Body Language for Successful HR

Even people, like the Prince of Wales, who are trained to deal with difficult situations can display the wrong body language when under pressure and ruin the message they hope to convey. Anna Burges-Lumsden reports on the importance of non-verbal cues.

Prince Charles’ body language said it all at a photo call in Klosters on 31 March 2005. With a forced smile through gritted teeth, a defensive posture and eyes desperate to avoid contact with Fleet Street’s finest, his distaste for the media could not have been clearer.

Prince William, by contrast, appeared relaxed, poised and confident of the image he was presenting. And so in one dramatic photograph the importance of body language was laid bare.

What the Prince of Wales really needs - apart from a lecture on the dangers of speaking near a microphone - is some serious body language coaching. Like thousands of other people in positions of responsibility he would benefit from expert help on non-verbal communication.

Words account for less than 10% of a message’s impact. The rest comes from non-verbal cues.

According to Mike Petrook, public affairs manager of the Chartered Management Institute, 90% of the messages we convey are through body language.

He said: “Half of what we communicate is transmitted through our bodily positions and movements, so understanding physical gestures and ex-pressions can help us work more efficiently at all levels of the workplace.

“Being aware of people’s body language will help you learn more about your colleagues and how to work better with them,” he said.

Mary-Louise Angoujard, CEO and founder of Rapporta, who is specialist in executive communication and body language, believes body language is only part of the whole picture.

“Non-verbal communication not only includes body language, posture, facial ex-pressions and eye contact, but also vocal ex-pression, tone, pitch and pace.” And she said that to communicate successfully you must “ensure congruence with your words in all these areas”.

During negotiations or when you need to maintain authority in a meeting, Angoujard affirmed the importance of being clear of your objectives and the messages you want to communicate.

“Preparation is key,” she said. “And gathering all facts and documentation and pre-empting all possible difficulties or concerns will ensure confidence and a feeling of positive self-control. As so much of body language is unconscious on our part, this will help to ensure your non-verbal communication sends out the right signals.”

Angela Mortimer, who runs her own international recruitment consultancy, believes that maintaining good eye contact is also essential.

“People talk about eye contact and active listening, but staring someone out can be negative,” she said. “You can divert your eyes when you’re thinking and make eye contact again when you’re talking.”

When conducting interviews, Angoujard emphasised the importance of building rapport with the individual and establishing an environment where they feel at ease.

“This is the only way you will be best served in discovering their real strengths and skills and whether they will be a good match for the role and your organisation,” she said.

During difficult situations such as making redundancies, Angoujard recommended greeting the employee in an appropriately pleasant but serious manner.

She said: “Welcome with a pleasant ex-pression, however maintain a demeanour that reflects the serious nature of the discussion and your respect for the situation and the individual.”

Angoujard also stressed the importance of the environment in which the redundancy takes place. She suggested that when possible, conduct the meetings on neutral ground such as a meeting or conference room rather than someone’s office, and that being seated around the corner of a round, oval or square table will be less ‘confrontational’ and more ‘collegiate’.

Petrook warned, however, that body language is hard to fake and even someone who has developed a good understanding of the importance of gestures and gesticulations cannot completely disguise their own thoughts.

“There are some elements of behaviour that will remain controlled by the subconscious and are involuntary,” he said.

Angoujard said that because so much of non-verbal communication is subliminal in nature, the best solution is to understand first your own attitudes, intentions and objectives and then speak accordingly.

This way, the messages you send involuntarily will be congruent with your conscious words, tone and gestures, she said.

“When you believe your own message, the impact is much greater and others are more likely to believe you mean what you say,” Angoujard said.

Body language for tricky situations

In negotiations

Prepare well
Control environment
Offer a warm greeting
Understand your position
Have an upright, confident posture
Open body language (relaxed not stiff)
Build rapport
Maintain good eye contact - no eyeballing
Ask good quality, open questions
Speak in a clear, measured manner
Show empathy
Display controlled energy.
Avoid

Unremitting eyeball to eyeball
Ignoring members of the group
Coldness or harshness in your voice
Closed body language (arms folded, head down, avoiding eye contact).
Making redundancies

Offer a pleasant but serious greeting
Provide a round, oval or square table and sit on the corner not opposite
Use an appropriate voice tone, pitch, pace
Display open, neutral body language
Give reasonable eye contact
Present a respectful attitude
Offer empathy but stay businesslike
Provide meaningful consultations
Use a calm voice at a slow pace
Use a businesslike demeanour
Supply third-party reference facts
Don’t be

