Sun Communicators' Group Blog

Communicating thru Actions, Not Words

I was in California at Sun HQ for business last week.
My dog, Grace did not get to come with me. 

I returned on Friday morning after taking the red eye from San Francisco to Boston.  I was so happy to get home.
Grace was happy to see me.....for about 5 minutes.

After a quick nap,  I went to my home office to log in for a few hrs and catch up on the email I'd missed while I attended meetings most of the week.  It was back to business as usual - or so I thought.

But something was missing.  Grace was not sitting in her usual spot next to my desk.

She was ignoring me!! (Really!)

Her 'message' was very clear, "To me, you are not home today."

No, I'm not a dog whisperer.   I am however, a communications professional and I know that non verbal communication can often be more impactful than the spoken word.

While Grace couldn't verbalize her dissatisfaction with my business travel,  she decided to take up residence in the her chair where she is allowed to sit when I am not home.   With the exception of one time when Grace first moved in (almost 2 yrs ago)  she has never sat in that chair while I am home.

Friday was different. I was home.  Grace stayed in the her chair all day!

Finally, at the end of the day, when I asked if she would "like to go for a ride"  (so that I could pick up Chinese take-out), Grace became my friend again.   She even 'hugged' me before she ran to the car!

As the writers on the Dog Blog often share, we can learn a lot about communications practices from our pets.

Watching Grace express her dissatisfaction with me made me stop and take pause to be more aware of the nonverbal cues that I could be communicating.

Posted at 02:52PM Feb 11, 2008 by sandyb in Best Practices  |  Comments[0]