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Books on Happiness / The Definitive Book Of Body Language- 2 students

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Interviews, Tower Plays and Office Politics

dominantly. This time the 'liars' succeeded as they began strutting around acting in confident, superior ways, which completely fooled the real dominant birds. This demonstrates that you need to cast yourself into a believable role in an interview and mentally practise in advance how you will behave if you want others to take you seriously.

Seven Simple Strategies for Giving You the Extra Edge

1. Stand up for Meetings

Conduct all short-term decision-making meetings standing up. Studies show that standing conversations are significantly shorter than sitting ones and the person who conducts a standing meeting is perceived as having higher status than those who sit. Standing whenever others enter your workspace is also an excellent timesaver, so consider having no visitors' chairs in your own work area. Standing decisions are quick and to the point and others don't waste your time with social chatter or questions such as 'How's the family?'

2. Sit Competitors with Their Backs to the Door

As discussed, studies reveal that when our backs are towards an open space we become stressed, blood pressure increases, our heart beats faster, our brainwave output increases and we breathe more quickly as our body readies itself for a possible rear attack. This is an excellent position in which to place your opponents.

3. Keep Your Fingers Together

People who keep their fingers closed when they talk with their hands and keep their hands below chin level, command the most attention. Using open fingers or having your hands held above the chin is perceived as less powerful.

4. Keep Your Elbows Out

When you sit on a chair, keep your elbows out or on the arms

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The Definitive Book of Body Language

of the chair. Submissive, timid individuals keep their elbows in to protect themselves and are perceived as fearful.

5. Use Power Words

A study at the University of California showed that the most persuasive words in spoken language are: discovery, guarantee, love, proven, results, save, easy, health, money, new, safety and you. Practise using these words. The new results you'll get from the discovery of these proven words will guarantee you more love, better health and will save you money. And they're completely safe, and easy to use.

6. Carry a Slim Briefcase

A slim briefcase with a combination lock is carried by an important person who is concerned only with the bottom-line details; large, bulky briefcases are carried by those who do all the work and are perceived as not being sufficiently organised to get things done on time.

7.Watch Their Coat Buttons

Analysis of videotaped confrontations, for example, between unions and corporations, show a higher frequency of agreement is reached when people have their coats unbuttoned. People who cross their arms on their chest often do it with their jacket buttoned and are more negative. When a person suddenly unbuttons their jacket in a meeting, you can reasonably assume that they have also just opened their mind.

Summary

Before you go to an important interview or meeting, sit quietly for five minutes and mentally practise seeing yourself doing these things and doing them well. When your mind sees them clearly, your body will be able to carry them out and others will react accordingly.

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Interviews, Power Plays and Office Politics

Office Power Politics

Have you ever been for a job interview and felt overwhelmed or helpless when you sat in the visitor's chair? Where the interviewer seemed so big and overwhelming and you felt small and insignificant? It is likely that the interviewer had cunningly arranged his office furnishings to raise his own status and power and, in so doing, lower yours. Certain strategies using chairs and seating arrangements can create this atmosphere in an office.

There are three factors in raising perceived status and power using chairs: the size of the chair and its accessories, the height of the chair from the floor and the location of the chair relative to the other person.

1. Chair Size and Accessories

The height of the back of the chair raises or lowers a person's status. The higher the back of the chair, the more power and status the person sitting in it is perceived to have. Kings, queens, popes and other high-status people may have the back of their throne or official chair as high as 8 feet or more (2.5m) to show their status relative to everyone else; the senior executive has a high-backed leather chair and his visitor's chair has a low back. How much power would the Queen or the Pope have if they were always sitting on a small piano stool?

Swivel chairs have more power and status than fixed chairs, allowing the user freedom of movement when he is placed under pressure. Fixed chairs allow little or no movement and this lack of movement is compensated for by the sitter's use of body gestures that reveal their attitudes and feelings. Chairs with armrests, those that lean back and those that have wheels have more power.

2. Chair Height

The acquisition of power using height was covered in Chapter 16 but it is worth noting that status is gained if your chair is adjusted higher off the floor than the other person's. Some

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The Definitive Book of Body Language

advertising executives are known for sitting on high-backed chairs that are adjusted for maximum height while their visitors sit opposite, in the defensive position, on a sofa or chair that is so low that their eyes are level with the executive's desk.

3. Chair Location

As mentioned in the chapter on seating arrangements, most power is exerted on a visitor when his chair is placed directly opposite in the Competitive Position. A common power play is to place the visitor's chair as far away as possible from the executive's desk into the social or public territory zone, which further reduces the visitor's status.

How to Switch Table Territories

When two people sit directly opposite each other across a table, they unconsciously divide it into two equal territories. Each claims half as his own territory and will reject the other encroaching upon it.

There will be occasions, however, when it may be difficult or inappropriate to take the corner position to present your case. Let's assume that you have a folder, book, quotation or sample to present to another person who is sitting behind a rectangular desk and your objective is to get into the best position for presenting. First, place the article on the table and he'll either lean forward and look at it, take it over to his side, or push it back into your territory.

