Erica Dhawan | Communicate Powerfully by Mastering Digital Body Language

In today’s episode, we cover digital body language with Erica Dhawan. Erica studied human innovation and collaboration for over 15 years, shared her insights with over 200 audiences around the world, and wrote the new best-selling book, Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance.

Now that we are working remotely more than ever before, our digital body language is crucial to our success in the workplace, but what is digital body language, how is it different from physical body language, and what can you start doing today to stand out as a leader?

What to Listen For

• What is digital body language? – 8:09

• Should you be concerned about your background on a Zoom call?
• What should you be concerned about most when you’re on a video call?
• How is digital body language different from the body language we use when face to face?

• How do you figure out what norms are acceptable in digital communication? – 13:44

• What assumptions do we need to stop making when communicating digitally and how are those assumptions eroding at our ability to communicate effectively?
• What can we do to make sure we’re not misreading messages and emails?

• What can we do to set clear expectations for digital communication? – 19:55
• How do we collaborate competently in the digital age when so much time is wasted in unclear communication?

• What are the four anxiety provoking events in digital communication? – 22:52
• What two questions should you ask yourself when you realize you’re getting stressed out or anxious about a message or email someone sent you?
• What should you do if you feel like a team member or friend seems disinterested in a group conversation or Zoom call?

• How do Zoom calls limit the generation of new ideas? – 34:44
• What can you do to foster team chemistry and help team members work together more effectively without team building activities?

• What three things can you do to maintain engagement over Zoom calls? – 40:00
• What can you do to be more engaged in meetings if you are the only person on Zoom and everyone else is in a meeting room together?
• What are the best practices for onboarding digital new hires?
• How is our digital body language changing our physical body language? – 54:15
• What ground rules can you incorporate today to set expectations for digital communication?

The digital age has caused an interesting shift in the way we communicate. Our tone and facial expressions are no longer conveyed through words alone, but also in our digital body language. Our digital body language is conveyed through many things including what’s behind you when you’re on a Zoom call, whether you use Slack or email to send a message, and the “tone” of your text messages. Therefore, it’s critical that we set clear expectations for digital communication to keep our teams on track and engaged as studies show up to 4 hours of productivity are lost per week due to unclear communication.

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Resources from this Episode

Erica Dhawan’s website

Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance by Erica Dhawan

The Digital Body Language Expert Course

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