The fact that non-verbal cues account for around seventy percent of any effective communication deserves more attention than what it is getting currently. Our primitive understanding of body language was as that of an auxiliary to the verbal communication. Several researches in the last two decades have proven it to be otherwise. In all the spheres of life, Non-Verbal Communication has taken centre stage as it affects almost all the aspects of communication. For instance, emphasis, refusal, agreement, support, willingness, anxiousness, confidence, uncertainty etc., are all better understood as well as better expressed through bodily gestures.
The world of business, academics, information technology, police, administration etc. have one common thread despite being completely different from one another, and that is, management.
Every organization has a hierarchy, separately delineated roles, different key responsibility areas and evaluative measures. Non-Verbal communication cast its impact at all these levels. Let us take a look at them-
- Hierarchy– It works both ways, that is top to bottom and bottom upwards. When a task is allotted to a team or to an individual, their verbal response merely, does not reveal the complete picture. Whether their shoulders were dull, they had a crossbody posture, how reclined were they in their chair, was there any spontaneous fluttering of eyelashes and several other cues hold the key to the fate of the allotted task.
- Delineation of roles– No matter how many claims are made by an individual about how good a team player they are, or how much equipped they are with the leadership quality, one has to rely on non-verbal cues to understand if the claims made are genuine or not. If the candidate feels uneasy in a certain team setup or has difficulty in taking and following orders, the results will tell about it much later as compared to the bodily gestures, which can prevent a project from failing.
- Alignment of responsibilities with capabilities– A teacher might not be a good administrator, a manager might not be good at oratory and likewise, an entrepreneur might not be good at managing people. When misaligned roles are assigned to people, the results are bound to be unimaginable. At the very first instance, defensive and unsure body language of the candidates must be taken into consideration to avoid unwanted outcomes while allocating different duties to different people.
At Asian School of Business Noida, the Centre for Skill Development gives a special impetus to non-verbal communication. All the trainers and faculty members work meticulously on improving the body language of the students so as to make them workplace ready.
By
Shakti Chaturvedi
Assistant Professor- Media
Asian School of Business