HUMAN NETWORK: Experiencing Technical Distractions?

4 Steps to Influence Through the Noise —

Have you ever thought about how many emails and texts you send each day, or how those messages impact your influence? Each one is an opportunity to stand out from the crowd and grow your influence. Each one is also an opportunity to be misinterpreted, to damage your reputation, and to negate your influence.

Technology has affected almost every aspect of our professional and personal lives, including our ability to influence others. Technology, however, is a double-edged sword when it comes to influence. While technology makes communicating easier, it is much more difficult for us to influence others Monday to Monday®.

We live in a world of noise where we are always on and always connected. This fast-paced world causes us to overlook the importance of influence. We don’t stop to think about how we "show up" or how our communication will be received. Messages at the bottom of emails sent via smartphones asking recipients for forgiveness of spelling errors are solid proof. It’s easier and faster to ask forgiveness than to check ourselves before we hit Send.

Recent statistics indicate that 89 billion business emails are sent worldwide each day. According to The Radicati Group, the average corporate email user sends and receives between 105 and 125 email messages per day. That is an astounding number, which doesn’t even include text messages. A report by HeyWire Business found that 67% of business professionals use text messaging for business-related communication. Of those professionals, 72% text with internal co-workers and 51% text with external contacts, such as customers, prospects, and vendors. More than 33% of sales professionals say they have closed a business deal via text. The report concluded, "Business has stopped talking and started texting."

When it comes to influence, every single interaction — including virtual ones — matters. Every presentation, conversation, impromptu meeting, email, text, post, or phone call, is a representation of who you are, and directly determines how others experience you. Every interaction is a representation of your "voice" and your personal brand, and establishes your reputation. Every interaction either enhances or detracts from your influence.

Technology makes it more difficult to influence, because you can’t influence your listeners if they’re not paying attention. I bet you can relate to this example: You’ve been preparing for weeks for a critical meeting. You’ve done the research, identified what is important to your listeners and have even spent time practicing your message and delivery. The day of the meeting you’re confident your listeners will take action on your recommendations. As you begin to share your message, you look up to a room full of people on their electronic devices, heads bowed in the "smartphone prayer".

HeyWire Business reports that 97% of text messages are read within 3 minutes of delivery. This suggests that the people in your audience will likely check their devices at least once, if not multiple times, during your presentation. HeyWire Business also found that 59% of people use their personal mobile device frequently for business communications. There is a strong possibility that your listeners will receive emails and texts from customers, colleagues, team members, their significant other, and perhaps Amazon confirming their order, while you’re trying to have influence on them. How many of those incoming messages will result in multiple-message conversations?

When you deliver that critical message you’ve worked so hard on, will you have your listeners’ full attention? What is the likelihood they will all act on your recommendations?

You can try to eliminate digital noise by banning all electronic devices. (Good luck with that one!) Yet you will never be able to remove all distractions. To break through the many distractions we take on daily, be heard, understood and able to influence Monday to Monday® by taking these 4 steps:

4 Steps to Be Heard Over Technical Gadgets
1. Pause. The silence will grab the offenders’ attention and bring it back to you and your message.

2. Look individuals in the eye. When speaking, look directly at an individual for a complete sentence or thought. That’s something most presenters don’t do. Your audience will immediately sense that you are connecting with them. If they know you will catch them not paying attention, they will be less likely to get sucked into their technical gadgets.

3. Take control. State at the beginning with confidence In order to honor everyone’s time and receive the value you expect from our time together, please close and silence your phones, tablets and laptops. This will also allow us to end on time.

4. Be interesting. Boring communicators don’t grab and keep listeners’ attention. Instead, they zone out when you read from your slides, especially when filled to capacity with charts, graphs, and unreadable fonts. No one wants to be read to. Make a real connection with your listeners by communicating with passion and authenticity.

If you don’t have people’s attention, you can’t influence them. In the battle for your listeners’ and readers’ attention, only one thing is going to win. Will it be you and your message or their constantly chirping devices? If you are not more engaging and compelling than the digital distraction of the moment, you and your message will lose every time.

Read Did You Know 144.8 Billion Emails Are Sent Every Day? At http://mashable.com/2012/11/27/email-stats-infographic/#8CF14KqAtGqB.

For more information, visit http://www.radicati.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Email-Statistics-Report-2011-2015-Executive-Summary.pdf to read the Email Statistics Report, 2011-2015.

Read HeyWire Business Text Messaging Survey Shows 67 Percent of Professionals are Texting for Business at https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140129005294/en/HeyWire-Business-Text-Messaging-Survey-Shows-67.

About the Author: Stacey Hanke is the founder and communication expert of Stacey Hanke Inc. She is the author of Influence Redefined: Be the Leader You Were Meant to Be, Monday to Monday® and Yes You Can! Everything You Need From A to Z to Influence Others to Take Action. Stacey and her team have delivered thousands of presentations and workshops for leaders of Fortune 500 companies, including Coca-Cola, Nationwide, FedEx, Kohl’s and AbbVie. Learn more at www.staceyhankeinc.com.