Body Language Skills

By : Khairol Anuar Bin Masuan

Types of communication
Communication

Verbal communication

Non-Verbal communication

Non-Verbal communication

It is a transmission of messages by some medium other than speech or writing. It could be visual or auditory signals.
It is very necessary to realize as to when & where to use them in place of verbal communication. Body language & other non-verbal cues occupy 93% of our communication whereas speech takes only 7%.

Body Language

It is communication of personal feelings, emotions, attitudes & thoughts through body movements.

What is Body Language ?

Body language is nonverbal communication that involves body movement. Gesturing can also be termed as body language which is absolutely non-verbal means of communication. People in the workplace can convey a great deal of information without even speaking; through nonverbal communication.

Types of Non-verbal Communication

Kinesics : Facial expressions, Postures & Gestures. Oculesics : Eye Contact Haptics : The communication of touch

Proxemics : The Communication of space & proximity.

Contd.

Chronemics : The effect of time on communication Paralinguistics : Variations in pitch, speed, volume & pauses that convey meaning. Physical Appearance : Attire, accessories, etc..

Contd.

Body language includes gestures, postures, facial expressions, eye contact & physical appearance.
That is What we say? is less important than How we say it?

How Does Body Speak?

Like any spoken language, body language has words, sentences and punctuation. Each gesture is like a single word and one word may have several different meanings.

What we are trying to deliver to the one whom we are communicating through verbal means might not be exactly similar to the one which we are delivering from our non-verbal means i.e. BODY

Why is Body Language important?

Body language plays a big role in intuition as it gives us messages about the other person, that we can interpret at an intuitive level.
55%
7%

38%

Components of Body Language

Non verbal communication

Body language

Voice

Gesture Face Posture

Power Pitch Pause Pace

Ethics for Security (International standard)

Respond to employers professional needs Exhibit exemplary conduct Protect confidential information Maintain a safe and secure workplace Dress to create professionalism Enforce all lawful rules and regulations Encourage liaison with public officers Develop good rapport within the profession Strive to attain professional competence Encourage high standards of officer ethics

Lets Examine How Body Communicates, from head to toes

BODY MOVEMENT
Balance movements with verbal cues Avoid random movements Step forward to indicate you are arriving at a point Step back when concluding a point and signals the audience they can relax momentarily Always lead with your foot nearest your destination.

FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
Facial expressions reflect emotion, feelings and attitudes

The face is one of the most reliable indicators of a persons attitudes, emotions & feelings

By analysing facial expressions, interpersonal attitudes can be discerned and feedback obtained.
Some people try to hide their true emotions. The term Poker Face describes them

Common facial gestures are: Frowns: unhappiness, anger Smiles: happiness Sneers: dislike, disgust Clenched jaws: tension, anger Pouting lips: sadness.

Your face is watched whenever you speak Often the key determinant of the meaning behind a message Communicates your attitudes, feelings, and emotions more so than any other part of your body.

EYE CONTACT
To

make people feel good and show your interest you must maintain eye contact. The easiest way to maintain eye contact naturally is to look at the persons whole face above the tip of their

Windows of the soul, excellent are indicators of feelings.

Shifty eyes, beady eyes and look of steel demonstrate awareness. Honest person has a tendency to look you straight in the eye when speaking.
At least listeners accept it like that.

People avoid eye contact with other person when an uncomfortable question asked. Try to reduce tension and build trust rather than increase tension.
The raising of one eyebrow shows disbelief and two shows surprise. People are classified as right lookers and leftlookers. Right lookers are more influenced by logic and precision, left lookers are found to be more emotional, subjective and suggestible.

Most powerful feature after voice Establish a bond Look at your audience to convey your sincerity of the message You will increase their attention to you by sufficient eye contact Provides you feedback and helps you relax

SMILING

The most strong body language signal to influence our first impression is the smile. It is the most recognized signal everywhere. Smiling is an international language.

VOICE TONE
1.

