Because your audience will take their lead from you. If you believe it’s complicated (which, of course, implies that it’s difficult to understand and, possibly, not worth their valuable time), then who are they to argue with you, the expert?

You’re leading your audience in the wrong direction

Effectively what you’ve done is tell them that they won’t understand. Rather than you work out the wrinkles, the structure, the key points, the easy to follow narrative story, you’ve asked them to do the donkey work.

Of course, you might be lucky: you could be talking to one of the very few people who LOVE complications, whose soul soars at the chance to untangle the big issues from the details, the main theme from the variations. But more usually, you’ll watch the shutters drop over your audience’s eyes as they settle down for some enriching interior monologue time.

How to communicate with clarity

The solution is – naturally – not complicated. You just need to have untangled the knitting before you presented them with the cat’s cradle of the problem. Unravel the different bits of what you want them to remember and they’ll stick in their memories.

So how do you do this? Well, you can break down all the different points by numbers, for example: “There are five main points…”. So they always know how far along the journey they’ve travelled with you. You can order the different parts for them, for instance: ”The central idea is this etc…”

Then, once they’re happy with the main idea, you introduce your wrinkly points or counter-arguments, for example: ”However, some people consider this misses a key area of the data. They’d claim…” That sort of thing.

The benefits of clarity

And, of course, it’s not just your audience that benefits; it’s a great way for you to get straight what you think and feel about an issue.

About the author of this article

This article was written by Simon, one of Skillstudio’s consultant trainers. 

Simon is based in London and has designed and runs our in-company Persuasive Writing and Powerful Storytelling workshops. 

As well as being an experienced trainer and role-player Simon is an accomplished actor, writer and theatre director. He has worked as a writer, designer and film director for a range of large companies and organizations.

Simon has a MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University. He has a wide range of writing experience, in both the commercial sector, as well as for television, film and radio.

You can read more about Simon here.

Like some more information on our training?

To find out more about communicating with clarity and our:

• Persuasive Writing or
• Powerful Storytelling

in-house workshops then give us a call on +44 (0) 8456 444 150 and we’ll get Simon to touch base with you to discuss things further.

Skillstudio also offer a number of other communication and presentation training options. If you’d like some more details, please click here  and then get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss your training needs in more detail.

Why even complicated messages are always simple is one of many articles from Skillstudio Limited providing expert help, tips & advice on how to improve your business communication skills. See Skillstudio Help & Advice for the full list of articles.

You’re in the meeting that your colleague was supposed to have got the presentation ready for. But they’re conveniently sick. Instead, it’s you flustering your way through a mass of charts, graphs and figures that resemble nothing less than a Jackson Pollock.

As you speak, you find you’re floating above yourself. Your normal, direct way of talking has been replaced by a language invented by a management consultant in a Magimix.

What’s happened?

Physiologically we all recognise the signs: increased heart rate, dry mouth, difficulty breathing.

But what’s happening psychologically?

It seems that when we’re under pressure, we resort to ‘models of expertise’: the academic, the cultural critic, the surgeon. They use complicated, technical language, your brain says, so if I want to appear knowledgeable and in control I should mimic them.

Of course, you give exactly the opposite impression: as your confidence evaporates, you know just how a beached whale must feel as the tide slips further and further away.

So, how do you keep calm and keep your audience with you?

You can use various stress management techniques. But you can also use a quick and easy technique using clear English.

Focus on the words you’re saying. If they’re technical, jargon, many-syllabled, stop talking, pause for breath and concentrate on using simpler words.

The effort involved helps to calm you, but also to make clearer what you’re saying, both in terms of the content and the structure of your argument.

Your stress levels will go down.

The power of clarity

You may even be able to find the words to forgive your colleague for landing you in it.

But even if you can’t, at least you’ll be able to express clearly and calmly exactly what you think of them.

About the author of this article

This article was written by Simon, one of Skillstudio’s consultant trainers. 

Simon is based in London and has designed and runs our in-company Persuasive Writing and Powerful Storytelling workshops. 

As well as being an experienced trainer and role-player Simon is an accomplished actor, writer and theatre director. He has worked as a writer, designer and film director for a range of large companies and organizations.

