Even With Our Lips Closed, Our Body Is Speaking
For those of you of a "certain age" picture President Richard Nixon as he stood at the podium delivering a speech. He would stand, arms outstretched with his fingers forming the "v" for victory sign. Comedians would imitate him, in fact, you could stand, legs apart, arms reaching the sky, with v-shaped fingers and people automatically knew who you were imitating.
Can you imagine being known for a particular body stance? We'd prefer to be known for our knowledge, our experience, our profession, but not our body language, am I right?
Our body movements and vocal tones send messages unconsciously to those around us. Are you sending the right message? Over the next few blogs, I'd like to take a walk through all of our major body parts in order of communication importance. Today, we'll talk about the eyes and posture:
EYES
Making eye contact with the person or persons to whom you are speaking shows respect and interest. You don't want to stare so hard that they'll think either you are a zombie or they have spinach between their teeth. But you also don't want your eyes wandering around the room. I once had a doctor that worked for me that would look just to the left of my head. At first I would step sideways into the path of his vision. I soon realized, he was very shy and frankly afraid to look people in the eye. He gave a great eye exam (he was an optometrist) as long as he didn't have to look you in the eye. Ha Ha.
POSTURE
How you stand is the next non-verbal communicator to master. Have you ever listened to a speaker who appeared to be on a boat as he or she talked? Some call it the "mother rock." I once listened to a speech on finance for four hours and by the end of the first 30 minutes, I was starting to feel seasick. I found I had to look away so that I wouldn't get caught up in his movements.
Stand up straight (just like our mothers always told us), you'll not only appear more confident and believable, you'll feel more comfortable. Good posture allows the body to take in the oxygen it needs to make you feel comfortable and less nervous.
Tomorrow, we'll cover communicating with arms, hands and legs! Yes, your legs do talk, and I'm not talking about Sharon Stone.
DCB
Communications | admin | 17 May 2006 |
