We’ve all heard the byword, “It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.”
What is the tone of voice?
The tone of voice is the way you speak, it’s not just the words you use but it conveys your feelings or emotions too to the listeners.
An aggressive or slighting tone doesn’t display your point any better than a conversational tone.
How Tone Becomes a Problem?
- Difference in societies – The cultural differences may affect, that communication was preconceived before it was said
- Generation gap at workspace – for example, saying “yup” rather than “yes” can be normal for the millennials but sound unskilful for the Gen X
- High-pressure surroundings – our tone gets inappropriate while being stressed out and overburdened with work. The intentions are not to offend, but the unflappable may suffer. Resulting in a loss of engagement and productivity
A few of the Measures on How our “Tonality” can be kept in check –
Recognize the issue and, whether the issue is genuine with the tone, or with the perspective/oversensitivity of the other party.
Working on your tone does not mean becoming a people pleaser or being sugary, but if you shift your tone from being aggressive, or irritated, you intend to become a “Good Communicator”.
- “Listen” very carefully to the other person, just hold on and give a bit of thought to your choice of words while you revert. Use your tone of voice to make fellowship
- Your tone should match the communication/message you are trying to convey
- Think of words that are precise, gracious, and formative, and get to the most important aspect of the situation
- Be very careful with emails: as soon as it’s “sent” there is no way of getting it back
- A slip of lingo should be remedied as soon as possible, don’t misinterpret it with justification but, it is always known in our subconscious mind where it “slipped”, so take responsibility for it and express yourself in a more clearer way. Try being “Assertive” than “Aggressive”
On a Final Note – Choose the approach that grows and develops you and with whom you’re working, not the one that demeans or makes people feel undervalued.
At the end of your interaction with your associates, you may not get the result you want from your senior/peer or subordinate, but you can get the feeling that you did the best you could while not losing your cool and being a skilled communicator.
