The Everyday Icon Style Podcast

Episode 165: The Power of Non-Verbal Communication in the Workplace

• Tiffany Howard

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Did you know that 93% of your communication is non-verbal? Imagine the impact you can have by mastering your body language in the workplace. In this episode I'll reveal how non-verbal cues like posture, gestures, and facial expressions can shape your professional presence. You'll learn how to project confidence, authority, and leadership with actionable tips such as standing tall, maintaining eye contact, and using open body language to command respect and trust.

As well as, break down the science behind body language and its role in first impressions. Through compelling personal stories and practical advice, you'll discover how small adjustments can elevate your executive presence. Whether you're walking into a presentation or staying engaged in meetings, these insights will help you build a visual brand that aligns with the professional image you aspire to project. Don't miss out on this opportunity to revolutionize your career and establish yourself as a confident leader.


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Speaker 1:

Ignite your style with the Everyday Icon Style Podcast. I'm Tiffany, your style navigator and confidant here to lead women in corporate America on the quest to discover their timeless style. Let's revolutionize your wardrobe, empower your confidence and embrace your inner icon. Are you ready to redefine your corporate chic? Then let's get started. Hi everyone and welcome back to the Everyday Icon Style Podcast. I'm your host, as always, tiffany, and today is about body language.

Speaker 1:

Yes, so we've talked about grooming, we've talked about wardrobe essentials, we've talked about first impressions. So let's talk about body language and how these unspoken signals that we're sending with our body and how it can affect how people see us, and what we can do to kind of make that change and that shift, to make sure that our body language is projecting what we really want to say. The same way, especially if we've worked on our clothing, as far as visual this is also part of that whole visual brand is our body language and, as professionals, the way we carry ourselves, it can actually have a huge impact on how we're perceived and the opportunities that come our way. So are you projecting the confidence that commands respect in the workplace and are you showing that you have our authority and our place of leadership with just your body language project a powerful executive presence, from the way you stand to the expressions on your face because I'm guilty of the face ones, and probably the way I stand and sit, because these nonverbal cues are crucial for establishing credibility, trust and leadership. So let's get ready to learn. So first, did you know that there is a science of body language? Now we know that appearances matter in our space of professionalism, right, but did you know that 93% of our communication is actually non-verbal? I don't think we should be surprised. So this means the way we move, how we gesture, how we hold ourselves, has a greater influence on how we're evaluated than the words we say. Because, listen, we know our body language, our face says one thing, but the words coming out of our mouth is something completely different. So we have to remember that, that they are looking more so at how we, our body language is and how we are visually. And if that doesn't match, then probably what we say probably won't even matter at all. So with this, the studies show that people make snap judgments about our competence, likability and trustworthiness within a few seconds of meeting us. Remember that's visual. Remember this is the one thing that we have complete control over Now.

Speaker 1:

After these initial impressions, it's incredibly difficult to change them, because you never get a second chance at a good first impression. You never get a second chance at a good first impression. So even if we try to compensate with our verbal communication. That's why it's critical to be intentional about projecting the right non-verbal cues. I actually have a book that is sitting in my stack of unread books that I need to read, because I like to just buy books about non-verbal cues. I think it's called Cues and Clues. So maybe what I'll do is I will pull it out, read it and then I will come back and give you a little go, maybe a little bit more into detail on that. So I will add that to my list.

Speaker 1:

So when we exhibit open, powerful body language, it provides us in signals that we're confident, authority and leadership. If we're closed off these timid gestures, they make us appear insecure and small and maybe even incompetent of the job. Even knowing daggone well, we can do the job. Going daggone well, we can do the job. So when it comes to this, the stakes are actually high when it comes to managing the unknown spoken message we send with our bodies. So let's break down these key elements when it comes to this. So how we stand posture Now, I used to hate when my mom used to have us walk around the house with a book on her head to keep us and make sure we were standing straight.

Speaker 1:

When we were in church and we were in the choir stand, if we were looking down and we somehow strangely caught her eye, she would always put her hand underneath her chin to tell us to lift up our heads and if that didn't help, she would always remind us if you don't want to look at anybody, look at the clock, because there was a clock that was like right above the door. When you came into the sanctuary, there was a clock right above there. To always look at that clock if you didn't want to look into the crowd or the audience. All comes back to posture, so some of the things our parents taught us actually is true. So we want to stand tall, shoulders back, our head held high.

Speaker 1:

We want to try to avoid slouching and hunching as much as possible, and we want to make you, because looking small it can make us look small, and what we're trying to do is not shrink and be small, and this is where this comes into play. And all of this I'd want to say it takes practice and it takes time, and these small little changes will definitely help us along the way. Because it's more, it's not always about the clothes, but even if you have this amazing bomb bad-ass style wardrobe, it's not gonna matter if your body language and how you look and stand, it'll throw it all off and you've pretty much wasted all of your money on that by just by these things. And guess what? This is free guys. This is free 99 stuff that you can begin to incorporate today. So, how we stand now, how we stand, we want to be as stable as possible.

