Many times people say the best way to communicate with others is in person. This is so that you can pick up on all the non verbal cues and be able to see all parts of communication. In many cases this is the best way to communicate with others. In our digital era and with great distances between people video calls is considered the next best option, followed by a phone call, and then text based communications. Often times this order is not always the best option.
There are times that even if you have the option to meet in person you may elect to use digital communication tools so that others can see something you need to present more easily or accessibly. Other times even if you are a great distance away, you might make the effort to travel to have a meeting in person. Weird to think some people would travel twelve hours just for a half hour in person meeting. In some cases where verbose communication is needed written communication is sometimes the best.
I had an opportunity recently where I wrote a letter to someone because I knew in person communication I would wimp out of what I wanted to say, but with text I was able to format what I wanted to say in a gentle well intentioned manner. Where if I tried to say it, even with notes, I would jumble the message and make it hard to understand or convey, possibly, the wrong meaning. This got me thinking of how people communicate.
In our podcast "What Else You Got?" Margo and I record the episodes remotely, for a variety for reasons. First off we live in different states, and mainly we want to be able to share our conversation with those who enjoy our podcast. If we only did the podcast in person, we would loose some of the ability to edit the video to be able to show each speaker better.
I also thought of business executives and political leaders who spend a large amount of time traveling just so they can have in person meetings with others, so that they can communicate, not only their message or discussion, but many times the importance of the person they are meeting with to convey respect to the other person or party.
From there I even thought of legal documents are best communicated in written format instead of verbally, due to the complexities and subtleties of legal statements. Or even just to have clear notes on what someone was trying to say that you might forget easily or confuse quickly.
Or even for some written communication convey a sense of intimacy, due to the effort of writing something out and then sending a physical communication to someone else. Think of pen pals, or the random sticky note that your significant other left you.
In a fun manner even simple hand signals and grunts may be the best form of communication and fun you can have communicating with others.
Communication, whatever form it comes in, is how we connect with others. Whether that is formally in legal documents, or informally in grunts, everyone wants to convey their message and be understood. Understanding is what everyone wants, everyone wants to be heard.
How do you communicate?
Image Credit:
https://bespoke-coaching.com/blog/what-are-the-three-types-of-communication/