Optimum Body Language of Team Managers

Why is it important to work on your body language as a manager?

Gain trust and commitment of your team:

In today’s age of increasing competition in most areas of business, it is important that as a team manager, you exude not just power, authority and confidence, but also empathy, warmth and supportiveness. Your confidence strengthens your subordinates’ trust that you will safely lead them towards success. At the same time, if you are warm, empathetic and supportive towards your subordinates, research indicates that they would be more committed and dedicated towards the team goals (Furnham & Petrova, 2010; Goman, 2011).

Relationship Building

Besides being competent at your job, as a leader, it is equally important to work on your body language to form healthy professional relationships with various stakeholders like your subordinates, customers and other leaders in the business or your organization (Furnham & Petrova, 2010). If people were given a choice to work under a manager who is a genius in the field, but has closed-off or dominating body language, or alternatively, to work under a confident yet warm manager who may not be as competent as the other manager, but who can make up for it by their charismatic personality; whom would they prefer to work for? Most people would choose to work with the second kind of manager.

Improved team productivity and job satisfaction:

Working on developing a charismatic body language as a leader has been found to improve the team’s productivity and job satisfaction (Furnham & Petrova, 2010).

Spreading positivity within the work team:

Research says that your mood and emotions as the manager can influence the overall mood of the work team. (Cherulnik et al., 2001; Goman, 2011; Hatfield et al., 1994; Sy et al., 2005). For example, while setting goals for completing an innovative project, there might be uncertainty in the air about the feasibility of the project. In such a case, if you appear optimistic and in control, the positive mood will spread within the team, and they will be motivated to put in their best and make the project work. On the other hand, if you appear stressed or unsure, the rest of the team will also start feeling the same way about the project, which would negatively affect their motivation to work and the actual end result of the project as well. It has also been found that conflicts are less likely to occur in groups that are in an overall positive mood (Barsade, 2002), which in turn bodes well for the productivity and work satisfaction of the team.

Enhanced credibility

Ensuring that your body language is in line with what you are talking about is an important aspect of effective communication to look out for. When your verbal and non-verbal language do not match, it makes what you're saying seem less credible; because in case of such a mismatch, people are more likely to believe your body language (Goman, 2011). Therefore, learning to exhibit the right kind of body language will go a long way in improving the style and effectiveness of your communication.

Tips to improve your body language as a manager

Maintain a good amount of eye contact so as to not lose the attention or interest of your subordinates in discussions (Furnham & Petrova, 2010). An optimal level of eye contact is described as being neither too dominating nor too meek.
The key to exhibiting warm and empathetic body language is in maintaining an open body posture with as few “crosses” as possible.

Crossing arms or legs makes you look defensive and closed off, discouraging your subordinates from freely and openly communicating with you.
On the other hand, squarely orienting yourself to face your subordinates when conversing with them and occasionally nodding and smiling at them encourages them by bolstering their confidence in their own efficiency, while also reassuring them that you are an approachable and considerate manager.
Leaning in towards them to an appropriate degree while they’re speaking shows that you have their attention (Goman, 2011). All these gestures not only express warmth, but also contribute to your overall charisma as a manager.

Supplementing what you verbally communicate with your team with matching facial expressions retains the interest and attention of your subordinates besides showing that you really believe in what you are putting forth (Howell & Frost, 1989).
As discussed earlier, demonstrating power and competence through your body language besides warmth and charisma is of equal importance to be taken seriously as a manager. This can be achieved by-

Maintaining an erect posture with shoulders straightened up,
Maintaining an open and expansive posture such that you take up as much physical space as it takes for you to feel comfortable, instead of crouching up which makes you look timid (Goman, 2011).
Practicing a firm handshake grip can help you go a long way when it comes to exuding control and confidence (Goman, 2011; Pease & Pease, 2004).
Of course, maintaining steady eye contact is always a bonus in this case.

As an effective manager, it is also important for you to be able to read the body language of your team, so that you get an idea about whether or not they're on the same page as you. For example, when your subordinate gradually orients their upper and lower body away from you, it indicates that they’re disengaged from the discussion you might be having. In such a case, understanding what it may mean and pointing out your observations to them may help you address the situation.

In case you’re concerned about how you might organically be able to implement all the above suggestions, there’s good news for you. Research has found that there’s an incredible connection between our body and mind (Zajonc et al., 1989), through which your emotions and demeanor can be influenced by the kind of body language you consciously or unconsciously adopt. This happens through activation of the autonomic nervous system (which is a part of our nervous system in charge of controlling internal bodily mechanisms such as heart rate and blood pressure), which makes our body experience the same sensations that genuine emotions would produce. For instance, intentionally depicting the emotion of say, anxiety, with facial features would lead you to actually experience the emotion physically by increasing your heart rate and blood pressure. Using the same logic, with practice, as you learn to embrace the above suggestions, a confident and charismatic body

Language will become less of an intentional and conscious action, and will start becoming second nature to you!

References

Barsade, S. G. (2002). The ripple effect: Emotional contagion and its influence on group behavior. Administrative Science Quarterly, 47, 644 – 675.
Cherulnik, P. D., Donley, K. A., Wiewel, T. S. R., & Miller, S. R. (2001). Charisma Is Contagious: The Effect of Leaders’ Charisma on Observers’ Affect. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 31(10), 2149–2159.
Furnham, A., & Petrova, E. (2010). Body language in business: Decoding the signals. Palgrave Macmillan.
Goman, C. K. (2011). The silent language of leaders: How Body Language Can Help–or Hurt–How You Lead. John Wiley & Sons.
Hatfield, E., Cacioppo, J. T., & Rapson, R. L. (1994). Emotional contagion. NY Cambridge University Press.
Howell, J. M., & Frost, P. J. (1989). A laboratory study of charismatic leadership. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 43(2), 243–269.
Pease, A., Pease, B. (2004). The definitive book of body language. Pease International.
Sy, T., Côté, S., & Saavedra, R. (2005). The contagious leader: Impact of the leader’s mood on the mood of group members, group affective tone, and group processes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90(2), 295–305.
Zajonc, R. B., Murphy, S. T., & Inglehart, M. (1989). Feeling and facial efference: Implications of the vascular theory of emotions. Psychological Review, 96, 395-416.