Simon has a MA in Politics, Philosophy and Economics from Oxford University. He has a wide range of writing experience, in both the commercial sector, as well as for television, film and radio.

You can read more about Simon here.

Like some more information on our training?

To find out more about using clear English and our:

• Persuasive Writing or
• Powerful Storytelling

in-house workshops then give us a call on +44 (0) 8456 444 150 and we’ll get Simon to touch base with you to discuss things further.

Skillstudio also offer a number of other communication and presentation training options. If you’d like some more details, please click here  and then get in touch with us if you’d like to discuss your training needs in more detail.

How to use clear English as your ’stressometer’ is one of many articles from Skillstudio Limited providing expert help, tips & advice on how to improve your business communication skills. See Skillstudio Help & Advice for the full list of articles.

By shaking their hand or standing in a particular way, we might trigger off old memories in the person we are trying to impress. Maybe an old friend stood exactly like that, in which case our advances might be treated sympathetically. But if we stand like the back-stabbing colleague who has treated them badly, our advances are likely to be treated as hostile.

So there are two reasons why body language is helpful.

Firstly, to understand how we come across to other people and be able to send the right message – “Trust me, I’m not out to get you!”

And secondly be able to read the signals that another person is sending back.

By adjusting the way we stand, move, dress and interact we can make encounters with other human beings (and probably most animals too!) much easier and smoother.

So, what exactly is Body Language?

Body Language is all the non-verbal communication we make – both conscious and unconscious.

HOW WE JUDGE OTHER PEOPLE AND HOW THEY JUDGE US:

A huge part of our judgements of other people and their judgements on us are VISUAL. Studies have suggested over 50% of these judgements are VISUAL.

How do we stand? How aggressive or non-threatening are our gestures? How do our eyes, skin, hair, clothes and shoes look? Do we look happy or sad, clean or untidy, confident or nervous, tired or awake?

Another large part of these judgements will be made by listening to someone’s VOICE – the resonance, timbre, volume, pitch and pacing.

Just how important is it?

And some studies suggest that only 7% of our judgements are based on WHAT WE ACTUALLY SAY! To be fair these studies were usually taken when the body language was not CONGRUENT (that means where the body was giving signals that were disagreeing with what was being said).

The actual figures can be disputed but there is no doubt that a huge part of an audience’s judgement is VISUAL and VOCAL.

People spend hours honing a script for their speech, choosing exactly the right words – and of course that is highly important – but, it must be worth also paying close attention to the VISUAL and VOCAL judgements that audiences are making of you every time you stand up to speak!

Different types of body language

There are basically five types of body language. You will probably be able to recognise the more obvious signs:

CLOSED – AGGRESSIVE body language

• Hands on hips
• Legs too wife – too macho
• Invading personal space – too close
• Aggressive gesturing – finger pointing
• Standing ‘over’ someone
• Over firm handshake
• ‘Eye balling’ – out staring

CLOSED – DEFENSIVE body language

• Crossed arms or legs
• Hunched shoulders
• Poor eye contact
• Leaning away
• Tight voice

CLOSED – NERVOUS body language

• Nail biting
• Dry throat – swallowing / coughing
• Blushing – face/neck/chest
• Weak handshake
• Avoiding eye contact

CLOSED – BORED body language

• Looking around the room
• Looking at watch
• Drumming fingers
• Yawning
• Shifting weight
• Rubbing face

OPEN – INTERESTED body language

• Firm handshake
• Good eye contact
• On the same level
• Confident stance
• Confident gestures – chosen gestures
• Showing interest – head nod / slight lean in

And from personal experience

We all know that we ‘close off ‘ in a lift to feel safer as our personal space is invaded. We look up or down and cross our arms. This is an obvious case of ‘closed’ body language. It might be appropriate in a lift but in most other situations, it will ‘close’ the other person down. They will not respond to our advances. So learning to give ‘open’ signals will literally ‘open’ people up to our ideas and advances.

Most of us know the well-recognised ‘closed’ or ‘aggressive;’ signals, but we give off far more subtle signals all the time that we might not even be aware of.

Getting is right

Your body has to be in CONGRUENCE – that means we’re giving off signals that are in tune with what we are saying.