Speaker 1:

We we want to avoid crossing our arms and legs. Now, when you come saying the legs, I know for me, especially when I wear skirts and things like that, I'll try to cross my legs at the ankles, or I will cross my legs or try to sit in a certain there's certain ways that of course that you can sit to kind of cross your legs without crossing your legs as women. So you want to be very mindful of that. Crossing the arms well, we all know what that usually means. Usually means okay. Whatever this person is saying to me is a bunch of mess. It's wrong. You know that's when we cross our arms nine times out of ten. We're probably in the process beginning stages or last stages of catching an attitude. So be mindful of that sometimes and just try to. You know I like to put my hands in my lap and, you know, clasp my hands together and hopefully I can put them under a table so people don't see how frustrated I am with what they're trying to say. So there's ways around this, but we don't want to make it as noticeable as possible and sometimes when, after this, I want you to see if you can catch yourself doing these things as well. So gestures Sometimes we don't know like gestures play an important part.

Speaker 1:

So if I'm pointing at you a certain way or pointing at something a certain way, it might come off and you can actually tell in my tone, because I'm actually pointing, trying to get that, and just it's like, well, didn't I just show you this the other day, instead of, you know, being really nice with it and say, okay, well, if you look this and you look here, you do this, you look here and you do that, and I know I did an internship at Disney when I was an undergrad and they had what was called the Disney point, and if you've been to Disney or you've done the internship at Disney, you know what I'm talking about. It's two fingers and that's how we would point. So sometimes, even doing something like that I don't do it as often, but maybe I need to start doing that again if I'm pointing to like a direction, because I know with one it's going to be like well, if you look over there so you have to it's like a whole reaction, like your whole body, like reacts, even with how you point and do gestures. If you're trying to brush somebody off, it causes like a whole chain reaction that we're trying to avoid. So it's not like okay, do you have an attitude? Yes, I have an attitude, and I'm not saying not have an attitude because we are very ripe to have attitudes, but it's how we have the attitudes. We have to kind of mask the attitudes. Now, if it's just something that's off the wall, then this don't apply, but we try to want to make it as because, remember, we're in a position of leadership and we are supporting a leader, so all of people take notice of all of this stuff, even though we don't think they are, it can make an impact. So we want to be mindful.

Speaker 1:

My favorite and this probably hurts a lot of us is our facial expressions, because our facial expressions will tell somebody what we're thinking without us having to say anything. You know how a lot of us have that resting bitch face and you're just like or that look of now I know you lying. This is the craziest thing I've ever heard our faces and we know our faces because they get tensed up and you're just like are you kidding me? So we have to be mindful of that as well, and sometimes, even if you're, if it's not in that case, it could be a case of you're talking with someone and it may be that they're giving you feedback on something and it may feel like you know if you're shrinking or things like that. You want to be mindful of that and how that kind of works, because they pick up on those and no matter what you say afterwards, you've already told them how you felt good, bad or indifferent. You've told them how you felt by your facial expressions and not by the words in your mouth that come out of your mouth. So we definitely want to be mindful of that, because I'm very guilty of that, and that's probably going to be the hardest one that we all ever have to overcome is the facial expressions, because I'm pretty sure people have cussed people out just by the look on their faces. But here's the thing that I want you to think about right now I want you to become aware of your current body language tendencies and make a conscious effort to correct them.

Speaker 1:

Small changes can make a huge difference, so I want you to pay attention to how something as simple as this I want you to pay attention to how you carry yourself in meetings and presentations and one-on-one interactions first, and where are you inadvertently projecting insecurity or shrinking or being passive, and where can you amp up your authority and confidence? Just pay attention to it. And then, once you pay attention to it, what small change can you be? It could be something as simple as standing up straight. It could be something as simple as holding your head held high. It could be something as simple as looking at someone in the in the eye when you're having a conversation to them. It could be something as simple as and people. You might not think about this.

Speaker 1:

It might be something as simple as how you shake somebody's hand sounds crazy, but I promise you, every time I shake somebody's hand the first, especially for a woman I'm like, well, doesn't everybody shake hands like this? They always compliment me on how I shake their hand because I give a firm handshake. And if you've seen my hands, my hands are like they're not, you know, they're small, petite, delicate, looking things right. But even how I do that and I remember that from when I worked many, many moons ago in the bank and someone complimented me on how a customer actually complimented me on how I shook her hand those right, that's a cue that people probably they do that. So things, small, simple things like that I want you to be mindful of and I want you, as we're doing this, make those small adjustments when needed. If something doesn't work, change it up again, but just be mindful of that, and just these small changes can make a world of difference.

Speaker 1:

So, as we come to conclusion of this week's episode, strategic body language is a powerful tool for projecting executive presence and taking your career to new heights. All of this is part of your visual business card and for your just visual appearance altogether. So you need to begin to align your nonverbal cues with an image of confidence, authority and leadership. Now, when you do that, your style and how you dress will be the icing on the cake, because they have to align together. We're trying to take two things and make them into one. That is where the magic happens and that is where your executive presence will shine through, and we can begin to transform this little by little, brick by brick. I don't care how old you are I'm 50 I still have to go through and do the same thing, little by little. That will help and make a huge difference.

Speaker 1:

So let's start and get out there. Commit to one thing. It could be something as simple as just standing straight, holding your head held high, walking into a presentation with confidence. It could be sitting. It could be sitting up straight, looking at if you're engaged in the meeting Because, remember, we are in a role of leadership. We have to lead meetings, we have to lead programs. We have to lead programs. We have to lead projects. They're not going to lead us if we don't exude executive presence in the absence of our executive. So be mindful of all that and really just think about that, because we're trying to do the whole package when it comes to your visual brand. So I hope today's episode was thoughtful and thought-provoking and, as always, I hope you guys have an amazing rest of your day, stay healthy, stay safe, and I will talk to you guys in the next episode.