Paper placed on territorial line

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Interviews, Power Plays and Office Politics

If he leans forward to look at it but doesn't pick it up, you're compelled to deliver your presentation from where you sit because he doesn't want you on his side of the desk. If this happens, angle your body away at 45 degrees to present your case. If he takes it onto his side, however, this gives you the opportunity to ask permission to enter his territory and take either the Corner or Co-operative Position.

Taking paper into his territory signals

non-verbal acceptance

Non-verbal agreement to enter his space

If, however, he pushes it back towards you, stay on your side. Never encroach on the other person's territory unless you have been given verbal or non-verbal permission to do so or you will put them offside.

Seated Body Pointing

Take the following situation: you're a supervisor and are about to counsel a subordinate whose work performance is not up to scratch. You feel that you will need to use direct questions that require direct answers and this may put the subordinate under pressure. At times you will also need to show the subordinate

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compassion and, from time to time, that you agree with his thoughts or actions.

Leaving aside interview and questioning techniques for these illustrations, consider the following points: (1) The counselling session will be in your office; (2) The subordinate will be seated on a chair with fixed legs and no arms, one that causes him to use body gestures and postures that will give you an understanding of his attitudes; and (3) You'll be sitting on a swivel chair that has arms, letting you eliminate some of your own gestures and allowing you to move around.

There are three main angle positions you can use. As with the standing triangular position, sitting at 45 degrees gives an informal, relaxed attitude to the meeting and is a good opening position for a counselling session.

Opening a session using a 45 degree angle keeps things relaxed

You can show non-verbal agreement with the subordinate from this position by mirroring his movements and gestures. As in the open standing position, their bodies point to a third point to form a triangle, which can show agreement.

By turning your chair to point your body directly at someone you non-verbally tell them that you want direct answers to your direct questions.

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Direct body pointing keeps things serious

When you position your body 45 degrees away from the other person, you take the pressure off the interview. This is an excellent position from which to ask delicate or embarrassing questions, encouraging more open answers to your questions without them feeling as if they are being pressured.

The right 45 degrees away position

How to Re-arrange an Office

Having read this far in the book, you should now be able to work out how to arrange an office to have as much power, influence or control as you want or to make it as relaxed, friendly and informal as you want. Here now is a case study showing how we rearranged someone's office to help solve some of his personal manager/employee relationship problems.

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John worked for a large finance company. He had been promoted to a manager's position and given an office. After a few months in the role, John found that the other employees disliked dealing with him and his relationship with them was often tense, particularly when they were in his office. He found it difficult to get them to follow his instructions and had heard they were talking about him behind his back. Our observations of John's dilemma revealed that the communication breakdowns were at their worst when the employees were in his office.

For the purposes of this exercise, we'll ignore any of John's management skills and concentrate on the non-verbal aspects of the problem. Here's a summary of our observations and conclusions about John's office set-up:

1.The visitor's chair was placed in the competitive position in relation to John.

2.The walls of the office were solid panels except for an outside window and a clear glass partition where John could look into the general office area and be seen by the rest of the staff. His visibility reduced John's status and could increase the power of any subordinate who was sitting in the visitor's chair because the other employees were located directly behind the visitor and were, in effect, on the subordinate's side of the table

3.John's desk had a solid front that hid his lower body and prevented the subordinates observing his lower gestures to evaluate how he felt.

4.The visitor's chair was placed so that the visitor's back was to the open door.

5.John often sat using the Catapult or Leg-Over-Arm-of- Chair gestures or both whenever a subordinate was in his office.

6.John had a swivel chair with a high back, armrests and wheels. The visitor's chair was a plain low-backed chair with fixed legs and no armrests.

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Interviews, Power Plays and Office Politics

John's initial office layout

From a user-friendly, non-verbal standpoint, his office was a disaster area. It felt unfriendly to anyone who entered. The following rearrangements were made to help encourage John's management style to become more friendly:

1.John's desk was placed in front of the glass partition, making his office appear bigger and allowing him to be visible to those who entered. In this way, visitors were greeted by John personally, not by his desk.

2.The 'hot seat' was placed in the Corner Position, making communication more open and allowing the corner to act as a partial barrier for staff who felt insecure.

3.The glass partition was coated with a mirror finish, allowing John to see out, but not permitting others to see in. This raised John's status by securing his territory and creating a more intimate atmosphere inside his office.

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hot seat

Revised office layout

4.A low round table with three identical swivel chairs were placed at the other end of the office so informal meetings could take place.

5.In the original layout, John's desk could give half the desktop space to the visitor but the revised layout gave John back the entire desktop.

6.John practised sitting in open positions, used subtle Steeple gestures and consciously used his palms whenever he spoke with others.

The results? Significantly improved manager/staff relationships and some staff began describing John as 'easygoing' and as a relaxed person to work with.

All that is needed to raise your status, and increase your power and effectiveness with others, is a little thought given to non-verbal gymnastics in your office or home. Unfortunately, most executive offices are arranged as John's was initially set out, because offices are designed by office designers, not by those who understand interaction between people. Rarely is consideration given to the negative non-verbal signals that can

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