Would You Use Emojis With a Business Contact? 🤔

After being around for more than 20 years, emojis have crossed over into business communications. Would you give that a 👍 or a 👎?

Do you think emojis have a place in business communication? And what does an API stand for? 

API stands for application program interface. In computer terms, this means that one computer has sent a message to another, and then it’s been returned for confirmation. It’s similar to the way that we speak to each other as human beings: we send out a message and if communication happens, well, we actually bounce that communication back to confirm that it all has taken place accurately. 
Now, for a computer, it’s pretty straightforward. Code is very structured and its effects are predictable, which means that connection is almost always guaranteed. 
With humans, it’s a bit more challenging. You see, anytime there’s a bit of emotion in our communication, it means that really only about 7 percent is spoken word, 38 percent has to do with voice and tonality, and 55 percent is body language. 

With that in mind, how does it play out when it comes to all the different short message services and the online communication that we have today? Do emails and short messages convey tonality? Probably not always the way we want them to. 
In fact, it’s quite easy to misread communication. Have you ever had a misinterpreted email or chat messageーeither that you’ve misinterpreted or the other person has? Chances are that you have. 
So what if we also had an API in our interactions to ensure that communication is closed off properly? And what if our API, in fact, stood for Assume Positive Intent?

Here’s an example of how it plays out in the workplace between a manager and a teammate. In this example, the manager needs a file really quickly, and they’re communicating via short message service.
Manager: “Lucy, the client is here!!! Where’s the sales presentation???

Lucy: “On Google Drive.”

Manager: “Where???!!!” 

Lucy: “One moment. Sent you a link.”

Manager: “Thanks but the email hasn’t arrived.”

Lucy: “Oh, I sent it on Slack.”

Now we often interpret the exclamation marks as being really angry. And the question marks, lots of them, signal that the other person is frustrated. What if we took a different view and we use emojis to see if it could shift the same message by adding some tonality?

Manager: “Lucy! 👼 The client’s here! 😱 Where’s the sales presentation? 🙈🙈🙈 Can’t find it!

Lucy: “On Google Drive.”

Manager: “Where??? 😟” 

Lucy: “One moment. 🚀” (Meaning: I’m working on this as fast as I can.) “Sent you the link on Slack and email.”

Manager: “Thanks! ✌👏🤩💙”

Lucy: “You’re welcome! I’ll add the presentation link to your calendar for future sales presentation. So it’s one click away. Good luck today. I’ll be here to take notes and put them into the CRM after the meeting.”  

Isn’t that powerful? Now that could have been exactly the same conversation but easily misinterpreted, if we don’t have the right level of tonality. This is especially true when we look at our different personality styles or personality archetypes. 

We use the www.tick.com.au bird personality profiles in the www.go.team tribe. It’s a little bit like DISC personality profiles but easier to remember. There are four archetypes: the peacock, the dove, the eagle, and the owl. And each of these archetypes has different communication styles. 

But the use of emojis actually makes it easier to convey the right level of tonality and to connect with others. So this is a paradigm shift moment for all of us.

If you’re open to new forms of communication to be more effective, especially in a global team environment or anywhere that you’ve got a distributed team and using short message services, using emojis will bring greater tonality and connection within your communication. 💬✍📲👼 So, be all out, be free in the use of your emojis. 

**********

Thinking of starting or expanding your own global team? We’d love to help! Ask a question or book your free discovery call via sales@go.team!