Leadership Solutions

Try this experiment sometime. Present a new product or idea to a representative sample of consumers, the people who might buy what you are "selling." Before you say anything about the product, ask the group to nod their heads up and down as they listen to your "pitch." The results will surprise you. The group is more likely to have favorable feelings or "buy" your product than they would had they remained still. It's as if just nodding their heads tells their brains that they like the product or idea.

This is just what Dr. Alex Pentland and his colleagues at the MIT Media Lab have been studying, the way people use nonverbal communication. In his book "Honest Signals," Dr. Pentland gives lessons for business leaders.

Basically, the idea is that people have a second channel of communication that involves around their social relations rather than their spoken words. What Dr. Pentland found is that behavior can be predicted from the "honest signaling behaviors" that people use such as head gestures, voice inflection, and body language. One experiment involved mid-level executives pitching business plans and then rating each other. If the presenter sounded excited the ratings were consistently higher-even with people that should have been listening to more than tone of voice!

Here are some tips to help you get your next idea sold:

Mimicry - Copy the other person's nonverbal cues during a conversation, for instance if he smiles, you smile. This signals that you understand him and are empathetic.

Vibes/Buzz - Participate in conversation with a steady pace; in a dialogue the ideal situation is a natural flow of conversation back and forth-it should not be weighted heavily towards one person or another. As a leader, turn taking in conversations actually strengthens your role in the organization or group.

Attitude - Enthusiasm about an idea or product is essential to its successful implementation.

Consistency - If you want to signal a willingness to accept ideas of others, then vary your speech patterns; however, if you want to convey that you are an expert, keep your speech pattern steady and fluid without big variance in tone or emotion.

The impact of honest signaling to you and your teams is huge. It seems that social signaling predicts outcomes better than strategy, motivation, experience or personal characteristics. Leadership Solutions can help coach your team on the signals they send to their clients and customers.