Emails and company blogs and intranets are popular information channels. But if you’re initiating some meaningful change, using those channels isn’t communicating–it’s sending information.  People want to know how you feel about new initiatives, how you feel about the future, and what you think the best path forward will be–and why. They want to hear your voice, look into your eyes, and ask whatever questions pop into mind. There are sound psychological reasons for this:Psychology
Today’s  Allison Kornet explains: (bold face indicates my emphasis)While
studying how language patterns are associated with
improvements
in physical health, James W. Pennebaker, Ph.D., a professor of
psychology at Southern Methodist University, also began to explore
whether a person’s choice of words was a sign of deception.
Examining
data gathered from a text analysis program, Pennebaker and SMU
colleague Diane Berry, Ph.D., determined that there are certain
language patterns that predict when someone is being less than honest.
For example, liars tend to use fewer first person words like I
or my in
both speech and writing. They are also less apt to use emotional
words,
such as hurt or angry, cognitive words, like understand or realize, and
so-called exclusive words, such as but or without, that distinguish
between what is and isn’t in a category. And in a
study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,
Bella DePaulo, Ph.D. and Deborah A. Kashy, Ph.D., of Texas A&M
University,
report that frequent liars tend to be manipulative and Machiavellian,
not to mention overly concerned with the impression they make on
others.In DePaulo’s studies, participants (liars) described
conversations in which
they lied as less intimate and pleasant than truthful encounters,
suggesting that people are not entirely at ease with their deceptions.
That may explain why falsehoods are more likely to be told over
the
telephone, which provides more anonymity than a face-to-face
conversation.Lessons
for Change Leaders1. Even if you’re telling the whole truth, your credibility may be
diminished if you don’t communicate in person. Why? Because the lack of
face-to-face intimacy conveys an implicit undercurrent of deception. The
listeners may not even realize it, but they know at some level that
more truths get told in person than via another medium.2. Tell people what you think and feel by using “I” and “my” vs.
“Acme Widgetworks”. People care how you see the reality–in
detail–of the situation; and, specifically
why you are hopeful about the future.3. Changes prompt an entire range of emotions in everyone involved.
That means you, too. An absence of honest emotional language sends the
message that you actually don’t care. People don’t want a
canned business speech. They want you. That means hearing the impact the
changes are having and why, again, you are hopeful about the future in
light of the current reality.People can handle the truth. What they don’t handle well is finding
out later that they only heard part of the truth. If you’re tempted to put a little icing on the message, remember that
Marie Antoinette thought it was a good idea to “let them eat cake.” She
didn’t end up heads above her constituents.photo source: flickr.com/photos/78436618@N00/2687568244
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