Observing Behaviour

One of the skills that has proven to be essential in everything I do is my ability to observe people and to interpret what I see. I always found it fascinating that you can learn so much about people just by watching them. In most cases that information is even more reliable than what is being communicated verbally. Why you might ask? Because people often forget to lie with their bodies.

One of the easiest things to look out for are the feet positions in meetings. You can instantly see which people are involved and those that want to leave. If you look further, the coordination of people in the room, how they react to each other and their general posture gives you information about who is in charge of the meeting and how the other attendees are “ranked”.

The moment people start talking is also interesting because the non verbal response of the participants to one another gives you insights into the relationship they have. Subtle, very fast facial expressions, microexpressions, reveal not only what a person thinks about what is being said but also about how they feel about the person talking.

It is safe to say that this is one of the most important skills for me personally and I encourage every single one of you to observe more as well. It’s way easier than it sounds like…

DO > Observe > Talk

09/12/2017, NHQ

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