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Body Language is a strong means of communication. So therefore we need to spend time to learn it. But we do not have to stop there. In fact later learning the nitty gritties of body language, we must know how to use to develop our influence and achieve our success.  There are a number of important steps that we must for improving our body language.

1. We need to be body conscious. It does not mean that we become self conscious, but it does not mean that we all the time remain self aware about how you are using body language to enhance your body personality and augment your own self esteem.

•  Using a mirror in the privacy of your own homes, may be the starting point to understand how you look when you are both angry or happy. Your body will also help you to understand how you feel at a particular moment, when you start listen to what your body language is saying. Therefore it will be worth in spending some time to practice the various facets and moods of your body  language. You must also realize that positive body language brings certain positivity in your mind. Therefore also we should practice to maintain a growth oriented , enthusiastic and optimistic body language.

• We need to have the pursuit of knowledge. We all understand that books are our best teachers.  These are our best friends because we can refer to them as and when necessary. Mastering and using all the beneficial information, that you darw form the books should not be considered your task, it should be your recreation and one of the habits that you love to do. Try to remain relaxed, instead of developing any self-consciousness, but the elegance must come out form your relaxed and calmed demeanor. You must practice poise for it is your best friend when you stay in a society. You must ensure that your body language is always in sync with your words. In this manner, your words will become even more powerful, influential as well as positive.

Along with the above points, you must keep in mind the following:

1. Stop touching your face persistently as that shows that you are anxious.
2. Sit up and stand with a straight back but you must have an open posture.  This will tell people that you are relaxed as well as confident.
3. When you are talking to somebody you must direct the most positive gestures towards the listeners.
4. Whatever may happen, you must stay calm, free and open.
5. You must have practiced, because if we have to improve to many things at one time,  nothing will change at all. A protocol of one step at a time, but with all seriousness will be far more  useful will make changes that will improve your body, rather than by taking some big steps.

When you convert your personal views into a gaze, it is worth remembering that sometimes, making a small difference in any one’s life in any aspect can make a huge difference to the effectiveness of its use.  

Blog is curated by Vikram Kakri.

Facial expressions are critical in meetings whether it is one to one or in a group. After the pandemic because personal meetings have substantially reduced, the amount of virtual meetings have become even more important. While using the virtual conferencing platforms, like Zoom, Cisco Webex, Google Meets, etc , we can see each other. If we are addressing an audience, we can still have a really fair idea of the body language of people. In such a case it is hard to understand the facial expressions, but the applications are such that when two persons are talking to each other, both come to the center of the virtual meetings hall where they can see each other and understand each other’s facial expressions. In such case the audience can also see the speakers and judge the person’ s facial expressions.

It is important to note that your facial expressions communicate ypur feelings and emotions. Thus you are in a position  to understand what is not said, but what is going inside the mind of the speaker. The muscles around the eyes, forehead, eyebrows, cheeks, jaws and lips make such movements which can easily be identified when you are very careful.

Gaze is another important aspect of body language. The gazing can be done intermittently for a very short duration or it can be for a longer times. People use the gaze technique in a wide variety of ways. Lovers gazes into each other eyes  to express their love. Men express their  dominance with extended gaze. In most cases however your gazing, will be limited by the cultural and social norms of the place that you inhabit.

Using gaze to communicate with those around you in a properly  used pattern of behavior. Even speakers addressing form the stage can use gaze to reassure people that he / she is talking to everybody in the hall. Of course it requires a lot of experience. But it is seen easy way to connect with the audience.

The experience                of touc, much of the warmth and affections that the child receives from the elders is based on expressions of touch. The older people would caress, pat,etc to express there fondmness towards the children. However touch is not limited to that, even the world leaders when they meet each other they express their friendliness and warmth with handshakes, embraces and patting on the shoulders. This can happen when you first meet somebody. But this can also take place during your conversation.

Space is another aspect of communication, which one has to understand clearly. The way you position yourself in the space, when you are meeting important people expresses you desire to meet. Often other times it refers to the confidence to reach out to people.

Posture si not to be undermined. In  fact the elegance that you can portrays, depends largely on your posture. The way you sit, the way you stand, the way you walk, theposture when you  are having a close communication,  or the posture when you are having a formal communication, your posture must be proper. Appearance is the first noticeable thing when you first meet and greet somebody. It states about your personality, your self personality respect or your self esteem and the way you respect others. It talso tells other how careful you are about your clothes, your dress about grooming in general which includes how you smile.   

Blog is written by Vikram.                                  

Most of what we communicate is not limited to speech but body language gives a lot of meaning. Some surveys reveal that as much as  seventy per cent of communication emits from the body language.

Language as we know is an important means of communication, at the cost of repetition we can say that spoken words provide less than thirty per cent of the meaning to the listener. The way the words are spoken provide around fifty per cent of meaning when we include facial expressions, postures, gestures, eye contact, etc. One should focus on body language as well as on the words that one speaks. Understand and communicate with body language is found to be very effective.

