We’re going to continue our study of body language by taking a close look at the eyes. The eyes play a huge role in an individual’s ability to express himself. They send several different non-verbal cues and if you know how to read the eyes you’ll be better able to anticipate the needs of your employees and clients alike.

The eyes are really amazing. You can look at someone from across a crowded room and instantly know whether or not he is looking back at your, or making eye contact. There are very few other communication gestures you can make with that same type of power. From a distance you can’t see what a person’s eyes are doing, aside from looking at you, but if you get closer you’ll be able to learn a lot more about what they’re thinking.

Here are just a few examples of how people move their eyes and what those movements mean:

• If a person’s eyes tend to look towards the right the person may be either guessing, creating a story, or formulating an outright lie. Children, for example, may be making up a fictional story, which is a sign of creativity. On the other hand, a person looking both to the right and down maybe thinking about how he feels about a situation – a response that may or may not be genuine.
• People who look towards their left when speaking are often trying to remember facts. They’re attempting to access their personal memory banks in order to participate in conversation. Those who look down and to the left, on the other hand, may be having an internal conversation.
• Those who shrug their eyes are typically frustrated with a situation. This type of shrug of the face may be accompanied with an upward eye roll, indicating a person is “looking up” for help or assistance.
• What if you see a person blinking frequently? These people are generally either very excited or are feelings the pressure of the situation. The average person blinks between 6 and 20 times each minute while an excited person can blink up to 100 times in that same time period.

These are just few examples of the things your eyes can say to others as you speak – and what the eyes of others are saying to you. Pay attention to the way you react to others and watch their eyes as you speak to them. They may not be telling you something you need to know!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training Courses

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

What exactly is body language? Body language is a culmination of a variety of factors that describe the way you carry, move, or hold your entire body. The way you choose to move your body says a lot about how you feel or what you are thinking at any given time.

Today I want to clarify exactly what body language entails:

• The physical position of your body (where you stand, how you stand)
• The proximity between you and the person you are speaking or working with
• The look or expression you display on your face
• The way you move your eyes or focus your eyes on objects or people
• Your gestures in touching yourself and/or the people you are talking to
• The way you fidget with inanimate objects (like pens, clothing, etc)
• The way you are breathing (shallow, heavy, fast, etc).

Some people, including body language researchers, tend to leave voice inflection out of the overall picture. This is a huge mistake as a person’s vocal volume, voice pitch, and pace of speech (amongst other factors) can also say quite a bit about how they feel. While a person’s voice isn’t exactly a visible, physical sign it shouldn’t be discounted. Neither should things like the rate of a person’s heartbeat. They’re less noticable but speak volumes.

As a manager it is important for you to gain a great understanding of body language and how to read it on others. Understanding the motions or postures a person makes will give you a huge advantage when it comes to communication, as you’ll be better able to anticipate people’s thoughts or needs. It will also make you more aware of yourself during conversations as well.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

Body language, also known as kineesicks, is incredibly important when it comes to effective communication skills. In order to become a good manager or leader you must be able to convey what you say with both words and physical body language. If you praise someone with an angry look on your face, for example, your words or praise simply wont’t go over very well.

Your body language says quite a bit about you. It will tell another person if you are listening, paying attention, angry, bored, or amused, amongst other things.

As we move forward we’re going to talk a bit about body language and how it impacts your performance as a manager. You’ll learn what others think of your body language as well as what the body language of others should mean to you.

Body language is something you can’t avoid – but you simply must learn how to control what your own body is saying to others – especially when dealing with employees on a daily basis.

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Manager Training

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

How do you keep your employees informed about changes within your organisation? Do you send them an email every time something new comes up? Do you call them into a meeting? Do you simply pass along information as you see individuals, one by one?

The problem with these methods of communication is that someone always seems to miss out on an important point. Someone is sick the day of the meeting or one employee asks a prying question and ends up with more information than the others.

Producing a regular newsletter is a great way to share valuable information with both your employees and your clients but if you’re having trouble communicating with your employees you can keep it at an internal level. Use the newsletter to make formal announcements about changes to procedure, about upcoming events, or to praise employees for a job well done. Give your employees ample space to make their own contributions, if need be, and find ways to get everyone involved. You may even want to add a “letters to the editor” section where you can answer questions that were raised after you published previous editions.

Newsletters can be fun and are really easy ways of communicating. You will never have to worry about whether or not everyone is on the same page – they’ll all get the publication and you’ll know they all got the same information at the same time.

Start by keeping things simple. Publish a one-page newsletter with important information. If it works, try to grow your newsletter. If not, scrap it for another idea!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Course

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”

As a manager you should certainly be able to deal with conflict, even if it means negotiating. The truth, however, is that every member of your team should be able to do the same thing because doing so will mean they’re better able to work together as a team.

One way to teach conflict management is to play a game known as “Divide the Loot.” While we often suggest playing this game with real money, you can take some sort of play money to use instead. Here’s how to play:

• Divide your team into two groups so that one can be the “management” and the other can represent “employees.”
• Each group will start it’s own “pot” of money. Each person will pay a different amount into the pot but no one will know how much anyone else put into the pot.
• After a set amount of time, the activity leader will take both pots, combine them into one, and then add his own contribution.
• He’ll then total the pot and tell everyone how much is in the pot.
• Everyone will know how much he contributed individually but no one will know how much anyone else, from their own team or the other, contributed. No one knows how much the project manager contributed either.
• The teams will each have 10 minutes to decide how to fairly split the total of the pot amongst everyone in the room. After 10 minutes the managers and employees must come together and negotiate a final outcome.

The goal here is to encourage everyone to come to a final decision, working together to make a fair negotiation. Try to keep the atmosphere in the room friendly. It is, after all, fake money and no one is going to lose anything at the end of the day!

Thanks again,
Sean

Sean McPheat
Managing Director
MTD Management Courses

Click below for a:
FREE email course “Improve Your Management Skills”