Message and Medium

You need to consider the medium as well as the message. Those of us with a learning and teaching background will be familiar with the idea that people have different learning styles and prefer learning resources in different formats. The same will be true of stakeholders in a change situation so it is wise to consider making information available in a range of different media.

A related but often misunderstood issue is 'Mehrabian's Rule' also known as the '7% - 38% - 55% rule'. Mehrabian's research (Mehrabian 1981) indicated that when people are communicating feelings and attitudes only 7% of the message is conveyed by the words they use, 38% is conveyed by tone of voice and 55% by body language. This work is often misinterpreted as meaning that in any communication situation 93% of meaning is derived from non-verbal cues whereas Mehrabian was looking specifically at communicating feelings and attitudes. His research is however of interest when we consider the importance of feelings and attitudes in relation to a project instigating major change. If you respond to an email from a stakeholder about an issue relating to the project you may only have 7% of the possible information to go on. Similarly if you are trying to persuade someone the fact that your tone and body language match your message is very important.