If you say, “This has been a terrible month.” We would probably take it on face value (literally what your face is saying) and be downcast.

But if you said, “This has been a terrible month” followed immediately with a smile and a wink of your eye, we will assume it has actually been a great month.

A smile needs to fill the whole face. If you say you’re happy but your eyes are cold – even though your mouth is smiling – we will believe the eyes.

If you nod when saying yes or shake your head when saying YES, we believe what the head is doing, no the words you have used.

Seeing is believing

We always believe what we see far more that what we hear.

In the 1960 TV debate between John F Kennedy and Richard Nixon, both candidates answered well. But on a poll conducted the next day, there were completely different results between TV and radio audiences – between those who had seen and heard and those who had only heard.

Listeners on radio were convinced Nixon had won the debate, his arguments were clear. And viewers on TV were convinced Kennedy had won, he came across as likeable and believable. This was despite the fact that Nixon’s arguments were probably clearer. People believed Kennedy more – they bought into his body language and the signals he gave of. They didn’t trust Nixon from the body language he was using.

Influencing other people:

We can learn be aware of how we come across and the signals we give. We can even influence the behaviour of other people by gently MIRRORING back their body language.

You will have seen couples who are newly in love literally mirroring everything the other does. If one reaches for their wine glass, the other will follow. If one touches their chin, the other will. It’s a sign that they’re getting on – that they are quite literally, in sync.

You can change your body language

You can change your body language to show empathy and to influence someone by slowing down your movements or taking away any unintended aggressive body language of your own.

You can learn to relax, calm and excite other people purely by the way you hold yourself, the way you move and the way you interact.

Working with a coach can be really helpful -the coach is a mirror, feeding back how the world ‘sees’ you.

Finally, learning about body language is not all hard work.

Remember, it takes 42 muscles to frown but only 17 to smile!

Try it – it works!

About the author of this body language article

This article was written by Robin, one of Skillstudio’s consultant trainers.

Robin is based in London, is an excellent trainer; and runs many of our body language and public speaking training sessions (from 1-2-1 coaching through to Masterclasses).

You can read his training bio here.

Body Langauage Training

If you’d like Robin or one of Skillstudio’s other trainers to help you become more aware of how your body language can affect the messages you are trying to convey, please get in touch.

We will help you to take control and have more influence with your own body language.  We’ll also provide you with an insight into how to read and respond to the signals being sent out by the very people you are communicating, negotiating or simply living with.

Body Language Awareness Workshops
These 1-day public courses are held in Central London.  These workshops can also be tailored and run on an in-house basis for your organisation throughout the UK and Europe.

Communication Skills Workshops
Our 1-day communication skills workshops also include an element of body language awareness.  Both public courses and in-house workshops are available.

Interpersonal Communication Skills 1-2-1 Coaching
Our 1-2-1 coaching sessions take place throughout the UK and are tailored to your specific requirements and are normally of either a half day or full day’s duration.

Call us today on 08456 444 150 if you want to discuss how our training can help you or your team.

Skillstudio also offer public courses, 1-2-1 coaching and in-house training in many aspects of presentation skills and communication skills, including public speaking, job interview skills, vocal skills and body language awareness.

We hope you found this article useful

Please use the buton below to bookmark this page as a favourite, email it or share it with friends or colleagues.

Why is Body Language important? is one of many articles from Skillstudio Limited providing expert help, tips & advice on how to improve your business communication skills. See Skillstudio Help & Advice for the full list of articles.

Fact or Fiction?

Have you ever heard (or seen) some people mentioning that words only represent 7% of our communication? If so, you might also have heard them mention that tone of voice makes up 38% of our communication and that body language takes up the remaining 55%.

But is this fact or fiction?  Is body language and the tone of voice really that important in all our communications?

Body Langauage Training

If you want some expert training to help you enhance your body langauage awareness then Skillstudio are there to help. We provide:-

Body Language Awareness Workshops
These 1-day public courses are held in Central London and we can also run them for your organisation on an in-house basis throughout the UK and Europe.

Communication Skills Workshops
Our 1-day communication skills workshops also include an element of body language awareness.  Both public courses and in-house workshops are available.

