You miss a lot if you just listen to what someone says in a meeting. Someone 'says' a lot without talking. So with his or her body and with gestures. Looking at your conversation and meeting partners provides a lot of information. It is nice if you consciously receive the non-verbal signals and know what you are transmitting yourself.
Seven points to keep in mind:
- Look closely at how someone says something
What can you deduce from that? - What do you notice about the facial expression?
What do you infer from that? And what emotion do you see? - Does someone speak loudly, softly, or occasionally with a raised voice?
What do you infer from that? - Look at the gestures someone makes while speaking What do you think of that? What is its effect on you? And on other people?
- How relaxed or tense is someone? How do you see that? What do you infer from that?
- How do you talk to yourself? Watch your hands when you talk
- What do you do when you are bored? Do you see that in others too?
About the author
Based in Odesa, Ukraine, Anastasiia Shtankova is a trilingual (English, Russian, Ukrainian) graduate of the Sukhomlinsky Mykolayiv National University. For as long as she can remember, Nastya has had a passion for writing. As the content manager for Finance4Learning, she manages to combine business with the pleasure of writing. She is responsible for generating, curating and marketing content relevant to the company’s target audiences.
