Positive Body Language - Importance
Body language is of utmost importance in this highly competitive world. The corporate sector values good body language a lot and any sign of bad body language can break deals, even leading to loss of network for people.
An old adage says “Actions speak louder than words". Our body posture, along with its movements and placement of different body parts, play an important role in letting out our feelings and emotions, even if we don’t display the emotions voluntarily.
Assertive Behavior
A positive body language helps the person to be more assertive and assists in putting his or her opinion forward more easily than the others. Positive body language is liked by other people and hence, the person carrying a positive body language gets more attention and favor in any discussion.
Non-verbal Communication
Research says that our communication consists of 35% verbal communication and 65% non-verbal communication. This implies that whatever we speak voluntarily comprises of just 35% of what the other person makes out of us. The remaining 65% information about us is learnt from our body language. Our body language helps others identify our emotions, status and even our lifestyle.
Non-verbal communication plays a significant role in conjunction with the spoken words. Our non-verbal communication can reiterate our message, contradict our words, reinforce our statement, substitute the meaning of our sentences and complement the meaning of our words. Since non-verbal communication can either emphasize our point or contradict it, it is necessary to keep our body language in sync with our emotions. Any sign of conflict between the body language and our words can make us appear untrustworthy and deceptive.
Workplace Success
Positive body language is a must in workplaces and corporate environment. Healthy body language can help foster team spirit in the workplace, which can also boost the morale of the employees. Delegation of responsibilities becomes easier through positive body language. It can also help in conveying respect for colleagues and resolving conflicts in the organization.
During corporate meetings, one can display interest, reception, and joy using positive body language. A gentle smile, open palms, leaning forward and eye contact can go a long way in establishing rapport with another person in the meeting thus helping build and sustain a healthy relationship with the other parties in a meeting.
Relationships
Negative body language can give way to a lot of misinterpretation and misunderstandings. Maintaining a body posture and absurd body movements that is offensive to the other person can ruin a relationship.
For instance, you need to understand the emotions and mood of the other person and need to customize your behavior accordingly. If your spouse is in a good mood, then it is okay to laugh or tease her occasionally. However, the same activity can be misinterpreted as sarcasm or irritable behavior if the spouse is not in a good mood. This can lead to issues between couples and can also lead to damaged relationships.
Public Speaking
In public speaking, body language assumes an altogether different importance. If the speaker has a defensive body language or has a passive body language, there are high chances that he or she won’t be listened to intently by the audience. The impact factor of such speeches also is reduced by a large fraction as the audience gets 35% of the entire communication but misses the remaining 65%. Hence, it’s highly important to have proper body movements and posture while speaking on stage in front of an audience.
Body language is very important in all forms of communication. It helps to break the barrier of unfamiliarity and helps to form a better connect with the recipient of information.
