This is the latest entry in a series of blogs based off the latest Level Five Associates book, The Power of Being All In.

Research has shown that body language and tone can account for up to 93% of communication, leaving only 7% for words.  If that is the case, then most electronic forms of information sharing (text, email, etc.) fall woefully short of being effective.  They are the heart of what I call the communication desert.

As I mentioned in the book, The Power of Being All In, “We have inadequately defined ‘the transfer of information’ as communication.” 

An over-reliance on email and text is deceiving ourselves into believing we are communicating.

In essence, we have allowed the lowest level of communication to become our standard — where information is simply passed along — yet we think it is understood by our subordinates. Is it really, though?

“Ninety percent of the time people think their emails and texts are understood by the recipients, but actually the messages are only understood 50 percent of the time,” writes Nick Morgan in his book Can You Hear Me? How to Connect with People in a Virtual World.

I think the only way we can successfully cross “the communication desert” is to use the backbrief (or confirmation brief, as they say in the military) to ensure we have a two-way understanding.  Our information-sharing systems must include methods for confirmation — verifying that the other person actually understands what we are telling them!

In a meeting, ask selected members for a backbrief of what has been discussed.  In an electronic message, establish rules for a written acknowledgment of what you understand to be the task to be accomplished.  Follow up with phone calls or virtual summaries when the text and email messages are urgent and important.

These tools must become a habit if they are going to stick. Confirmation and understanding translate mere information into communication. They are the cornerstones of ensuring that what others hear is what you think you said (or wrote). Otherwise, we merely expect everyone to read, see, and hear what we want them to. In the complex world we’re in, comprised of hybrid workspaces and remote teams, this assumption can be fatal.

You can rest assured your competition will figure out how to cross the communication desert even if you don’t.  So, it’s time to establish a culture of adaptive leadership where we ensure mutual understanding in the way we do things.

Enjoy the journey!

This blog post is based on the book, “The Power of Being All In.” You can download the first chapter for free at this link. Or, if you’d like to purchase the entire book (available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook), it is available on Amazon.

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