The Definitive Book of Body Language - Barbara Pease [121]
Seven Simple Strategies for Giving You the Extra Edge
1. Stand Up for Meetings
Conduct all short-term decision-making meetings standing up. Studies show that standing conversations are significantly shorter than sitting ones and the person who conducts a standing meeting is perceived as having higher status than those who sit. Standing whenever others enter your workspace is also an excellent time saver, so consider having no visitors' chairs in your own work area. Standing decisions are quick and to the point and others don't waste your time with social chatter or questions such as “How's the family?”
2. Sit Competitors with Their Backs to the Door
As discussed, studies reveal that when our backs are toward an open space we become stressed, blood pressure increases, our heart beats faster, our brainwave output increases, and we breathe more quickly as our body readies itself for a possible rear attack. This is an excellent position in which to place your opponents.
3. Keep Your Fingers Together
People who keep their fingers closed when they talk with their hands and keep their hands below chin level command the most attention. Using open fingers or having your hands held above the chin is perceived as less powerful.
4. Keep Your Elbows Out
When you sit on a chair, keep your elbows out or on the arms of the chair. Submissive, timid individuals keep their elbows in to protect themselves and are perceived as fearful.
5. Use Power Words
A study at the University of California showed that the most persuasive words in spoken language are: discovery, guarantee, love, proven, results, save, easy, health, money, new, safety, and you. Practice using these words. The new results you'll get from the discovery of these proven words will guarantee you more love, better health, and will save you money. And they're completely safe and easy to use.
6. Carry a Slim Briefcase
A slim briefcase with a combination lock is carried by an important person who is concerned only with the bottom-line details; large, bulky briefcases are carried by those who do all the work and are perceived as not being sufficiently organized to get things done on time.
7. Watch Their Coat Buttons
Analysis of videotaped confrontations, for example, between unions and corporations, show a higher frequency of agreement is reached when people have their coats unbuttoned. People who cross their arms on their chest often do it with their jacket buttoned and are more negative. When a person suddenly unbuttons their jacket in a meeting, you can reasonably assume that they have also just opened their mind.
Summary
Before you go to an important interview or meeting, sit quietly for five minutes and mentally practice seeing yourself doing these things and doing them well. When your mind sees them clearly, your body will be able to carry them out and others will react accordingly.
Office Power Politics
Have you ever been for a job interview and felt overwhelmed or helpless when you sat in the visitor's chair? Where the interviewer seemed so big and overwhelming and you felt small and insignificant? It is likely that the interviewer had cunningly arranged his office furnishings to raise his own status and power and, in so doing, lower yours. Certain strategies using chairs and seating arrangements can create this atmosphere in an office.
There are three factors in raising perceived status and power using chairs: the size of the chair and its accessories, the height of the chair from the floor, and the location of the chair relative to the other person.
1. Chair Size and Accessories
The height of the back of the chair raises or lowers a person's status. The higher the back of the chair, the more power and status the person sitting in it is perceived to have. Kings, queens, popes, and other high-status people may have the back of their throne or official chair as high as eight feet or more to show their status relative to everyone else; the senior