The Indians Abroad

Overseas Living: NRIs & India abroad

Posts Tagged body language

How to improve your body language

May 17

Posted by admin in Communication Skills, Consciousness & Awareness, personal development | 4 Comments

Ten tip on how to improve your body language

The body language plays a key role in day-to-day communication. Body language includes non-verbal communication such as body posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye movements.

Depending on the circumstances and who you talk to, the body language will differ. However, here are some important tips on how to improve your body language for effective communication:

1. Make eye contact, but don’t stare: Make eye contact while speaking or listening but not too much. Too much eye contact may look like staring and may distract the other person. You can find a happy medium with practice.

2. Relax your body, don’t fidget: Relax, don’t be nervous. Maintain a relaxed pose instead of all stiffened up. Avoid or minimize fidgety movement and nervous ticks. Do not shake your leg or tap your fingers against some surface.

3. Maintain some distance: In many cultures, people get too close or even all touchy feely. If other person starts to step back, you will know that you are invading his/her space. You can lean forward to make a point or listen, but don’t be in other person’s face.

4. Smile: Smile when you meet someone or when you start a new conversation. Don’t be overly serious all the time. Smile frequently to show a likable attitude. However, don’t maintain a constant smile on your face, it may look fake. You can laugh if it makes sense but too much laughing may look odd.

5. Hand gesture: Use your hand gestures to stress your points or opinion but don’t overdo it to the point that your gestures become distraction.

6. Don’t cross your arms or legs: Crossing your arms all the time makes you look too defensive. This is habit in some cultures and you can improve upon it by practicing.

7. Mirror: If you mirror other person’s body language during a conversation subconsciously, it means that you are connecting. You can use reverse thinking and consciously try to mirror the other person to show that you are connecting. You have to be sincere, however; otherwise it will look fake and odd. Read the rest of this entry »

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How to improve your communication skills

Nov 25

Posted by admin in Communication Skills, Consciousness & Awareness, Most Popular Stories, Non-Resident Indian, NRI, personal development | 4 Comments

The previous post titled ‘What you say? – Importance of Communication skills’ (linked below at the end of this article) covers in detail the basics of different types of communications and their overall importance.

Now, communications – the ability to share and exchange ideas and thoughts – consist of a wide range of skills. For example, you cannot be a good communicator just by being a better speaker, or just by being a good listener.

And, if the exchange is not in your mother tongue (the first language) – such as some one from India in USA – it takes some extra efforts to be good at this. Here are some of the main areas to consider for improving your communications skills:

Know what you are talking about: A communications or an exchange of ideas or the conversation is hollow and empty if it has no substance. Knowledge of the topic of discussion helps with a meaningful discourse. And, if it is just a friendly ‘chat about nothing’ – the small talk – that can also be improved, just read on! :)

Be a good listener: Listening is the first and foremost part of the communication. It helps with understanding the topic of discussion (‘Know what you are talking about’ step above). A good listener also earns the respect or the speakers and is always in-tune with the discussion. For details on improving this skill, refer to the article titled ‘how to improve the listening skills.’ The importance of listening is highlighted in a separate article linked here.

Improve verbal communications: Along with listening skills, equally important is the ability to deliver the message – the talking part. A good command of the language, a good vocabulary and ability to effectively speak are the desired attributes for being good at verbal communication. Those with mother-tongue (the first language) is different than the communication language often struggle in this sector. If English is your second language, or if you need to improve your accent in the new language, make sure to consider the tips and suggestion in the article titled, ‘A self-help guide to lose your accent.’

Make a small talk: Small talk matters. Small talk is the art of chitchat – talking about ‘nothing’. The small talk warms up the conversation; it can set up the mood of the discussion. The article ‘30 tips on the art of small talk’ has lots of good information on how to improve your small talk skills. Read the rest of this entry »

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