Call us today on 08456 444 150 if you want to discuss how our training can help you or your team.

Body Language accounts for 55% - Fact or Fiction?

Well, it’s really an over-simplification of the research that was conducted by a Dr Mehrabian back in the late 1960’s. Unfortunately this has been misquoted by trainers and other communications experts ever since then.

So what did Mehrabian’s research indicate?

The research did however demonstrate that when applied to discussions about intangibles eg a speakers feelings or beliefs about something, then both body language and tone of voice are often more important than the actual words used.

This is even more so when the three modes of communication (ie words; tone of voice; and body language) are incongruent with each other. In this case, his research experiment showed a 55% weighting on body language, 38% on tone of voice and 7% on words used. eg if someone doesnt look like they are “telling the truth” or doesnt appear to be convinced that what they are saying will work – then we put more weight on what we see (body language) and hear (tone of the voice) than on the actual words spoken.

But when talking about tangibles – eg statements of fact, financial data, research findings etc, the words used and the style of language are of course extremely important. But even in these scenarios the ability to influence and persuade your audience through a convincing voice and confident body language is a vital ingredient to your ultimate success.

So next time you hear, read or see someone mentioning quite categorically that words only make up 7% of our communication you might want to take what they say with a “pinch of salt”.

Where does that leave us with body language?

Body language is still very important in many aspects of our everyday business and social life.

Very often when we’re in a meeting we are conveying feelings about something, making a proposal about something or trying to convince somebody that what we are saying is a good idea. ie we are offering opinions – intangibles – and thus our body language is also “communicating” as we speak.

If your body language is telling your audience the opposite of the words you are speaking or at least starting to raise doubts in their minds about what you are saying, then you are unlikely to be successful in what you’re trying to achieve.

Confident body language can help to engage your audience. It can help you build rapport more quickly. And it can work even if inside you are still feeling quite nervous.

Body language awareness can also give you an edge when negotiating. If you are able to read possible signals from the other people you are dealing with – tt can help you identify possible areas to investigate further to potentially get yourself a better deal.

So how can our body language workshop help?

We will help you become significantly more atuned to how and where body language can affect the messages you are trying to convey.

We will also help you to take control and have more influence with your own body language.

And finally, we’ll provide you with an insight into how to read and respond to the signals being sent out by the very people you are communicating, negotiating or simply living with.

Developing your skills further

To get some expert advice and coaching and enhance your skills, click on one of the links below:-

Body language Courses – Open to members of the public
Communication Skills Workshops – In-house training for companies and organisations

Skillstudio also offer public courses, 1-2-1 coaching and in-house training in many aspects of presentation skills and communication skills, including public speaking, job interview skills, vocal skills and body language awareness.

We hope you found this article useful

Please use the buton below to bookmark this page as a favourite, email it or share it with friends or colleagues.

Is Body Language that important? is one of many articles from Skillstudio Limited providing expert help, tips & advice on how to improve your business communication skills. See Skillstudio Help & Advice for the full list of articles.

In this article we’ll be looking at some techniques to help you achieve more from your interpersonal skills.

Interpersonal Communication Skills Training for success

If you want some expert coaching to help you enhance your interpersonal skills then Skillstudio are there to help. We provide:-

Interpersonal Skills Coaching
Half day of full day, 121 coaching by an expert trainer.

Effective Communication Skills Course
These 1-day public courses are held regularly in Central London, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.

Communication Skills Workshops
We can also run our 1-day workshops for your organisation on an in-house basis at your premises throughout the UK and Europe.

Call us today on 08456 444 150 if you want to discuss how our training can help you or your team.

Understanding how you communicate

The first step needed to develop good interpersonal skills is to develop a good awareness of how you appear to others. This includes how you -

• sound
• look
• react

when interacting with other people.

When you are speaking, your listeners will pick up on non verbal clues and react accordingly. Non verbal clues that they will notice include the following:

• Your tone of voice
• Your speed of speaking
• Your body language

Reading the ‘tone’ of your message

It’s not just what you say that’s important but how you say it that also carries great influence on the way people react to you. Your moods and emotions are reflected in your tone of voice and you can use it to your advantage. However a lack of awareness may have a negative effect on your listeners. For example, if your voice is monotone or lacking energy, you may be perceived as being disinterested, bored or irritated.

