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June 2012 edition
10 Simple and Powerful Body Language Tips for 2012
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.
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.
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) To learn 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, or 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.
Happy New Year!
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. is an executive coach, change-management consultant, and international keynote speaker at corporate, government, and association events. She’s a panelist for The Washington Post’s “On Leadership” column, a blogger on Forbes.com, a columnist for “the Market” magazine, and the author of “THE SILENT LANGUAGE OF LEADERS: How Body Language Can help – or Hurt – How You Lead.”
Carol offers energizing, informative, interactive, and custom-tailored keynote speeches, full- and half-day seminars. Her 2012 topic’s include:
The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help – or Hurt – How You Lead
Body Language for Women Leaders: Traps and Tips for Women Who Want to Make an Impact
None of Us is Smarter Than All of Us: The Power of Collaborative Leadership
This Isn’t the Company I Joined: Leading People Through Continuous Change
Building Relationships and Closing the Deal: Body Language for Sales and Negotiation
To contact Carol about speaking or coaching, call 510-526-172 or email CGoman@CKG.com. To more information or to view videos, visit Carol’s website: http://www.SilentLanguageOfLeaders.com.
You can also follow Carol on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CGoman, or “Like” her Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carol-Kinsey-Goman-PhD/105398069543578.
Did you receive this newsletter from a friend? Click here CGoman@CKG.com to subscribe for yourself.
Change, Leadership, and Body language
Here's a link to my Forbes blog on Why we resist change -- and what leaders can do about it.
I wish a happy holiday season to all you change agents!
Hope to see you in the new year.
Carol
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.
Keynote speaker and executive coach.
Leadership blogger for Forbes, expert contributor for "On Leadership" column in the Washington Post, business body language columnist for the Market magazine, and author of "The Silent Language of Leaders: How Body Language Can Help - or Hurt - How You Lead."
CGoman@CKG.com
Office: 510-526-1727
www.SilentLanguageOfLeaders.com
www.CKG.com
Twin Cities Thursday Happy Hours
This group is for Twin Cities business professionals to meet new people and network with others at local Twin Cities Happy Hour events.
Seven Tips for Effective Body Language on Stage
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D.
A few years ago, a group of rising-star executives gathered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to take part in a special competitive event. Each was to present a business plan to be evaluated by the entire group. The best ideas would then be recommended to a team of venture capitalists for final evaluation. Participants saw this as a great opportunity to see how their ideas compared to others in an elite peer group.
If you had been one of those chosen executives, how would you have prepared for the event? Would you have concentrated on formulating a coherent description of your business plan? Developed a strategy for convincing others? Practiced your presentation skills?
The executives at the MIT event probably did all of these. But on the day of the competition, an additional component was added to the mix – one nobody had prepared for. Each presenter was outfitted with a specially designed digital sensor, worn like an I.D. badge. This device, called a “Sociometer,” would be taking notes on each presentation along with the rest of the group, But not on the merits of what was being said. Unbeknownst to the presenters, the Sociometer would be recording what wasn’t being said: tonal variety, vocal nuance, physical activity, energy levels, even the number of smiles and nods exchanged between presenter and audience.
At the end of the meeting, the group selected the ideas they agreed would sell best. And, with no knowledge of any actual content, the Sociometer readings also predicted (with about 87% accuracy) which business plans would be chosen. That’s because, while the group thought they were making rational choices, the researchers at the MIT Media Lab, who had developed the digital device, knew better. What convinced the executive group is the same set of signals that also predict the outcome of any business presentation you may give -- body language and nonverbal interactions.
In my work as a leadership communication coach, I emphasize the importance of delivering a well-written speech that has an inspiring vision, engaging stories, self-deprecating humor, and personalized examples. But I also know that leaders can sabotage a great presentation if they underestimate or ignore the power of body language
I don’t want you to make that mistake. Here are seven of the most important tips for effective body language on stage:
1. Manage your stress level
While you are waiting backstage, notice the tension in your body. Realize that some nervous energy is a good thing – it’s what makes your presentation lively and interesting, but too much stress results in nonverbal behaviors that work against you.
Before you go on stage, stand or sit with your weight “centered” – evenly distributed on both feet or sit bones. Look straight ahead with your chin level to the floor and relax your throat. Take several deep “belly” breaths. Count slowly to six as you inhale and increase the tension in your body by making fists and tensing the muscles in your arms torso and legs. As you exhale, allow your hands, arms and body to release and relax.
2. Get emotional
In order to engage an audience, they need to be emotionally involved. So before you go on stage to deliver your message, concentrate on emotions and feelings. How do you personally emotionally connect with what you are about to say? What do you feel about it? How do you want the audience to feel? (The more you focus on the emotion behind your message, the more convincing and congruent your body language will automatically become.)
3. Make a confident entrance
Staying relaxed, walk out on stage with good posture, head held high, and a steady, smooth gait. When you arrive at center stage, stop, smile, raise your eyebrows and slightly widen your eyes while you look around the room. A relaxed, open face and body tells your audience that you're confident and comfortable with the information you're delivering. Since audience members will be reacting to any display of tension, your state of comfort will also relax and reassure them. (This may sound like common sense, but I once worked with a manager who walked onstage with hunched shoulders, a furrowed brow and squinted eyes. I watched the audience squirm in response. It was an unsettling way to begin a “let’s get together and support this change” speech.)
4. Maintain eye contact
Maintain steady eye contact with the audience throughout the talk. If you don't, you will quickly signal that you don't want to be there, that you aren't really committed to your message, or that you have something to hide.
While it is physically impossible to maintain eye contact with the entire audience all the time, you can look at specific individuals or small groups, hold their attention briefly, and then move to another group or individual in another part of the room.
5. Ditch the lectern
Get out from behind the lectern. A lectern not only covers up the majority of your body, it also acts as a barrier between you and the audience. Practice the presentation so well that you don't need to read from a script. If you use notes, request a video prompter at the foot of the stage.
6. Talk with your hands
Speakers use hand gestures to underscore what's important and to express feelings, needs and convictions. When people are passionate about what they are saying, their gestures become more animated. That’s why gestures are so critical and why getting them right in a presentation connects so powerfully with an audience. If you don't use them (if you let your hands hang limply to your sides or clasp them in the classic “fig leaf” position), it suggests you don't recognize the crucial issues, you have no emotional investment in the issues, or that you’re not an effective communicator.
7. Move
Human beings (males, most especially) are drawn to movement. Movement keeps an audience from becoming bored. It can be very effective to walk toward the audience before making an important point, and away when you want to signal a break or a change of subject. But don’t move when you are making a key point. Instead, stop, widen your stance, and deliver that important message.
Carol Kinsey Goman, Ph.D. is a leadership communications coach and international keynote speaker at corporate, government, and association events. She’s a panelist for The Washington Post’s “On Leadership” column, a blogger on Forbes.com, a columnist for “the Market” magazine, and the author of “THE SILENT LANGUAGE OF LEADERS: How Body Language Can help – or Hurt – How You Lead.”
Carol offers energizing, informative, interactive, and custom-tailored keynote speeches, full- and half-day seminars. To contact Carol about speaking or coaching, call 510-526-172 or email CGoman@CKG.com. To more information or to view videos, visit or Carol’s website: www,SilentLanguageOfLeaders.com.
You can also follow Carol on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CGoman, or “Like” her Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Carol-Kinsey-Goman-PhD/105398069543578.
Did you receive this newsletter from a friend? Contact CGoman@CKG.com to subscribe for yourself.