INTRODUCTION

At the age of 24, my life took a dramatic change in direction. It was 1978 when I bought my first book about human behaviour by Desmond Morris, titled: “Manwatching”. This book shattered my previous concept of communication, and brought about a major turning point in my life. I couldn’t put the book down. So … Desmond Morris … I hold you responsible for my ongoing thirst for knowledge of human behaviour, communication skills and non-verbal language.

Body language is at the forefront of those communication skills, the reasons being explained soon in this book.

That thirst for knowledge took me along a trail of many books, articles, journals and papers. Now I can express my own thoughts, opinions and views about this fascinating subject. Here are my studies of the way we communicate; SUB-CONSCIOUSLY, that is; AUTOMATICALLY, with our gestures, movements, expressions, distances, angles and posture.

And we do this without thinking about what we are actually doing.

This knowledge has helped me become a much better manager and leader, be more perceptive, understand people more quickly and gradually helped me communicate more effectively.

I’ve now used this knowledge to perform seminars and keynote / after dinner speeches on this most fascinating of subjects .

“SO WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?” You might ask.

Have you ever met someone for the very first time, and within seconds of meeting them, you had a gut feeling that you either liked … or disliked that person … but couldn’t quite put your finger on why? I think we all have.

Have you ever had a conversation with anyone, in a face-to-face encounter and had a feeling that maybe, they weren’t telling you the truth; but you weren’t sure why you had that feeling?

What did you trust? Was it the words that they were saying, or your uncomfortable feeling, that was a result of your face-to-face encounter?

In a sales environment, the best sales people seem to instinctively know when to close a sale to get the order. The best managers get feelings or vibes about how they should handle somebody, in any given situation. They seem more perceptive.

The best card players are not just “lucky” … they are professionals who know how they should play each hand. They know when to keep betting and instinctively seem to know when to raise the bet, or throw their cards in. Some people refer to it as a 6 th sense. The same could be said about chess players.

In management there is always someone who seems to know how to best avoid conflict, settle disputes, ‘open’ people up in conversation, or negotiation, and ‘read’ a situation properly.

The majority of women have what we call feminine intuition. A woman always seems to know when a man isn’t telling the truth. So how does she do that? She is picking up the body signals, given sub-consciously by the man, decoding them and acting on them, regardless of the words being spoken.

The people that reach the top of their particular vocation or field, seem to know when to say the right things, at the right time. They’re able to react positively to people, because they’ve developed the skill of being able to read the non-verbal signals…. Body Language.

We’re going to show you what these non-verbal signals are, how you can react to them, and even how to act upon them when you see them.

“SO WHATS IN IT FOR ME?” “What does it mean to me?” you might ask, “How can I benefit from that?”

Well the next time you meet some one in a face-to-face encounter, you’ll be able to see what that person’s attitude is towards you, what they may be thinking about in connection with what you are saying, or doing; regardless of what they are actually saying to you.

This means that if you’re talking to someone face-to-face, you’ll be able to tell whether or not they actually believe what you are saying.

You’ll be able to tell if they are nervous, or suspicious of you. You’ll know if they are invading your personal space, or if you are invading their personal space, making them feel uncomfortable.

You’ll be able to tell where their personal space is and how important it is to them, which will allow you to create a more comfortable, accepting situation.

You’ll know if they are concealing information from you.

Are they lying to you?

Are they feeling negative or positive?

Are they really going to do what they’ve just said they will do, or are they just being polite and telling you lies, just to make you feel good and avoid confrontation or rejection?

You’ll know how to recognise politeness in lieu of lies. There are many more benefits; as you’ll discover when you practice your new knowledge.

“SO HOW’S IT REALLY GOING TO HELP YOU!”

Well if you’re a manager, you’ll be able to recognise whether your team, your colleagues or your management, are evaluating your recommendations, orders, instructions and requests; in a positive or negative manner.

If you’re a sales person or an owner-driver, even a General Manager who’s responsible for sales … you’ll be able to create empathy with your buyers more effectively.

You’ll recognise positivity and negativity, which will help you keep on the positive track; another step nearer to yes!

You’ll see if the buyer is evaluating your products or services, you, your company and the deal or solution, negatively; so be able to respond more quickly to create positivity and get a sale.

One of the biggest problems with many sales people is, they don’t know when to keep their mouths shut. They need to develop active listening skills. Selling isn’t telling: - it’s asking questions and qualifying potential buyers to find out exactly what their requirements and objectives are. So the sales person can give them what the buyer wants, not what they think they want. Using the ‘value of silence,’ and observing the physical reactions of the prospect or buyer, brings much greater rewards in closing sales, when you know how to react accordingly.

ARE YOU A PEOPLE WATCHER?

I guess we’re all people watchers, yes? Not exactly voyeurs, but wherever people behave, in any walk of life, whether it be: - in a restaurant, a supermarket, a football match, a meeting, an interview or even a programme on T.V.; the people watcher has something to learn. Something to learn about our fellow species, and ultimately then; something to learn about ourselves.

Communication skills are THE most important skills for managers, sales people, doctors, lawyers, nurses, politicians, social workers; in fact anyone who wants to achieve, and succeed through the rat race of the 21 st century.

So here is learning material about actions: - gestures, movements, expressions, distances, angles and posture. About how these actions transmit messages direct from the sub-conscious mind, without the conscious knowledge of the communicator.

Frequently we are unaware of our actions. So if we are unaware of many of our actions, it makes these actions all the more revealing to us.

Our language has become so sophisticated over the years. We concentrate so much on our use of language to communicate, both in talking and listening, that in general, we have forgotten that our sub-conscious expressions, gestures, movements, distances, angles and posture, are telling their own story, independent of the words we speak.

Glenn Harrison

Author/Coach/Trainer/Motivational Speaker
Certified Acredited Behavioural Analyst

Glenn Harrison is available as a world-wide, international motivational speaker to give an hilarious, listen, laugh and learn, educational speech on Body Language.

We train all over the world; at no additional cost other than economy travel and overnight expenses.