How Do We Communicate Behind a Mask?

How Do We Communicate Behind a Mask?

Andy Jordan

– August 19, 2020

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at andy.jordan@roffensian.com. Andy’s new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

A lot of places around the world are mandating the use of face masks to try and limit further spread of COVID-19. While the details vary considerably across jurisdictions, many of you will find yourselves in situations where you are having to work—and communicate—effectively in an environment where most or all people are wearing masks.

For most of us, that’s going to be a very new experience that we are ill-prepared for. So how do we ensure we communicate effectively when some of our means of communication are inhibited? That’s what I want to consider here, as well as looking at how we as project managers can help our teams to remain effective communicators.

Masks and body language
Every project manager is trained to be a good communicator, and body language is an important part of that. In particular, facial expressions are key in determining the underlying feelings, mood, etc. of people. Psychologists who have studied the topic tell us that we tend to view facial features in their entirety when assessing body language, with eyes and mouth being two of the most important elements.

Clearly that’s impacted when wearing masks—we don’t see mouths at all, and our approach to “reading” people has to change because only part of the face is now visible. That’s potentially made worse if the mask has a design or …

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Published at Wed, 19 Aug 2020 04:00:00 +0000