How much responsibility do we have for the way our tone is interpreted when we speak?

Catherine Fitzgerald started our conversation out by saying she felt like there is some responsibility on both sides of a conversation for being aware of tone, sharing that her neurodiverse son doesn’t do as well with using and understanding social cues as others might.

 

Kevin Wash added that the tone of our voice is a major player in communication – get loud and people will shut down. Whisper and they will come closer to hear you. And then there are cultural differences. In northern Europe a few words said pointedly is good enough. Other cultures are more flowery in the way they communicate.

 

Tim Hawkes started out by saying no we weren’t responsible for our tone and that the listener needed to adjust but then straightway talked himself into a 50/50 split of responsibility. But in addition to that there is the idea that if he is feeling good and confident then someone’s tone doesn’t matter very much. He can just brush it off.

 

But if he’s not in a great place, their tone might cause him to crumble further.

 

I feel like this is one of those situations where it might not be your fault but it is your problem. If you’re tone puts someone off and you need to communicate with them, you need to do something about that.

 

This ten minutes flew by in a blink and in the end Tim made the point that we are, in the very least, responsible for being aware of our tone.

 

If we are responsible for how the other person receives it… That is a question I would love for you the listener to answer in the comments.

 

Connect with the panelists:
Catherine Fitzgerald: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catherine-a-fitzgerald/

Is a writer, speaker, certified coach, and founder of Brass Tacks with Heart-executive coaching.  She helps founders, owners, and C-Suite Executives and their teams to build businesses that fuel their lives, not consume them.

 

Tim Hawkes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timhawkes/

Managing Director of Unlimited Potential. Mental engineer and executive coach focusing on logical and practical solutions to challenging problems.  He is in the UK

 

Kevin Wash: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-wash-23b90915/

Coach, mentor, author, trainer, and speaker running a consultancy business specializing in sales for international property development. Based in Spain

 

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

Concierge High Performance Psychologist providing luxury level support to executives, entrepreneurs, celebrities, dignitaries and athletes as well as the Facilitator of the Quick Hits podcast

 

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/

 

 

  #QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#Tone #communication #responsibility