When people experience different emotions such as being happy, excited, sad, and bored they tend to display certain body languages that reinforce those feelings. This can happen either on purpose or by accident, many times without even realizing it. As a manager or employer it can be extremely beneficial to recognize what emotions you tend to show and what impact that has on the person you are speaking to. Minimizing body language that can have a negative effect will help to get your point across in a more effective manner. A list of key gestures and what they mean provided by risk management group AGOSNET is:
What message is your face sending to others?
- Eye-rolling
Eye-rolling communicates a put-down. It is often done in front of others in reference to a co-worker who can’t see the eye-roll, although for a particularly insulting message, it can be done face-to face. - Side glances
Usually executed with a head tilt and your lids slightly closed, this sends a message that you don’t trust or believe what a co-worker is saying. - Looking up to the ceiling, as if to say, “Give me a break!”
The message here, again, is a sarcastic, dismissive put-down. - Bobbing your head
- When you bob your head impatiently when someone is talking to you, you send the message that you have no patience or interest in what they are saying
What message are your hands sending to others?
- Grooming yourself while someone is talking to you
When you inspect your clothes and brush off lint, real or imagined, while someone is speaking to you, it is a way of dismissing the speaker. You are literally “brushing them off.” - Checking your watch, cell phone or PDA
This sends the message that something is more important than the person speaking to you. It sends a message of boredom and disrespect. - Tossing documents
Imagine being in a meeting, sitting around the conference table and the agenda gets to you with a toss of the hand from the person running the meeting. Sliding or spinning a document across a table to a co-worker is a message of dislike and disrespect. - Fidgeting with pens, paperclips or doodling during conversation
This is another way of communicating that you want to move on or are distracted
What message is your language sending to others?
- Sighing (with or without lifting your shoulder) indicates boredom or disinterest.
- Talking on the side to someone else while the main speaker is speaking is rude to everyone in the room, not just to the main speaker.
- Walking out of the room while still talking
When you turn away and leave a conversation in progress, the message sent is that you aren’t interested in the other person’s response. - Asking loaded questions A loaded question is one that usually presupposes another problem. They often imply an accusation and can put a co-worker on the defensive.