Using your voice to build rapport

To help bring out the best in your voice and use it to help communicate more effectively, it is useful to develop your range of vocal expression so that you can draw upon the most suitable for any given situation.

For example:

Dealing with a difficult situation

When you are dealing with a difficult situation, you may want to avoid a build up of tension. It is therefore important to speak with

• A calm tone
• A steady pace
• A smooth delivery

To achieve this try to speak in the following way:

• Keep your pitch controlled by avoiding speaking at a too higher pitch or changing your pitch too much
• Don’t ‘snatch’ at your words. Each word has a beginning, middle and end – even if it only consists of one syllable, so make sure each part of the word is fully pronounced.
• Keep your volume at a softer level to avoid shouting – especially if you have a naturally strong voice where you may want to think about speaking slightly quieter than usual
• Keep your delivery pace smooth – not too quickly and with no dramatic changes in the speed in which you speak

If you follow the above guidelines it will help to prevent you sounding abrupt or over emotional. Instead you will sound calm, assertive and in control.

Sending out signals through body language

We all subconsciously read the body language of others. For example people react to our use of:

• Posture
• Facial expressions
• Gestures
• Eye contact

People will read volumes into the signals conveyed to them if you are sitting slouched in your seat, avoiding any eye contact with them and speaking to them with a stern or impassive face. They may deduce that you are disinterested in them or frustrated with them. They are unlikely to react to you with any enthusiasm.

Using posture to create the right impression

To create a positive rapport with other people, think about your posture. Whether sitting or standing your body language should appear natural and relaxed but you also need to project a confident and professional image. To help achieve this, ensure that

• When sitting – the small of your back is firmly supported in your chair to give you a well supported posture
• When standing – your weight is well balanced on both feet so that your stance is strong

Using eye contact to build rapport

Confident use of eye contact helps encourage open interaction between yourself and those around you. If you don’t look at people when you are speaking to them you are losing a huge opportunity to build rapport with them.

For example

Speaking in a meeting

If you are speaking to a group of people in a meeting, it’s important to engage with every person in the meeting, to help keep them all interested in what you are saying. To help achieve this aim to:

• Share your eye contact around the room – (a rule of thumb is to give three seconds to each person at any one time)
• Imagine that you are giving ‘nuggets’ of information with your eye contact to the others in the meeting
• Hold your eye contact once you’ve made it – don’t flicker around as this will look hesitant

Initially, you may feel awkward when giving eye contact to others but once you have practised it a few times, it will feel second nature to do and it will become a very empowering way to engage with others.

Interpersonal Skills – summary points

It is important to remember that ‘behaviour breeds behaviour’. By communicating effectively with others, they are more likely to reciprocate in the same way.

Here is a quick reminder of some of the practical ways you can enhance the way you interact with others:

• Speak at a controlled pact – not too quickly
• Take your time over every word you say – so that you don’t appear too abrupt
• Vary your tone according to the situation
• Take care with your posture – with the way you sit and stand
• Use eye contact evenly around the group you are speaking with – to involve everyone in the group

The development of effective interpersonal skills is an on-going process. These skills can be developed and fine tuned through training. It is worth making the investment to develop your own interpersonal skills so that you can develop greater influence on those around you.

Developing your interpersonal skills further

To get some expert advice and coaching and enhance your interpersonal skills, click on one of the links below:-

Interpersonal Skills – 121 coaching
Interpersonal Communications Courses – Open to members of the public
Communication Skills Workshops – In-house training for companies and organisations

Skillstudio also offer public courses, 1-2-1 coaching and in-house training in many aspects of presentation skills and communication skills, including public speaking, job interview skills, vocal skills and body language awareness.

We hope you found this article useful

Please use the buton below to bookmark this page as a favourite, email it or share it with friends or colleagues.

Interpersonal Skills is one of many articles from Skillstudio Limited providing expert help, tips & advice on how to improve your business communication skills. See Skillstudio Help & Advice for the full list of articles.