We communicate non - verbally by means of gestures, postures, eye contact, facial expressions, body movements and our dressing. For example If i have to attend a marriage reception, i will be dressed with full make up and heavy jewellery and my outfit matches the occasion and conveys the same to the audience. I cannot attend a formal meeting with my client or go to office with heavy makeup as it will not match the occasion. Light cotton dresses are associated with summer season, sweaters and jackets with winters, rain coats with rainy season, so our dressing sense communicates a lot about us and our personality.
Thumbs Up communicates “ All the Best”. We shake hands for greetings, the firmness decides our confidence. Looking in to the eyes of the person we are talking to conveys our interest and confidence but when we hide eye contact it shows lack of confidence. A person with crossed legs and crossed arms give defensive gestures and is not ready to open with the outside world. While sitting with heads down expresses boredom. Looking here and there expresses lack of confidence. Touching the chin shows we are about to take a decision. Clenched fist shows our anger. Nail biting again shows fear and lack of confidence. Clenches teeth shows anger. A smile conveys happiness and tears convey about our sad mood. Non verbal communication happens automatically when we convey a message and it is more powerful than verbal communication because only 35 % is communicated verbally and the rest 65 % is communicated non - verbally. We can understand whether a person is lying or speaking truth by means of non - verbal communication. Spoken words will conflict the body language and the person will be caught.
These non verbal gestures helps a lot in knowing about a person and reading in between the lines when taking important business decisions or while dealing with a person.
I will cite an example here - Chief Technical Officer at VinayRas Infotech is great at reading non verbal communication. One of my employees asked for 2 days leave on Saturday and then left. He predicted that the employee will not turn around before a week. I thought he was just joking and simply laughed. At the end of next week when the particular employee did not turn up , i went and asked vinay as to how he predicted the future. He told me his body language spoke about it and he could read it. It sounds great so this example states the power of non verbal communication.
