EMOJI.

Tomorrow is World Emoji Day (July 17th).

Not the most distinctive holiday in a monthly calendar, but certainly whimsical. Have you ever sent a message with pure emojis? Try it tomorrow and then ask the person to interpret your message.

So where or when did emojis become part of written and verbal dialogue in our communications with each other? When did we shorten our communication to colorful, cartoon characters?

HISTORY OF THE EMOJI LANGUAGE

Emoji are more than a millennial messaging fad. Think of them more like a primitive language. The tiny, emotive characters—from 😜 to 🎉 to 💩—represent the first language born of the digital world, designed to add emotional nuance to otherwise flat text. Emoji have been popular since they first appeared on Japanese mobile phones in the late ’90s, and in the past few years they have become a hallmark of the way people communicate. They show up in press releases and corporate emails. The White House once issued an economic report illustrated with emoji. In 2015, 😂 became Oxford Dictionaries’ "Word of the Year." Emoji aren’t just for people who say things like “lmao smh tbh fam.” Emoji are for everyone. (Wired.com)

I believe an emoji communicates a feeling, yet every emoji is not interpreted the same. When I look at the photo and I see an egg with two X's for eyes and its mouth open it might mean someone is either asleep, passed out or dead. How would you interpret it?

Now it could be a generational interpretation (egg emojis), but here goes...

• Cheshire grin could mean I'm going to grin and bear it or I'm biting my tongue so not to speak.

• Crying and laughing at the same time could mean joy, nervousness or exhilaration.

• Squinting and smiling could be the sun is too bright or I can't look without laughing.

• Wide eye expression could mean I don't believe what I'm seeing or question what am I seeing.

• One eye open and the tongue sticking out I'm just not sure about.

• Hearts for eyes seems very universal...LOVE.

More than anything the emoji is meant to communicate, but is it the most effective language?

Our only other option is words as effective communicators.

In an article, The Role of Communication in Leadership, it states, "Research indicates a strong link between communication and effective leadership. A study conducted by Weisman Success Resources found that 44 percent of responding business leaders reported they were unhappy with their employees’ work. Of that group, 70 percent said they felt they needed to improve how they communicated with their employees in order to resolve the performance issues and improve motivation. Of the group that was happy with their team’s performance, 70 percent of the managers attributed this to their communication skills."

In the same article by The Judson Group, they list (6) qualities to strong communication.

• Clarity

• Personalization

• Transparency

• Listening

• Feedback

• Inspiration

Effective leadership requires knowing how to communicate with various groups within an organization, including employees, managers, customers and investors. Each group may require a different communication and leadership style, and although leaders must be able to adapt based on the group they are communicating with at the time, there are key principles of effective leadership communication that universally drive collaboration and success. As always, I recommend reading the entire article at https://www.judson-group.com/role-communication-leadership/

So the next time you want to shorten your written communication for work, consider the effectiveness of the messaging using an emoji or your words. While cute emojis evoke a smile, do they have a place in our work communications or are they for personal messaging only? Can you merge the two to be an effective communicator?

Only you can decide, but I recommend being clear and concise, otherwise, they may think you have expired :-)

What She Said ~ Beverly

#emoji

#communication

#effectiveleadership

#communicator

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