Distant or intimate
Superior or inferior
Offensive or defensive
Maternal or paternal
Unfeeling
Maintain unbroken eye contact
Display overtly closed or defensive body language
Display too much joviality or friendliness
Conducting interviews

Use open body language
Present a straight, relaxed, confident posture
Maintain good eye contact so that you look pleasant and engaged
Offer a firm handshake
Show sincerity in voice tone
Speak a suitable pace
Explain expectations
Take charge
Express interest in person & their experience
Ask framed, contextualised questions
Listen attentively and nod occasionally
Don't

Give a flimsy or bone-crushing handshake
Sit across a table
Stand too close on arrival
Invade personal space
Say: “Tell me about yourself”

Body Language at Work

What people say is often very different from what they think. We’ve all learned that honesty is not always the best policy. Keeping your cards close to your chest is seen as the most basic workplace survival strategy. Is body language the chink in all our armour?

What really matters most to your boss – posture or performance? Body language specialists argue that the two are inter-related. If you come across as disorganised or lacking composure, your colleagues will dismiss your ideas and efforts.

Spot the difference
Laurel Herman, author of Managing Your Image In a Week, provides one-to-one body language consulting. She put her belief in body language theories to the test. When planning an important speech on the subject, she decided to give her audience a graphic demonstration. ‘When I was announced I scurried on to the stage and then began speaking in a high-pitched, squeaky, breathless voice, allowing my words to trip over themselves. As I spoke I maintained a hunched shoulder posture and gesticulated wildly. After a few sentences, I abruptly sat down to a horrified silence. The shock was palpable. Then I got up again, and standing quite upright, hands neatly by my side, addressed the audience in a calm, authoritative voice.’ From then on, her relationship with the audience was completely transformed: ‘They listened attentively to every word.’

Expert findings
This is backed by psychologist, Albert Mehrabian. He claims that it’s not what you say, but how you say it that really matters. In the 1960s he conducted extensive communication research and discovered that words account for a tiny seven percent of a message’s impact. The rest comes from non-verbal cues, such as voice tone and facial ex-pression.

But in the real world of work how much does all this really matter? A growing number of workers use technology to communicate. Phone calls, faxes and emails don’t betray whether we're sitting up straight or lounging comfortably at our desks.

People who work from home are even more out of the picture. ‘There's a significant section of the workforce who don't need to consider their body language,’ says Kathryn Bullock, founder E-Womenforum.com. ‘They may still see some people but, on the whole, they can get on with their jobs, and get on with them very well, without ever having to think about how they look.

Many workers do have to deal with clients and colleagues on a face-to-face basis. Here body language plays a ‘massive role’, says Judi James, author of BodyTalk At Work: ‘Knowing how to give the right body language signals and knowing how to read those around you can actually boost your career.’ Judi explains the most common examples of bad body language:

Tightly crossed arms, high on the chest, looks defensive and uninterested
High-pitched, fast-paced voice may sound girly and lack authority
Rolling on your heels looks like you are insecure and childish
Lazing about on a chair appears arrogant and lazy
A shoulder shrug signals that you don’t believe what's been said, even if it was you that said it!
Playing with your hair implies an inner build-up of anxiety
Pulling your ear gives the impression you're struggling to reach a decision
Touching your face is a sign of nervousness or possibly even dishonesty
Stroking your neck can make you seem stressed or flirtatious
Wringing your hands shows concern
Fidgeting suggests worry
Foot tapping impatience
Pen drumming boredom

The sceptics
‘You’ve got to put it into perspective,’ says Gene Crozir from the Institute of Management. Nick Isle, from the Industrial Society agrees. ‘Body language is just one element of communication and communication itself is just one element of the skills required to succeed in today’s workplace.’ Both point out that the importance of body language can be overstated or simply misunderstood. ‘A lot of people don’t understand it and, even if they did, most don’t have time to analyse it properly. They’re too busy getting on with their jobs,’ says Crozir.

Is body language winning?
The Looking Good, Sounding Right: style counselling in the new economy report highlights that certain aspects of body language are becoming increasingly important in the growing service sector. The physical impression given by staff in this sector is becoming inextricably linked with brand awareness and success. The report suggests that looking and sounding the part may count more than one’s experience or ability.