How are you Coming Across?

Non-verbal communication is just as important, if not more so, than verbal communication. Non-Verbal communication accounts for 93% of all communication, and is much more than facial expressions, gestures and eye contact. While North Americans place less importance on body language than other cultures, there is still a lot of conclusions that we jump to before someone even opens their mouth; this has important implications for any business interaction.

One of the first and most important things we notice about a person is their use of space. Both their use of personal space in human interaction, and their use actual space and the way they place objects. For example, you are on your way to an interview, you enter the interviewer’s office, it has a very formal layout, dark colours, and no personal expression. Before you even hear the interviewer speak, you can reasonable deduce that this will be a very formal interview and that the interviewer will use very traditional interview techniques. The way that you will address him and introduce yourself will be (subconsciously) different than had the office been set up with an unconventional layout, bright colours, and lots of personal effects. You use the information gained from nonverbal cues to better your odds of making a good impression.

You can also need to take hints from body language throughout an interaction. Personal space is a big issue, and it varies across cultures. Where Asians take up to three feet of personal space in an interaction, Middle Easterners of the same gender stand extremely close (fewer than 18 inches apart), North Americans tend to stand somewhere in the middle depending on personal comfort and familiarity. If you find yourself interacting with someone that stands quite close despite your lack of familiarity, you’re probably dealing with someone who is very outgoing, personable, and that person has already decided that they quite like you. Feel free to open up and be friendly, humorous, and enjoy a less formal conversation. On the other hand, if you find yourself interacting with someone that keeps their distance, you’ll have to take that cue, not invade their personal space, and keep the conversation very formal.

In any business interaction it is important that you keep your distance and take your cues from the other person. Getting to close to another person is invading their personal space. It can be quite intimidating, or infuriating, depending on with whom you are conversing. Standing too close will make the other person unnecessarily defensive which can be detrimental in any meeting, interview, or negotiation. Standing a minimum of 24 inches is a general guideline to follow. This will change depending on the other person.

In any business interaction, you’re trying to make a good impression. The person whom you are trying to impress will be able to tell a lot more about you from what you do, than what you say. In this type of interaction evaluate the other person’s body language, and try to match it. If they stand too close and make lots of eye contact, do not back up or become visibly uncomfortable. If they keep their distance making only pointed eye contact, honour that and respect the space. Matching body language subconsciously triggers a bond between two parties and will give the impression that you are an excellent communicator. When people are not subconsciously distracted by what you are saying nonverabally, they’ll pay a lot more attention to what you are trying to express verbally.