The effective use of body language plays a key role in effective leadership communication. From
“The Silent Language of Leaders:
How Body Language Can Help – or Hurt – How You Lead,” here are ten tips
I’ve learned during the past two decades of coaching leaders and their
teams around the world:
1) To boost your confidence, assume a power pose
Research at Harvard and
Columbia
Business Schools shows that simply holding your body in expansive,
“high-power” poses (leaning back with hands behind the head and feet up
on a desk, or standing with legs and arms stretched wide open) for as
little as two minutes stimulates higher levels
of testosterone — the hormone linked to power and dominance — and lower
levels of cortisol, a stress hormone.
Try
this when you’re feeling tentative but want to appear confident. In
addition to causing hormonal shifts in both males and females, these
poses lead to increased feelings of power
and a higher tolerance for risk. The study also found that people are
more often influenced by how they feel about you than by what you’re
saying. I personally use this one when I need confidence or wants the power. It really helps.
2) To increase participation, look like you’re listening
If
you want people to speak up, don’t multi-task while they do. Avoid the
temptation to check your text messages, check your watch, or check out
how the other participants are reacting.
Instead, focus on those who are speaking by turning your head and torso
to face them directly and by making eye contact. Leaning forward,
nodding and tilting your head are other nonverbal way to show you’re
engaged and paying attention. It’s important to hear
people. It’s just as important to make sure they know you are
listening.
3) To encourage collaboration, remove barriers
Physical
obstructions are especially detrimental to collaborative efforts. Take
away anything that blocks your view or forms a barrier between you and
the rest of the team. Even
at a coffee break, be aware that you may create a barrier by holding
your cup and saucer in a way that seems deliberately to block your body
or distance you from others. A senior executive told me he could
evaluate his team’s comfort by how high they held
their coffee cups. It was his observation that the more insecure
individuals felt, the higher they held their coffee. People with their
hands held at waist level were more comfortable than those with hands
chest high.
4) To connect instantly with someone, shake hands
Touch
is the most primitive and powerful nonverbal cue. Touching someone on
the arm, hand, or shoulder for as little as 1/40 of a second creates a
human bond. In the workplace, physical
touch and warmth are established through the handshaking tradition, and
this tactile contact makes a lasting and positive impression. A study
on handshakes by the Income Center for Trade Shows showed that people
are two times more likely to remember you if
you shake hands with them. The trade-show researchers also found that
people react to those with whom they shake hands by being more open and
friendly.
5) To stimulate good feelings, smile
A
genuine smile not only stimulates your own sense of well-being, it also
tells those around you that you are approachable, cooperative, and
trustworthy. A genuine smile comes on
slowly, crinkles the eyes, lights up the face, and fades away slowly.
Most importantly, smiling directly influences how other people respond
to you. When you smile at someone, they almost always smile in return.
And, because facial expressions trigger corresponding
feelings, the smile you get back actually changes that person’s
emotional state in a positive way.
6) To show agreement, mirror expressions and postures
When
clients or business colleagues unconsciously imitate your body
language, it’s their way of nonverbally saying that they like or agree
with you. When you mirror other people
with intent, it can be an important part of building rapport and
nurturing feelings of mutuality. Mirroring starts by observing a
person’s facial and body gestures and then subtly letting your body take
on similar expressions and postures. Doing so will make
the other person feel understood and accepted.
7) To improve your speech, use your hands
Brain
imaging has shown that a region called Broca’s area, which is important
for speech production, is active not only when we’re talking, but when
we wave our hands. Since gesture
is integrally linked to speech, gesturing as we talk can actually power
up our thinking.
Whenever
I encourage executives to incorporate gestures into their deliveries, I
consistently find that their verbal content improves. Experiment with
this and you’ll find that the
physical act of gesturing helps you form clearer thoughts and speak in
tighter sentences with more declarative language.
8) If you want to know the truth, watch people’s feet
When
people try to control their body language, they focus primarily on
facial expressions, body postures and hand/arm gestures. And since the
legs and feet are left unrehearsed,
they are also where the truth can most often be found. Under stress,
people will often display nervousness and anxiety through increased foot
movements. Feet will fidget, shuffle and wind around each other or
around the furniture. Feet will stretch and curl
to relieve tension, or even kick out in a miniaturized attempt to run
away. Studies show that observers have greater success judging a
person’s real emotional state when they can see the entire body. You may
not know it, but instinctively you’ve been reacting
to foot gestures all your life.
9) To sound authoritative, keep your voice down
Before
a speech or important telephone call, allow your voice to relax into
its optimal pitch (a technique I learned from a speech therapist) by
keeping your lips together and making
the sounds “um hum, um hum, um hum.” And if you are a female, watch
that your voice doesn’t rise at the ends of sentences as if you are
asking a question or seeking approval. Instead, when stating your
opinion, use the authoritative arc, in which your voice
starts on one note, rises in pitch through the sentence and drops back
down at the end.
10) To improve your memory, uncross your arms and legs
Body
language researchers Allan and Barbara Pease, report a fascinating
finding from one of their studies: When a group of volunteers attended a
lecture and sat with unfolded arms
and legs, they remembered 38 percent more than a group that attended
the same lecture and sat with folded arms and legs. To improve your
retention, uncross your arms and legs. And if you see your audience
exhibiting defensive body language, change tactics,
take a break, get them to move — and don’t try to persuade them until
their bodies open up.
If you follow these ten simple and powerful body language tips, I guarantee you’ll increase your nonverbal impact in 2012.
Source- LA Washington Times
Regards
Rajan Bansal
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