Power & Pitch Let your voice to be heard and avoid the monotone voice Powerful voice tone reflect confidence

2.

Pause Take pause to stimulate thinking. Take pause to catch your breath if you talking quickly.
Pace Don't speak too quickly. It reflects stress or excitement. Don't speak too slowly as it interferes with communication.

3.

Interpretation of voice: 1. Speaking loudly & rapidly : anger or lack of interest in the other person's view. 2. Clear controlled steady voice: confidence. 3. Bouncy &well modulated speech: enthusiasm. 4. Lowered volume& tone: negative attitude. 5. Hesitation: lower confidence.

 Actual

words convey only 10% of the message. other 90% is transmitted by non verbal communication which consists of 40% how it is said and 50% body language.

The

The Hands

Tightly clenched hands usually indicate that the person is experiencing undue pressure.

It may be difficult to relate to this person because of his tension and disagreement.
Superiority and authority are usually indicated when you are standing and joining your hands behind your back.

Rubing gently behind or beside the ear with the index finger or rubbing the eye usually means the other person is uncertain about what you are saying.

Leaning back with both hands supporting the head usually indicates a feeling of confidence or superiority. Cupping one or both hands over the mouth, especially when talking, may well indicate that the person is trying to hide something

Putting your hand to your cheek or stroking your chin generally portrays thinking, interest or consideration. Fingers bent across the chin or below the mouth most often shows critical evaluation

The Arms and Legs

Crossed arms tend to signal defensiveness. They seemingly act as a protective guard against an anticipated attack or a fixed position which the other person would rather not move. Conversely, arms open and extended toward you generally indicate openness and acceptance. Crossed legs tend to seem disagreement. People who tightly cross their legs seem to be saying that they disagree with what you are saying or doing. If the people have tightly crossed legs and tightly crossed arms, their inner attitude is usually one of extreme negativity toward what is going on around them. It may be difficult to get agreement.

POSTURE
One of the first key things people notice is how to carry and present your self. Do you walk & stand with confidence? 1-Stomach in 2-Chest out 3-Shoulders lack 4-Head up

Postures- Sitting and Walking

Sitting with your legs crossed and elevated foot moving in a slight circular motion indicates boredom or impatience. Interest and involvement are usually projected by sitting on the edge of the chair and leaning slightly forward. Generally, people who walk fast and swing their arms freely tend to know what they want and to go after that.

People who walk with their shoulders hunched and hands in their pockets tend to be secretive and critical. They dont seem to like much of what is going on around them. Dejected people usually scuffle along with their hands in pockets, heads down, and shoulders hunched over.

People who are preoccupied or thinking, usually walk with their heads down, hands clasped behind their backs and pace very slowly.

Gestures
Humans pride themselves on their seemingly unique ability to verbalize feelings and ideas. While the mouth tells one story, gestures and posture may tell a different story. Gestures should be observed in clusters to provide a more accurate picture of person being observed Each gesture is like a sentence The sum total of postures and gestures

Gestures
1.
2.

One of the body language. Allows individuals to express a variety of feelings and thoughts.

Types of gestures: 1. Hand gesture (one or two hands) 2. Head &face gesture (as head shaking)

Why Gestures?
Clarify usage of words Dramatize ideas Reduce tension Stimulates audience participation Visible

Types Of Gestures
Descriptive

Clarify or enhance a verbal message

Emphatic

Underscores a verbal message

Suggestive

Symbols of ideas and emotions

Prompting

Evoke a desired response

Interpreting Gesture Clusters

Certain combinations of gestures are especially reliable indicators of a persons true feelings. These combinations are clusters. Each gesture is dependent to others, so analysis of a persons body language is based on a series of signals to ensure that the body language clearly and accurately understood. All the individual gestures fit together to project a common, unified message. When they do not, this means a incongruity. For example: A nervous laugh. A laugh generally signal of relaxation. But if there are nervous signals in body language that means the person is trying to escape from an unpleasent situation.

