Leaders must demonstrate respect in their communication with employees, customers and suppliers. How they deliver messages, convey their leadership style and build rapport is just as important as the content of the directive itself. It is critical, especially for a CEO, to set an example and master non-verbal communication skills to be perceived as credible by their workforce, empowering them to do their job successfully.
This post offers five suggestions for improving your nonverbal interactions as a CEO.
1. Take Note Of Your Posture
As a CEO, it is vital to convey your authority with an air of superiority in meetings and other events. When you appear nervous or weak around employees, the entire structure of your company may be impacted. People must respect you to carry out your duties.
It would be best if you expressed a humble and open position as CEO. People in your organization perceive your physical posture, so you must look assertive, calm, and at ease with yourself as their leader. People will recognize your confidence, which allows you to retain respect from staff members. A leader who lacks composure is less authoritative than a confident one.
2. Take Risks
Make sure that your nonverbal communication is perceived as positive – to establish yourself as a very strong business leader. People will often try not to have a strong posture or facial expression to be seen as neutral. However, this can come across as a negative thing since it tends to make people seem overly stoic and okay with things.
Some nonverbal (body language) tactics can convey these unfavourable impressions, and you do not want to be considered uninterested, bored, in a hurry or preoccupied.
If you want to avoid giving off such impressions, don't be afraid to take risks with your nonverbal communication.
3. Switch Tones Appropriately
When you are in business, your voice and words have a huge effect — on other people's moods and activities. It's not enough to stay the same; you should adjust your style to fit the situation. For example: When dealing with finance managers, it would be wise to use more formal language. But a casual conversation with colleagues does not demand the same vocabulary.
4. Maintain Eye Contact
The habit of making eye contact is essential to make the other person feel listened to. However, your head must be moving around a little bit. If you look too intensely, you may scare the other person. An unfocused gaze suggests that you don't care about what they're saying. Both matters will have a negative impact on trust.
When communicating with a group, it's not enough to just look at the front. You have to engage others in their eyes and keep talking, even if their smartphone is blinking an alert that they missed something unique on Facebook. This will stop people from being distracted by small things around them, which often happens during important talks in large offices with loud coworker conversations going on nearby.
5. Rehearse
Mistakes have a way of getting worse when we do not try to fix them. If you want to change your social behaviours, try rehearsing in a safe environment. Get ready first by researching the nuts and bolts of body language, and spend a little time trying out novel actions before you need to use them in public.