How Better Body Language Can Boost Workplace Communication Skills
- Reem Mansour
Fidgeting. Clenching your jaw. Trouble with eye contact.
We all know people who display these behaviors at work. Maybe you recognize them in yourself. What you may not realize is that these everyday nonverbal acts could be saying a lot more to others than you might think.
People often mistake spoken language for the only form of communication in the workplace. But have you ever considered what your body language is telling your colleagues? It’s possible that your words are saying one thing while your body communicates something else entirely.
The Effect of Body Language on Interpersonal Communication Skills
For leaders, being aware of body language is particularly important because how you gesture, move and present in meetings and everyday exchanges can have an enormous impact on your success — and that of your organization. If you have all the skills and experience that a role demands yet struggle to make an impact, it could be time to examine your conditioned tendencies and how they affect your body language.
Case Study: How We Helped One Leader Discover Her Body Language Was Working Against Her
We recently worked with a female leader whose decisions have wide-ranging political and social implications and the potential to impact millions of people. One of her key responsibilities is to ensure her team has a great relationship with the organization’s contractors, because communication issues can cause costly delays.
She came to The Rework Sessions to deepen her connections in the workplace and learn how to “listen more”. As we began working together, she realized she had a conditioned tendency to zone out and get defensive when work wasn’t going as planned or if what others were saying was in conflict with her point of view. So while she thought she was doing a good job of listening to the contractors’ words, her body language was telling them that she was ready for a fight. Her ability to listen effectively was significantly reduced when she had a point to prove. This manifested in her fidgeting and interrupting in those situations.
Through continued somatic work and reflection, we delved deeper into this leader’s conditioned responses to conflict. She discovered that she was holding onto several limiting beliefs, including that as a woman she was under pressure to prove herself, and that the dynamic in her workplace demanded that she always be ready to battle. Over time, she became more aware of how her mood and emotions were affecting her reactions and deepened her emotional intelligence — which improved contractor relations and her performance as a leader.
The Benefits of Tackling Communication Skills at a Somatic Level
The leader in our case study was headhunted for her role having ticked all the boxes: she had the required skills and experience in spades — but still struggled with a vital aspect of the position due to unconscious behaviors. This is a perfect example of why working on leadership development and communication skills in the traditional cognitive (or brain-based) way isn’t always effective.
Industries are changing so rapidly that transferable and interpersonal skills are more important than ever. You can have all the technical know-how in the world, but your workplace effectiveness will be hugely reduced if you cannot effectively apply it. Missed deadlines, poor employee retention and unhealthy work environments are all symptoms of poor communication, and they unfortunately remain commonplace in organizations across the globe. But there is another way. Leaders can fulfil their potential by examining their communication skills at a somatic level, which will result in long-lasting change and happier, more successful organizations.
You can book a 30 minute discovery call if you would like to learn more about how to apply somatic principles in your workplace.
The Rework Sessions offers Professional Transformation Coaching to help you and your team map your innate professional skills and strengths and improve the quality of your working style and culture. To learn more about how The Rework Session can help you or your team, send an email to info@reworksessions.com or book a call here.
This article was originally published on reworksessions.com
