Communicating effectively … even from
behind a mask!

Peter Drucker, the famous marketing guru, once famously said, “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said!”

Even before cognitive and language development, we human beings learnt to communicate with a fine, often unconscious, mix of facial expressions, hand gestures, body language, pitch & tone of voice, and much more. In fact, studies have revealed that almost 55% of all communication is non-verbal. Over time, with constant use one can communicate by rolling one’s eyes in exasperation or wrinkling one’s nose in distaste or just smiling that cues a wealth of expressions. This is well illustrated by the plethora of emoticons available on social media platforms that punctuate all present-day social media ‘virtual’ conversations.

When so much of communication depends on facial expressions, verbal and non-verbal, it is not surprising that with the mandates of the new normal to wear masks, human beings around the world are striving to express themselves clearly and cogently with their faces covered. With the face no longer entirely visible, holistic processing of communication has been disrupted, lament experts and psychologists, and a lot more is being lost in transit since we have been incredibly attuned to reading and processing facial expressions to interact socially, avoid misunderstandings and comprehend messaging.

With no faces to read, people are struggling to quickly learn how to understand one another purely through voice, words, semaphore, and the visible part of the face. While the communicator must find more easily recognizable, non-verbal cues, the receiver too needs to adapt to a new normal by developing the ability to pick up non-verbal and / or body clues to comprehend better. Some of us may find it difficult to conduct deep and meaningful conversations from behind a mask. Imagine a discussion with your Immediate Superior about your performance ratings with both of you behind a mask!

Ever adaptable, humans are already learning to be more attentive and attuned to gestures, intonations, physical cues, and such like. Difficulty to hear and understand words owing to muffled voices behind a mask are some oft heard complaints in recent times best explained when listening to ground reports from TV journalists. Even so, people are learning to speak with greater vocal inflections, varying pitches, and tones of voice, and even using eyes and eyebrows to greater effect!

Certainly, those with hearing difficulties are the hardest hit who constitute about 5% of the world’s population. Apart from loss of clarity, lip reading has been completely taken out of the equation leading to experiments in transparent masks.

Interestingly, at construction sites, the mandate can be considered a blessing in disguise. “All our sites pose respiratory hazards like particulate or vapor hazards,” warns, V Ramanathan, Head – EHS, PT&D IC, “and therefore it is not just about wearing masks but using hazard-specific Respiratory Protective Equipment or RPE.” An industry that records a high incidence of lung-related ailments, masks protect workmen and supervisors from inhaling the dreaded silica dust that is proving to be the undoing of many, apart from other toxic dust and vapours.

In his famous book, Think and grow rich, Napoleon Hill once said, “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache comes with the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” K S Sudheesh Kumar, Head – EHS, WET IC elaborates, “At our construction sites, everyone including clients are wearing masks along with all the necessary PPEs revealing an enhanced level of commitment towards EHS implementation and Digitalization to achieve Vision Zero Harm at every level of business operation.”

With masks unavoidable, it pays to follow a few ground rules to communicate effectively from behind it:

• First and foremost, ascertain if you have correctly identified the person you wish to communicate with
•  Get his/her attention and establish eye contact before starting the conversation
• It is always better to face the person you are addressing
• Speak a little louder than normal without shouting
• Speak slower than normal; it helps to over-stress your words
• Body language can come in very handy
• Amplify verbal and visual cues like intonations, nodding, pronounced movement of eyes, eyebrows, and hands
• Use of hand gestures can be effective especially in a noisy site atmosphere or during PEP talks at project sites
• Keep checking if the receiver has received the message the way that you want him/her to understand it.
• Be more empathetic, patient, and focused

The Coronavirus has come to live with us. Measures like maintaining social distancing and wearing masks will have to continue not only to protect yourself but our colleagues and loved ones until we are able to overcome the virus. At all times, let us keep following the 3 Ws – Wear a mask, Wash your hands and Watch your distance from others. Till such time that we are not out of harm’s way, if we have lemons, let us make lemonade!