Overview
determine your personal skills that are strong and weak.
Compare your proficiency with what you understand to be the expectation of future employers.
Using the SMART criteria, select at least four skill goals (more is welcome) that you want to improve.
Explain the reasons for selecting each goal and why it is important to change or enhance it for the workplace.
For each goal, list specific ways you can accomplish it. For instance, practice with a family member before having a difficult conversation with a friend. Be sure to consider the ideas presented in this week's materials (and in any other appropriate course materials).
Use APA citations and references in your explanation.
Week 2 Readings: Human are constantly communicating via body language and nonverbal signals. Nonverbal signals can even contradict the words someone says. Understanding nonverbal messages and types of nonverbal communication can make you a more effective face-to-face communicator.
Nonverbal communication covers a vast group of physicalized nonverbal cues, involving many parts of the body, that convey emotional states and complement verbal messages. The acts are either conscious, like a headshake or a nod, or a subconscious tell, like a tremor or quiver in the voice. The messages often communicate emotions that the person does not want to share. Learning how to decode them can improve your interpersonal skills (MasterClass Staff, 2020).
As mentioned last week, the importance of communication is to increase opportunities to make connections with your workplace colleagues, thus maximizing the chance that collaborative tasks will be productive and innovative. This week, we will be examining three areas in which nonverbal skills have the most impact on our communication skills: nonverbal cues, emotional intelligence, and active listening.
12 Types of Nonverbal Communication Cues
There are many different forms of nonverbal communication. The main categories of nonverbal cues include:
1. Kinesics (or body movements): These include deliberate gestures and movements, like a hand wave or an affirmative headshake.
2. Proxemics (or closeness/personal space): This is the physical distance people put between them when they communicate. The amount of personal space expected by someone varies depending on the culture and circumstance.
3. Posture: Posture is the way people hold their bodies while they communicate. The way that you sit or stand tells a lot about your attitude and emotional state.
4. Eye contact: Eye contact is important during communication because it helps gauge interest or disinterest. Direct eye contact communicates interest and engagement, while wavering eye contact tends to communicate unease.
5. Touch: Many interactions begin with an exchange of physical touch like a hug or a handshake.
6. Paralanguage: This refers to voice cues like loudness or tone. Paralinguistic signals are any aspect of the sound of a voice that is nonverbal.
7. Facial expressions: Facial expressions, like a frown or smile, are indicators of someone’s attitude. They can be hard to consciously control.
8. Physiology: This category includes changes in body physiology, like an increase in sweat or blinking rapidly. These are nearly impossible to deliberately control.
9. Physical appearance: This refers to how the dress of an individual meets the expectations of the group.
10. Culturally appropriate actions: Showing respect for the person with whom you are speaking by using the right body cues is important. For example, a nod in the United States means yes, you agree with what is being said. But in Bulgaria, nodding your head means no. The most common way to show agreement in Bulgaria is to shake your head from side to side.
11. Physical environment: This refers to the surroundings during a conversation.
12. Chronemics: This is the study of the use of time in nonverbal communication. Time perceptions include punctuality, willingness to wait, and response time. (MasterClass Staff, 2020; Norquist, 2020)
References
MasterClass Staff. (2020, November 8). 8 important types of nonverbal communication.
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/important-types-of-nonverbal-communication.
Nordquist, R. (2020, June 29). What is nonverbal communication? ThoughtCo.
https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-nonverbal-communication-1691351.
Take Action