During a recent Foundation course we had a valuable conversation about tone of voice. It’s not something that gets much consideration beyond an occasional mention. Maybe it should. It’s a significant aspect of our behaviour, one that has profound impact on how others experience and respond to what we say. The exchange got me wondering about how very differently we hear the same phrase according to tone. Even the everyday ‘thank you’ can go through a whole gamut of meanings, from warm, evident gratitude, through a lightly said, almost-neutral ‘thank you ‘ which serves as a ‘fine, next’ to the listener, to an inflected, semi-sarcastic ‘thank you’ which makes the recipient wonder if they’ve been thanked, corrected or sent up – it’s all in how it sounds. I like the honest self appraisal here http://bit.ly/2tmDeu9 and it makes me keen to experiment further with developing the most neutral (yet warm) tone for all kinds of interactions, while staying true to self.
I think Julian Widdows hits exactly the right tone in this talk to a recent gaming developers Conference (that’s video gaming) in London. I’m delighted to say that at about 5.30mins in Julian starts talking about the value and impact of the Thinking Environment on his company’s culture, for which, as General Manager, he is responsible. http://bit.ly/2FnGme5 Do have a look, and please do tell me what other great TE experiences you know about at work, I’m building a collection here. What have you noticed recently, while working in a Thinking Environment, that inspired you?