Non-verbal communication tips for professors, human resource, and other professionals

Do you work closely with others, and need to understand the "whole picture" of their communication? Ninety-three percent of communication is non-verbal; you can't afford to miss all of this!

Non-verbal communication is affected by culture and to some extent, by generation. However, this article on "Student Nonverbal Communication in the Classroom" by Brock E Perry, PhD at http://www.usma.edu/cfe/literature/barry_11.pdf    gives you the general tips you need to

"read" general American communication. Although it is about students, it is a great overview of non-verbal communication for everyone else!

              

Verbal mistake: The message is right, but something's missing!

Have you ever sent an e-mail, and found it was totally misinterpreted? The reason may have been that when you speak, your tone of voice conveys emotion, sarcasm, and interest (or lack of it). When you write, you choose a formal or an informal tone, active or passive voice, and assume your reader knows how you feel.

This can be easily misinterpreted. A formal note can seem to the reader like the writer has no interest. An informal note, meant to be sarcastic, can be interpreted literally.

The right choice of vocabulary can show your level of emotion and enthusiasm. Instead of saying you are looking forward to meeting the other person, try adding "eagerly" looking forward to meeting him.  Add other powerful words as appropriate.  Avoid sarcasm in a short note or text.

The true test of a well-written note is that it conveys the message you want, with the appropriate tone included. Is it to be formal, boring-but-have-to-write-something, or warm and caring?

In verbal and non-verbal communication, we also work to convey the proper attitude, whether eager, respectful but casual,   formal, etc. Our tone of voice,  use of slang, and choice of vocabulary can make or break this attitude.

Non-verbally, we use eye contact, giving full or distracted attention, and positioning (such as facing the other person directly or at a side angle) to also convey our attitude.

An example of this going wrong at work is when a manager uses a computer to answer routine e-mails during an appointment with an employee, telling the employee, "I can multi-task." The employee may feel the manager doesn't care about the appointment or the employee, due to his lack of full attention and eye contact.

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Multi-tasking and the Non-verbal Message

The supervisor typed busily away on his computer, while his employee, who had an appointment with him,waited uneasily for him to look up. "Go ahead, I'm multi-tasking," encouraged the supervisor. The employee thought, "I even made an appointment with him, but he doesn't care  enough to give me his full attention."

Have you ever been in a situation like this? How did you feel when someone did not look at you and give you his full attention?

Many research studies have shown that multi-tasking is an ineffective way to accomplish your work. One study at Stanford by Clifford Nass shows that you may be 40% less effective when you multi-task. That does not even count the impact on others when you multi-task instead of giving them your full attention.

One leadership project had corporate leaders deliberately give others their full attention during meetings. They reported people were impressed enough to mention this to their peers.

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