I’ve seen this so many times it probably rates as a TTPP (Top Ten Pet Peeve).Today it was someone stating how much passion she had about something. In a monotone voice. With zero excitement in her voice. With no gesture, movement, or increase in audience focus. In short, showing absolutely none of the passion that she supposedly claimed to have.Albert Mehrabian‘s famous (and often misquoted) study at UCLA concludes that in situations where the verbal message, tone of voice, and body language do not match, the latter two elements make up 93% of the audience’s perceived message. When there is a clearly stated message, the non-verbal message must be congruent to the words being used.Consider what this means when we use words and phrases like “I’m happy…”, “This is important to me…”, “I really value your input…”, or “This is the best solution…”
Make your tone and body language match your words.
