Rheem also watches for signs of confidence: direct eye contact, the shoulders back
and the head up, the voice steady and body
movements smooth and fluid. A person whose
eyes dart and whose body moves too quickly,
in herky-jerky fashion or hesitantly often conveys nervousness or uncertainty, he says.
“If someone appears nervous or hesitant,
people tend to discount what they say,” asserts
Rheem, a Costco member.
That doesn’t mean co-workers who
exhibit such body language should be ignored.
If anything, it helps to understand that hesitant behavior may interfere with their, and
our, communication.
S O H O
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Look within
While you’re watching others’ body language, it wouldn’t hurt to monitor your own.
Are you sending signals in meetings and
interviews that agree with and even underscore your thinking? Are your gestures offering clues about your thinking that you’d just
as soon keep to yourself?
Niederhofer says awareness of your body
behavior may work to your advantage. For
instance, she frequently mirrors another’s
posture, gestures and even voice tone, speed
and volume, which she says furthers feelings
of being in tune with each other.
“It’s a way of building rapport,” she says.
“And when that happens, you’re building
trust, which is the key to business and any
good relationship.” C
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Harvey Meyer is a veteran writer from
St. Louis Park, Minnesota, who writes for
a variety of national magazines.
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