Both  body language or non – verbal communication provide the majority of content in many situations. In the current scenario, when virtual conferences and virtual communications are pervading in all lives, we need to focus on our voice, particularly on our emotions which happen to come out much more when we are speaking in person. Of course there are applications where the speaker is able to see the person in which case the facial expressions become extremely important. The technology also provides for some virtual discussions among many people.

However this technology needs to developed further when you use non – verbal communication, you need to overcome the limitations as for example when explaining the shapes or indicating directions. You can definitely however overcome these shortcomings with practice.

Now let us look at the components of Body  Language:

1. Gestures: Now we talk about gestures. When you send a visual signal to someone, the gesture is deliberate as in a wave of recognition. When you scratch your head it shows that you are thinking something. Though at present these gestures can be put to limited use, the time is not for when we will overcome the discussions.

• Emblems: Emblems are deliberate gestures that can have a direct verbal equivalence. Used in a wide range of situations, the emblems will replace gestures for crane drivers, fire fighters and televisions floor managers.

• Illustrators: Next what we can use deliberately as illustrators, these purposes are to illustrate, repeat, complement or underline what has been said. The examples are:

1. Guidelines like pointing, beaconing.
2. Facial Signs like movement up and around.
3. Form or Shape gesture which describe the shape and a space of things.
4. Body actions signs which mimics or replicates body actions.

• Regulators:  Now we talk about regulators that are used in communications. They are used in communication. They are used to show interest in what is being said and also to signal that you you want to say something. Unconscious  gestures are just as important as the conscious counterparts. They are termed as, ‘Leakage Gestures’. As they display or hint at your inner and often hidden feelings, thoughts and emotions. These might occur in-spite of your best efforts to control these emotions.                

We know that communication forms a major activity of our life in our day to day working. If you are working at home, you are communicating with your family members or help.

While at your workplace, you communicate with your bosses, colleagues or reporters. While in social functions, you communicate with friends and acquaintances. Above all to know yourself and understand fully well you talk to yourself.

Now let us understand what are the various types of verbal communications?

1. Conversation: It can take place in all situations. It takes place between three people. If there are more than three people, the conversation becomes a discussion. The conversation  are usually polite and informal. They are usually short in duration and are conflict free. The conversations help you build relation and/or to maintain them. Nowadays conversations can also take place virtually on mobile or applications like WhatsApp, Zoom, etc.

• Discussions: Discussions is different from conversation. Discussions are more formal, take longer involve more people, but happens less frequently than conversations. Earlier these represented face to face meetings, but technology has empowered people to hold discussions virtually. These discussions can be very fruitful provided people people stick to the topic of discussion. They avoid arguments. Some points are not repeated by many people. There should be genuine effort to draw some conclusions during the discussions.

• Debate: A debate is essentially an argument and counter argument. One may say the advocates during their pleadings argue which forms a debate. The judge listens to both the parties and declares his/her verdict. Thus the outcome is a decision about whose point of view is right. In social situations debate take place among the people and the decisions is arrived by voting. The same principle is applied to debates in parliament and other constituted platforms.

• Dialogue: A dialogue is an unusual and a rare event. It is a conversation where there is a free flow of meanings in a group and diverse views and perspectives are encouraged. Real dialogue including discarding your biases and encouraging open mind reflections. Dialogues are very creative and useful. Due to this reason these are worth using. However three conditions must be met if your dialogues are going to work.

1. People must know how to suspend thier assumptions. Everyone must keep an open mind and should not speak on the basis of his/her perceived emotions.
2. At whichever place people must regard each other as there colleagues.
3. It is helpful to have a facilitator to hold the context of the dialogue and conduct the same effectively.      

A very important part of the listening skills is to reflect on what has been said. It demonstrates the understanding and acceptance on what has been said. The only time when you ask questions is when you want to seek clarification of any ambiguity if there is any.

It is not arguably decent to judge, advise or to confront. But you must use reflective techniques to respond whenever necessary. So what is the need of this?

1. You want to understand other person feelings fully. Because the essence of communication is two way, understanding each other and expressing your views on any topic or subject.

• It is even necessary when you sense the other person is not sure about his / her thought or feelings about the situation. Your move is just to help  him / her.

• Reflective responses helps the speaker to make genuine efforts to express clearly if he or she has not been able to express clearly if he or she has not been able to do so. In such an instance describe in words the core content of the speaker communication. Then you must politely ask if you have understood him / her properly.

• Reflecting meaning of the speakers points would mean by simply & concisely summarizing the speaker’s content and emotions. You may also summarise by restarting the theme & feelings of what has been said.

Acquiring these skills of listening is not an overnight adventure or achievement. It takes time to own and polish how and when of their use. Effective listening at its core is a social skills. It is also one that will take you further down the road of demonstrating what we can achieve together, can be far greater than the sum total of our individual contributions.

The habit of listening requires that you should not only listen to the spoken words but also you should understand body language. Not understanding body language becomes a roadblock, in the process of active listening. The body language includes the following aspects:

1.  Posture: Posture of relaxed alertness indicates that you are accepting and paying attention to what the speaker says. It helps you sit forward & incline your body slightly towards the speaker. You should also face the speaker head on. Further keep an open posture with your arms and legs unfolded.

