Slowing down – that’s hard. It means letting go of things that seem important; and getting less done in a day, an hour, a minute.
It’s a struggle to slow down
Perhaps … I’ll add it to my todo list …
sigh
Michael F. Malinowski