LinkedIn is going a bit Facebook. There are more and more useless posts and questions appearing on my “wall”. Most are completely useless – things like, “look at this image, what do you think of?” : People writing things like “a cat” – hardly insightful.
There was a post that appeared this morning related to Body Language. It was the fifteen things you shouldn’t do when in meetings / in the office. The items were not anything new for anyone who has ever read a book or two on body language or influencing people. But it did make me think.
I have an interest in body language and the clues the body gives away. Over the years I have been on a few course; influencing for positive results, being a leader, etc. and read a good few books on reading body language and the like. Never got into it properly, but do try to keep on top of some of the latest ways of reading people. CBT and NLP are some areas I have briefly looked into, but not really had the time to pay too much attention to them.
What surprised me this morning was the fact that the post was even appearing on my wall. For me, being emotionally aware is absolutely key to my job and ensuring that people are able to work effectively. The advantage on being emotionally aware is quite considerable. As I reflected on it, I realised that the number of people who don’t use or think about using the skill is quite high.
Being in a high stakes meeting or having a “difficult’ conversation is not fun. Ensuring that you get the outcome for mutual benefit is hard work – being able to read the signs of where the other party is emotionally is critical to empathise with them. Once you are on the “same page” it is then possible to work with them to get to the root of the problem. From there, you can then continue to listen to the words and watch the body language evolve as the conversation takes place and then guide and influence to ensure that a mutual beneficial outcomes it achieved.
People who don’t look into this, and or ignore the power of understand the body language of people do it at their peril. The more people respect the body language people give off, the more likely we are to be able to ensure success in what we do…
If anyone wants to know some books I can recommend on this area, email me getlinked (at) johnkendrick (dot) com