Body language expert and author of The Nonverbal Advantage, Carol Kinsey Goman says we can use body language to our advantage. It can advance our career, increase our confidence and enhance our credibility. While we tend to look at others and make judgments about how they appear to us, we need to be aware and understand how we come across to them.
Here is a condensed version of her 12 Body Language Tips, or you can read the full version in Forbes by clicking” 12 Body Language Tips For Career Success “
1. Stand tall and take up space. Power, status, and confidence are non-verbally displayed through the use of height and space. Keep posture erect, shoulders back, and head held high. This makes you look sure of yourself.
2. Widen your stance. Standing with your feet close together can make you seem hesitant or unsure. Widen your stance, relax your knees and center your weight in your lower body to look “solid” and confident.
3. Lower your vocal pitch. Speakers with higher-pitched voices are judged to be less empathic, less powerful and more nervous than speakers with lower pitched voices.
4. Try Power Priming. Think of a past success that fills you with confidence. Imagine how you looked and sounded. Holding that emotion and embody it when you enter a meeting room.
5. Strike a Power Pose. Holding your body in expansive, “high-power” poses for as little as two minutes stimulates higher levels of testosterone – the hormone linked to power and dominance.
6. Maintain positive eye contact. Businesspeople from the U.S., Europe, Australia (and other parts of the world), will expect you to maintain eye contact 50-60% of the time.
7. Talk with your hands. Brain imaging has shown a region called Broca’s area, which is important for speech production, is active not only when we’re talking, but also when we wave our hands. Since gesture is integrally linked to speech, gesturing as you talk can power up your thinking.
8. Use open gestures. Individuals with open gestures are perceived more positively and are more persuasive than those with closed gestures (arms crossed, hands hidden or held close to the body, etc.)
9. Try a steeple. This power signal is where your hands make a “steeple” — the tips of your fingers touch, but the palms are separated.
10. Reduce nervous gestures. Take a deep breath. Place your feet firmly on the floor and your hands palm down in your lap. Stillness sends a message that you’re calm and confident.
11. Smile. Smiles have a powerful effect on us. The human brain prefers happy faces, and we can spot a smile at 300 feet – the length of a football field. A smiling tells those around you that you are approachable and trustworthy.
12. Perfect your handshake. Touch is the most powerful and primitive nonverbal cue. While there are cultural variations, in North America it means facing the other person, making firm palm to palm contact with the web of your hand touching the web of the other person’s hand, and matching hand pressure as closely as possible.
When you practice these 12 body language tips consistently, over time, your self confidence will increase and so will your awareness and flexibility in dealing with others. In turn, others will begin to see you as someone with strength, credibility and authority.
Looking to find out more about your body language and vocal cues when you are presenting or networking? Contact me today.