Guest AuthorShital Kakkar Mehra
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Top 5 Body Language Blunders To Avoid

By | Shital Kakkar Mehra | Executive Presence Coach for CEOs I Business Communication Expert I Best-selling Author I Co-Founder Katalyst, NGO

Body language is a science about non-verbal communication we do through our facial expressionsgestures, eye movement, touch etc. It is a discipline, which has got lot of attention of business fraternities for last 3-4 decades due to its significance in business landscape. It is also known as kinesics.

We will have a distinct advantage, if we learn how we can use body language to express ourselves.First and foremost, we should learn about some basic mistakes of body language, which can give a wrong impression about one’s behavior at a public or formal place.

In this Article, we are emphasizing some of those important gestures, which can lead to disastrous outcomes.

1)  Eye ContactEyes being the two tiny windows of someone’s personality are placed as most important part of body language. It is obvious that by a firm and confident eye contact, we express our interest and caring gesture. However, we need to be careful about the impression we may create, if it falls on either side of the two extremes.

a)  Longer than expected: Eye contact for too long with someone gives an impression that we are gawking or staring to the person.

b)  Crooked or No Eye Contact: Similar to the longer eye contact, even crooked or no eye contact breaks our image in a formal gathering.  

2)  Invading Personal Space: An individual can encounter cross cultural challenges and if one is not aware of the ethos of the new region in advance, where he/she is moving, it is advisable to research beforehand. It has also seen that the profile, sex and age, enhance the expectations among working professional about their personal free space. So, this body language plays important role, while dealing with heterogeneity at work place.

3)  Hand Shake: Hand shake is one of the medium through which we create our first impression about the other person, whom we meet first time. Therefore, we should be cautious while shaking our hands.

a)  The Bone-Crusher: If the hand shake goes too hard, it may be taken negatively by the other person. Moreover, it can create pain to the other person as well.

b)  Wet Fish Handshake: A handshake, if goes tender shows either you are not confident or not interested. So, Firm Hand shake is expected irrespective of the profile of the other person. 

4)  Fidgeting: One of the survey conducted on 2100 recruiters, revealed that about 29% of these recruiters expressed fidgeting as the biggest body language faux pas considered in the interviews. It refers to the act of playing with hair, ears, biting nails, lips or tapping fingers etc. during an important meeting.

5)  Slouching: Slouching refers to bad posture like sitting bending your shoulders inwards. This kind of body language signifies lack of confidence.

If we focus on above gestures and correct them immediately, we will certainly see the optimistic changes around. With the knowledge of Body language, an individual can create a positive impression at work place.

Republished with permission and originally published at Shital Kakkar Mehra’s LinkedIn

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