The Four Laws of Digital Body Language

Value Visibly

Value Visibly means being attentive and careful about others' communications. Taking enough time to read and judge the texts, getting the reply ready within the time limit and sending those to the correct recipients quickly are part of this important element, Value Visibly. The most vital part is the level of respect and appreciation we can transmit through our quick responses. More specifically, we have to focus on the points below,

• Respecting other people’s time and attention and not rescheduling meetings at the last moment or delaying your response
• not putting the mute button on hold during a conference call
• Using in detail and clear subject lines in meeting invitations
• Transmitting the equivalent of a smile or “thank you” across digital channels.

Communicate Carefully

This point involves using useful words and necessary expressions carefully so that the need can be communicated properly to the intended persons. The main purposes to communicate carefully are,

• Eliminating confusion
• Clearly understanding of each team members' needs and expectations
• Streamlining effective communications to reduce the inefficiencies
• Creating a team alignment through careful and clear communication

Collaborate Confidently

Modern workplaces are characterized by uncertainties, fear and abrupt challenges. To deal with these, a great team effort, support and commitmet are needed. That is why confident collaboration is an important part. Collaborate confidently means,

• Getting people empowered enough so that they can respond with care and patience devoiding the normal practice of responding to everything immediately in a 24/7 workplace.
• Putting much importance on thoughtfulness, reducing groupthink behavior. it means letting each people talk freely rather than collecting individual person's opinion privately through phone calls.
• Preparing a remote member of a team ready to conduct a live meeting so that each member of the team feels included.
• Removing the bias regarding our teammates who are physically present in the room

Trust Totally

Trusting Totally means creating an open and engaging team culture, where everyone feels included and knows confidently that they are being listened to with respect and care. Trust makes such a workplace where everyone is helpful to one another, and where everyone can ask for favors whose rewards may or may not be immediate.

"Trust Totally refers to a workplace environment where no one wastes time sweating the small stuff, where an ambiguously worded message or late-to-arrive response doesn’t automatically give rise to fear, anxiety, or insecurity, and where we confidently assume everyone is on our side. This is a pretty big ask these days, but Trust Totally works." - Erica Dhawan

Below are some examples of digital body language. Source: The Digital Body Language by Erica Dhawan,

*********************************************************************TRUST:

Traditional Body Language: keep your palms open; uncross your arms and legs; smile and nod.

Digital Body Language: use language that is direct with clear subject lines; end emails with a friendly gesture (Text me if you need anything! Hope this helps.); never bcc anyone without warning; mirror the sender’s use of emojis and/or informal punctuation.

*********************************************************************ENGAGEMENT:

Traditional Body Language: lean in with your body as another person is talking; uncross your arms and legs; smile; nod; make direct eye contact.

Digital Body Language: prioritize timely responses; send responses that answer all questions or statements in the previous message (not just one or two); send a simple Got it! or Received if the message doesn’t merit a longer response; don’t use the mute button as a license to multitask; use positive emojis like thumbs-up or smiley faces.

*********************************************************************EXCITEMENT:

Traditional Body Language: speak quickly; raise your voice; express yourself physically by jumping up and down or tapping your fingers on your desk.

Digital Body Language: use exclamation points and capitalization; prioritize quick response times; send multiple messages in a row without getting a response first; use positive emojis (smiley faces, thumbs-up, high fives).

*********************************************************************URGENCY:

Traditional Body Language: raise your voice; speak quickly; point your finger (or make any other exaggerated gesture).

Digital Body Language: use all caps paired with direct language or sentences that end in multiple exclamation marks; opt for a phone call or a meeting over a digital message; skip greetings; use formal closings, Reply All, or Cc to direct attention; issue the same message on multiple digital channels simultaneously.

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