Body Language

Body language makes up 50-100% of a conversation, whether we mean it to or not. Since people don’t always speak what they mean at work, Robert Phipps, body language expert, tells you how to interpret those non-verbal clues:

The eyes have it. Eye contact is one of the most important aspects of body language. Most of us are comfortable with a few seconds’ eye contact, but anything longer can seem aggressive or intense. Equally, if you’re talking to a colleague who looks away a lot, assume they are bore (or perhaps just shy).

Be a copy cat. If someone is on the same wavelength as you, they’ll often adopt the same postures as you. So if people start to copy you, it means they’re open to your ideas. But if a person’s body and feet are turned away from you, even though they’re looking at you, it means they’d rather be moving the way their feet are pointing.

Cross it off. Most people cross their arms if they’re feeling defensive or negative. So even if someone verbally says they agree with you, if then they cross their arms they really don’t want. Their critical stance will continue until they have uncrossed their arms, so try to find out what’s bothering them or draw them out by handling them something to look at or asking them to do a task, such as writing something down.

Thought provoking. If you’re training someone, it’s useful to know how their mind works. If a person’s eyes move up and to the left while you’re talking to them, they process information visually, if the eyes only move left they think in terms of sounds, but eyes moving to the right and down indicates they learn through their feelings.

True lies. When someone is lying they tend to become generally less expressive with their hands, but make a lot of shrugging and hand-to-face gestures. Hands or fingers covering the mouth indicate deceit – the brain is subconsciously telling the hand to suppress the deceitful words.

Getting ahead. Tilting the head to the side indicates an interest in what’s being said. When people drop their heads the displaying a negative, judgmental or critical attitude. Using a hand to support your head suggests boredom has set in.