Communication and the use of Emojis - a sign of the times???

Recent research on the latest communication processes has brought up a very interesting development from the business world. A development that really surprised me. With so many options available now in the communication space, digital communication has very much become a target for psychological studies all over the world. What is this development that might raise some eyebrows???Well, apparently, progressive businesses are now opting to include emojis in their business correspondence. Now, who would have considered that??

Let’s look a bit deeper at the subject. Emojis started to find their way into the workplace around 2012, and while many initially viewed them as unprofessional, that perception has evolved, with nearly everyone using them in some capacity during their working week. Many assume the word?emoji?has roots in emotion, but the connection is purely coincidental. It actually comes from the Japanese for picture. Essentially, the word describes a pictograph. Pictographs were used as the earliest known form of writing in Egypt and Mesopotamia. We’ve all heard the phrase: “A picture’s worth a thousand words”.?

The word “emoji” is actually Japanese for two words: “e,” meaning picture, and “moji,” meaning character.?Emojis?have become a cultural phenomenon, much more than just fun characters and smiley faces we exchange in texts, tweets and emails with family and friends. They are apparently shaping how we express business ideas and emotions in the workplace too. Linguists and data scientists are seeking new ways to study language and communication in the digital space. This topic has emerged as one worthy of consideration.?When it comes to emails, texts, and other messaging, emotions frequently get lost in the mix. The failure to clearly convey emotions and the inability to accurately decipher underlying emotions could?prompt both intrapersonal and interpersonal conflict. To avoid perpetuating these problems,?we must begin to better understand emotions in online situations.

Emotion and Emojis

Emojis help?communicate emotion, something that words cannot portray. They indicate tone that might otherwise be misconstrued and can boost connectivity. They are a universal language regardless of native speech.?This presents an opportunity to not just talk about the little emojis we send, but also the deeper meaning behind what this tells us about emotional intelligence in the workplace. Emojis can increase the ability to multitask e.g. sending an emoji if you are involved in a busy meeting and can’t type out a full response. While this process should never be used to give in-depth feedback or guidance, it can be a valuable way to promote recognition or show excitement in a quick and personalised way.

Let’s look at what neuroscience tells us about personalisation, dynamism, and context having a positive impact in emoji communication.?It is widely recognized that emotional intelligence is absolutely critical to success in our life, our work, and our relationships. Emotional intelligence being defined as “the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others”. However, since we are on about emojis here, what about emoji intelligence? How can we use emojis intelligently, to communicate effectively, heighten empathy in relationships, and create better responses and understanding? How can we address the complexity and nuances of human communication with emojis???I think we all agree that emotions are a critical consequence of being human. We all have a need to express ourselves every single day in so many ways - happy, sad, angry, upset, concerned etc. According to the neuroscience of face perception, “Most of us pay more attention to faces than we do to anything else. We know experimentally that people respond differently to faces than they do to other object categories.” Scientists have discovered that when we look at an emoji, the same very specific parts of the brain are activated as when we look at a real human face. For example, consider this scenario. You get a message from your boss and it says:

“I want to see you Monday morning in my office at 9am”.

Now view the message delivered with attached emojis.

“I want to see you Monday morning in my office at 9am.???????”

The first statement could cause you to be worried that something was wrong and you were in trouble. That’s not the case in the second statement because the emojis add a feeling of appreciation and positivity. I believe embracing the emoji world into your business communication will take courage to embrace.??It is different. It is unusual but it is also unique and in a world of sameness, that could be a your USP and separate you from the crowd???We would need to be careful about selecting an emoji that may confuse or be misunderstood by your audience. There are hundreds and hundreds of different emojis and many people will not know what they all represent.??That’s a fact at present and poses a challenge as a result. But the younger generation do recognise many of them…and that’s the point.??They are very familiar with this shortened form of communication so I believe we will all have to consider adopting the emoji as part of our future connectivity strategy with our market.??An emoji will have to be used in context, knowing the nature of the audience or the person at the receiving end of the emoji. A facial wink or smile nuances text language, providing a crucial contextualisation cue, aiding our understanding of the spoken word.

While all this is not rocket science, it may enhance our communication.??The emotive stamp, linked with the words, could convey the “inner you” which can build relationships.??Why???It shares the real “you and your feelings”, the very basis of trust and care. It inspires connection. So if we accept the power of using emojis, let’s use emoji intelligence to better our game in digital communications. Emotional intelligence in the workplace is critical to building a culture of motivation, acceptance, productivity and collaboration but there is room for emotional intelligence to evolve with technological advances.?Emojis can help to clarify the missing emotions, which otherwise?may be left up to interpretation by the reader.

As the line between personal and professional communication is increasingly blurred and with multiple generations in the workplace, we’re seeing a shift in both the tools people use to communicate and?how?they communicate on a daily basis.??The future is not what it used to be?????