Common Gesture Clusters Openness:

Several gestures indicate openness and sincerety. Open hands, unbuttoned coal or collar, leaning slightly forward in the chair, removing coat or jacket, uncrossing arms and legs, moving closer.

When people are proud of what they have done, they usually show their hands quite openly. When they are not often put their hands into their pockets, or hide back When people show signals of openness that means they are generally beginning very comfortable in your presence which is good.

Common Gesture Clusters Defensiveness:

People who are defensive usually have a rigid body, arms or legs tightly crossed, eyes glancing sideways or darting occasionaly, minimal eye contact, lips pursed, fists clenched and downcast head.

Common Gesture Clusters Evaluation:

Evaluation gestures say that the other person is being thoughtful or is considering what you are saying. Sometimes in a friendly way sometimes in an unfriendly way.

Typical evaluation gestures include: tilted head, hand to cheek, leaning forward and chin stroking.

Sometimes evaluation gestures take on a critical aspect. The body is more drawn back. The hand is to the face but the chin is in the palm of the hand with one finger going up the cheek and the other fingers positioned below the mouth. This is generally an unfavorable gesture.

To gain time for evaluating the situation people use cigarette or pipe smoking habits, removing eyeglasses.

A final negative evaluation gesture is dropping his eyeglasses to the lower bridge of noise and peering over them.
This gesture usually causes a negative emotional overreaction in other people.

Suspicion, Secrecy, Rejection, and Doubt

These negative emotions are communicated typically by: Sideways glances Minimal or no eye contact Shifting the body away from the speaker Touching or rubbing the nose.

Common Gesture Clusters Readiness

Readiness is related to the goal-oriented high achiever with a concern for getting things done.
It communicates dedication to a goal and is usually communicated by sitting forward at the edge of a chair. This may negatively give the appearence of being overly anxious also.

Common Gesture Clusters Nervousness

Clearing ones throat, Chain smoking. Covering the mouth with hand, Tapping fingers.

Whistling, Jingling pocket change, Fidgeting, Twitching lips or face.

Common Gesture Clusters Boredom or Impatience

These unproductive feelings are usually conveyed by the : Drumming of fingers Cupping the head in the palm of the hand, Foot swinging Brushing or picking a lint Looking at your watch or the exit.

Common Gesture Clusters Enthusiasm

This is an emotion that you love to see in other people and they in you. It is conveyed by : A small upper or inward smile, Hands open and arms extended outward, Eyes wide an alert, A lively and bouncy walk, A lively and well-modulated voice.

Dos and the Don'ts

18 ways to improve your body language

Dont cross your arms or legs

You have probably already heard you shouldnt cross your arms as it might make you seem defensive or guarded. This goes for your legs too. Keep your arms and legs open

Have eye contact, but dont stare

If there are several people you are talking to, give them all some eye contact to create a better connection and see if they are listening. Keeping too much eyecontact might creep people out. Giving no eye-contact might make you seem insecure. If you are not used to keeping eyecontact it might feel a little hard or scary in the beginning but keep

Dont be afraid to take up some space

Relax your shoulders

When you feel tense its easily winds up as tension in your shoulders. They might move up and forward a bit. Try to relax. Try to loosen up by shaking the shoulders a bit and move them back slightly.

Nod when they are talking

Nod once in a while to signal that you are listening. But dont overdo it and peck like Woody Woodpecker.

Dont touch your face

It might make you seem nervous and can be distracting for the listeners or the people in the conversation

Dont slouch, sit up straight

In a relaxed way, not in a too tense manner.

Lean, but not too much

If you want to show that you are interested in what someone is saying, lean toward the person talking. If you want to show that youre confident in yourself and relaxed lean back a bit. But dont lean in too much or you might seem needy and desperate for some approval. Or lean back too much or you might seem arrogant and distant

Keep your head up

Dont keep your eyes on the ground, it might make you seem insecure and a bit lost. Keep your head up straight and your eyes towards the horizon

Smile and laugh

Lighten up, dont take yourself too seriously. Relax a bit, smile and laugh when someone says something funny. People will be a lot more inclined to listen to you if you seem to be a positive person. But dont be the first to laugh at your own jokes, it makes you seem nervous and needy. Smile when you are introduced to someone but dont keep a smile plastered on your face, youll seem insincere.

