Body Language Does Matter In Leadership!

Body language is the fire of today’s discussion irrespective of the job, status and the age. The psychologists suggest that body languages communicate more than your verbal language there by proving the adage; actions speak louder than words, true.
Indeed, the body language communication is detrimental to the success of the individual and the team as, the fundamental elements of triumph such as inspiration, motivation and dedication can be deeply cultivated in the followers through the positive body movements. The use of space around, the gestures, the facial expression, all should infuse the feeling of warmth, motivation and confidence in the individuals. Therefore, it is imperative for the leader to design the movements thoughtfully as any mistake can explode the basis of victory within no time!
The extra usage of the body movements like smiling, moving here and there and constantly dressing your outfit; all these actions distracts the attention of the team mates and drift them away from the exact motive of the discussion. A lot of movement shows that you are a nervous man.
Moreover, the extra smiling faces are taken less seriously by the followers, too. However, smiling face at appropriate time infuse the aura of warmth and confidence.
The eye movements are of immense importance in coaching and guiding the team mates.firstly; do not focus your attention and eye movements on few selected people. This would demotivate the others and would not inspire them to give their best. Consequently, the team would lose the individualism and creativity in their task as those ignored faces would never come up with the ideas that would unleash their talent.
Secondly, when listening to an individual suggestion or query, maintain a firm eye contact for, it leaves the impression to the follower that he is equally important for the designated task and his efforts and ideas would influence the yield greatly. Feeling of being respected and valued would engulf the very existence of him and he would be more committed to his work.
The mouth and lip movements indicate let others read your mind. Twisting and turning of lips and turning the lips to one side suggest that you are either too confused or you are thinking some thing else and saying other thing, all leaving an impression that their something to be kept hidden.
Standing tall, with shoulders kept high and relaxed boost up the morale and confidence of the followers as these are the signs of leader being confident and positive.
Don’t have the gesture of being low and droopy if you are tired for it is interpreted by the follower as if you are disinterested in the task.
Just do not go on with the abrupt decisions or do not let the tinge of sadness or tension mask your face for it loses your confidence and the feeling of trust that followers have on you would evaporate in to nothingness.
Touch is more powerful means of communication. It bridges the gulf and cultivates stronger and lasting relationships. The leaders must shake firmly with all team workers at the end of meeting and must pat them for their good work. It inculcates the feeling of being more connected and the followers would be more comfortable with him. This superb feeling of comfort would allow them to come up with the best of their work.
The leaning forward in the meeting towards the followers leaves one to think as that the task has to be done as soon as possible. The hastiness then swept the very nook of the decisions and followers then act on their thoughts without giving a second glance.
In open discussions session, the hands in pocket, clenched fist, clenching an object firmly or a foot at back conveys closed nonverbal signals, giving an impression that you are uncertain of your actions, resulting in a feeling of disinterest and lack of trust among the subordinates. The contrary actions then suggest that you are too sure of your abilities and have nothing to be kept secret from the followers.
Do not cross your hands or have crossed legs in a meeting for it implies that you are confused in the wild jigsaw of the task and, therefore are too uncertain. It makes others feel that you are not open to others opinion or ideas, too. The best gesture of hands and arms is to keep aside which unveils your confidence on your abilities.
As a leader you are always communicating through verbal and non-verbal communication and, both types of communication means a lot when it comes to have an effective, influential leadership. Your body language reflects your thinking, your strength of words, and your character and last but not the least your influence and success hence; it is of great importance to keep a firm look on it to steer out of this phase of test as a conquering leader.

Six Simple Steps For Good Communication

“Communication is the real work of leadership,”-Nitin Nohria
The effectiveness of any leadership style and approach wholly rely on the leadership vision and, if only the leadership vision is communicated properly to the team, the best can be expected by the team mates for the success depends upon the communication where the leader is able to properly unveil his views, ideas and what he is thinking and feeling.
There are several ways of achieving the best communication between leaders and team mates that would lead to mutual understanding as well as good, friendly relations between the leader and team mates. When such a supporting and conducive aura for work has been created, the subordinates will always feel like being motivated and inspired and would work harder to give the best.
The effective communication is the one where receiver has got the message what the transmitter intend to communicate.
There are some easy yet effective steps that if implemented by the leaders ensure the good communication between the leaders and subordinates.
• Knowing Your Followers
Knowing the intellectual, mental level of the followers is a prerequisite for the helpful communication. The authentic leader successfully smells the fragrance of abilities, surrounding the individual follower. The leader is the able to accentuate the fragrance by polishing his abilities through the proper conveyance of his ideas.
The more deeply the leader is aware of the abilities, the knowledge and the mental level of the followers, the easier it would be for him to simplify his leadership vision for the effective communication to the team workers. This promises the welcoming breeze of success ahead.
• Writing Down Your Vision
The tasks and the important aspects of the vision should be given in black and white to the subordinates. The more the vision is in writing form, the concrete the existence is and the attainable the goals would be.
Having this in writing would first of all give the best idea of the goals and the path planned for it. Secondly, the subordinates could relate their progress by looking and reading the written goals. Thirdly, the message of the leader could be explained to the followers in the simpler form that could be approached by the mind of even those who are not having any prior knowledge. Moreover, the verbally said thing is least effective and lasting as compared to the written thing. It gives a very firm look and succeeds in getting the required result across the board.
• Presenting The Ideas
A session should be arranged a day or two after the written form of the vision is handed to the subordinates. The purpose of the session should be to allow the subordinates to come up with the fascinating and creative ideas that make the task livelier and worth achieving. The leaders himself must provide the different ideas too. This would result in the influx of the challenging yet alluring ideas and would ensure the healthier and well-structured communication between the leaders and the team workers.
• Actively Listening
“With the fluidity of information in business today, leaders need to be masterful listeners; they need to be able to receive as well as send.”- Badaracco
Good communication can not be ensured as long as one is not the good listener. The more the leaders pay heed to the subordinates ideas and problems, the closer he would be to them and understandable communication would stem from it. Only the good listening would produce the good response by the leader and a clear logical answer, too.
Listening is the basic model for the integrity in communication that facilitates mutual understanding and increases the chances of the victory.
• Clarifying the Queries
During the course of the task, it is logical that the subordinates would come up with some confusion when a cloud of confusion hovers around their mind. Therefore, the task of leader is to arrange a question-answer session where it should be the utmost endeavor of the leader to clarify the queries of the subordinates either by displaying slides or by giving examples and by verbally explaining it. The higher the exchange of words and ideas would, the stronger the communication knot would be.
• Exchange Of Feedback
Feedback is immensely imperative for the successfully good communication between the leader and the subordinates. The leader is supposed to give feedback on the activities and work of the subordinates. However, the importance of this very feedback demands the greater care in the selection of words for the negativity can hamper the skills of the follower. It does not imply that the mistakes should not be told to the follower but, it could be done so by the very aptly chosen supportive and optimistic words.
Though the feedback by the leader is important, the essence of the feedback could not be ignored either. At the end of the day, the subordinates should be spurred to give feedback of the activities and come up with any possible suggestions, too. It would improve the working aura and would promise the success too.
The greater the exchange of ideas would be and more properly the problems would be addressed, the healthier the communication would be and finer the chances of selection. This highlights the importance of the communication and the good communication skill can be attained by simply following the above-mentioned techniques. Happy successful leadership!