2. Movement:  Movement should be avoided & such gestures that detract from the subject should be avoided. Your movement if any must be responsive to the speakers movement.

3. Eye Contact: Eye contact forms the next important point. Eye contact tells the speaker that you are interested in what he / she says. However it should not be interested in what he/ she say. However it should not  be used excessively. These are skills that are used to encourage the speakers to speak. These should be active in ways that do not got into ways of what he / she are doing.

This means that you should not ask questions that divert the attention. The following skiils should also include.

1. Use door openers rather than door slammers: Examples include, “What is on your mind?”, “What do you think?” or “ Would you like to tell me more about that?”. They should however be used , when you find time available for such questions.

• Use Encouragers: These are the nods and sounds like,” Please go on.”

• Asking Questions: IF your questions are relevant then they should be frequent, precise and articulate.

• Being Silent: Silence in a conversation does gives the speaker the space to feel, think & find the way to express himself. You can use silent pauses to observe expression posture or gesture of the speakers.

Listening actively is so important that we do not do it, we demolish all our chances with people and success. Negotiation can burst into disaster if we do not listen and assilimate. In fact the importance of listening is hard to explain in words.

Lets enumerate the benefits of active listening.

1. You acquire more information and as a consequence make better decisions. At a consequence make better decisions. At workplace it helps you to clearly understand the assignment projects given to you.
2. You are able to enhance your relationship with your peers and colleagues. As a result you are able to build better rapport with bosses & clients. Since you are able to understand your co workers & develop better relations,  you are able to more effective in team based environment and projects.
3. Due to active listening, you are able to understand things better, you are perceived the other person’s point of view, in turn it makes you more effective in resolution problems.
4. Because of active listening, you become more aware of the underlined meaning of what people say, often times people do not mean what they say.

Let us understand we can enhance our listening skills.

First of all you must have a strong desire to listen and win. Undoubtedly a good listener is a winner. So you must develop a habit of being attentive. You must not be in a hurry to interrupt the speaker and say what you have in mind. You should reflect while you are listening to someone. If you listen to someone then you will be able to assimilate rightly and clearly.

No doubt the habit of listening has to be formed and nurtured. You will start realizing the benefits. Therefore your desire to become a good listener will become stronger and it will have a snow-balling effect to your advantage. But always keep in mind that habits die hard and therefore you have to consistently work hard  to  develop the great habit of active listening. Above all Lord has given us two ears and one mouth. So we must listen twice as much as you speak.                                                        

Listening is a skill that is highly underrated but when we actively listen it becomes our armor which works for our success at all places.

The difference between Hearing & Listening is stated below:

 Hearing is just the process by which the body converts variations in the pressures around you into sounds. There are the following three parts of this process:

1. The outer ear – the outer ear is the flap of skin on the sides of your head. People can see that the main job is to collect sound.
2. The middle ear – The main job of this part of the ear is to take these sound waves and turn them into vibrations that are delivered to the inner ear.
3. The inner ear – the inner ear is filled with a liquid that is set into motion, by these vibrations.

The above are the technical details of hearing. Now let us understand the difference between listening  and hearing.  These are two different things.

1. Hearing is to perceive or to have sensation or sound; to possess or exercise the faculty of audition of which the specific organ is the ear.
2. Listening is to hear attentively: to give ear to: to pay attention to a person speaking or what is being said. The subject of listening is a process that needs active participation. The outcome of this are deliberate and active  behavior.

Further while hearing is a passive, reflexive, almost an automatic response; listening is a chosen and deliberate action to assimilate what has been said. The average person is said to remember about half of what they hear immediately after words, but this goes down as low as ten percent after three hours. This tells you that the skill of listening is not a natural ability. It is a skill that has to be learnt and practiced. It is a skill which gives you power to influence people and negotiate effectively.

Blog is written by Vikram Kakri.

In business we have to be particular of what we say and how we say this is true for verbal, but it his is also true for written communication.  We when we talk of verbal communication, we should know how to use language effectively and appropriately.  Besides whatever we say should come from the heart. The communication should be convincing and honest. Your speech has to be articulate and each word has to be very clear and you should bring about voice modulation in your speech.

Voice modulation is your ability to bring in variance in pace, pause, pitch, emphasis on your keyword and the tone. Written language has to be concise and should clearly express what we want to say. In business communication, there is no room for verbosity.  In fact that would be wasting your words, and therefore your energy and time.

 Following aspects of business communication have to always be kept in view.

1. Decide what actually you want to achieve. Then select your words and create sentences which you think will achieve your objectives.
2. You must decide whether a formal presentation is the best way to achieve this objective. If you have to achieve this objective. If you have to talk before two or more your seniors, then the formal presentation is recommended. It may not be with a power-point presentation , but without the power-point presentation  the verbal presentation that you make has to follow a certain in order that it is very effective.

Whenever you are reporting on certain needs or problems that you are likely to face, that must be well thought reporting That is true for both verbal presentation or the written report.

Whenever it is a formal presentation, it is necessary to script it and to rehearse it. This will enable you to talk in front of your seniors, peers and other stakeholders. If the audience that you expect is more than ten, it is necessary to rehearse beforehand.