Use your hands more confidently

Instead of fidgeting with your hands and scratching your face use them to communicate what you are trying to say.
Use your hands to describe something or to add weight to a point you are trying to make. But dont use them to much or it might become distracting. And dont let your hands flail around,

Slow down a bit

This goes for many things. Walking slower not only makes you seem more calm and confident, it will also make you feel less stressed. If someone addresses you, dont snap youre neck in their direction, turn it a bit more slowly instead.

Dont stand too close

One of the things we learned is that everybody feels uncomfortable by a close-talker. It is embarrassing if the more we move back the more the other person comes forward. Let people have their personal space,

Lower your drink

Dont hold your drink in front of your chest. In fact, dont hold anything in front of your heart as it will make you seem guarded and distant. Lower it and hold it beside your leg instead.

Realise where you spine ends

Many people might sit or stand with a straight back in a good posture. However, they might think that the spine ends where the neck begins and therefore crane the neck forward in a Montgomery Burns-pose.

Your spine ends in the back of your head. Keep you whole spine straight and aligned for better posture.

Dont fidget

Try to avoid, phase out or transform fidgety movement and nervous ticks such as shaking your leg or tapping your fingers against the table rapidly. Youll seem nervous and fidgeting can be a distracting when you try to get something across. Declutter your movements if you are all over the place. Try to relax, slow down and focus your movements.

Mirror

Often when you get along with a person, when the two of you get a good connection, you will start to mirror each other unconsciously. That means that you mirror the other persons body language a bit. To make the connection better you can try a bit of proactive mirroring. If she leans forward, you might lean forward. If she holds her hands on her thighs, you might do the same. But dont react instantly and dont mirror every change in body language. Then weirdness will ensue.

Keep a good attitude

Last but not least, keep a positive, open and relaxed attitude. How you feel will come through in your body language and can make a major difference.

6 Reasons to Improve Your Body Language

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

. words are only 7 percent of your communication. Increase your attractiveness Emotions are linked to your body language Reduce mixed messages Improve your communication skills Better first impressions

. words are only 7 percent of your communication.

The rest is your voice tonality (38 percent) and your body language at 55 percent.
These numbers may vary depending upon the situation and what is communicated (for instance, talking over the phone is obviously different from talking face to face) but body language is a very important part of communication

Increase your attractiveness

Its not what you say, its how you say it. A better posture, a more open body language, a more controlled and focused body language will make everyone more attractive. And not just in a sexual way but when talking to new friends or in job interviews and business meetings.

Emotions are linked to your body language

Emotions work backwards too. If you feel good youll smile. If you force yourself to smile youll feel good too. If you feel tired or down you might sit slumped down. If you sit slumped down youll feel more tired and negative. Just try to sit straight up for 5 minutes and feel the difference in energy from half-lying in your chair.

Reduce mixed messages

If youre in a job interview and you talk with a steady voice and say all the confident things you should but your body language tells your maybe-employers that you are very nervous or guarded then you are incongruent (and perhaps without that job). What you want is be congruent, that is for your words, your voice and your body language to say the same thing.

Improve your communication skills

If you improve your body language you can get your thoughts across in a more effective way.

You can create a connection to another person more easily. When using more powerful and appropriately balanced body language your communication skills become more focused and better.

Better first impressions

Everyone stereotypes everyone on first impression, even if we are reluctant to do it. We all get a first impression of a new person that creates a mental image of his or her personality in our minds. That image of you often lasts. Having a better body language will consistently give people a more positive mental snapshot of you.

You can change your body language but as all new habits it takes a while. Especially things like keeping you head up might take time to correct if you have spent thousands of days looking at your feet. And if you try and change to many things at once it might become confusing and feel overwhelming.