Life, and business, are a series of negotiations. Whether you’re negotiating a contract for a new job, creating or dissolving a business partnership, or simply negotiating with your spouse over who will make dinner that night, negotiation is an unavoidable – and often uncomfortable – part of life.
In any type of negotiation, we all desire to give the illusion of control so we can gain the upper hand – but in order to do so, it helps to know what others are thinking and feeling. Are they walking into the negotiation feeling confident? Are they firm in their offer, or are they willing to budge? Are they happy with the offer that’s on the table? If only we knew the answers to these questions, we then could more confidently and accurately determine our next move.
Luckily, there are many non-verbal cues that can help you to determine what other people are thinking or how they’re feeling, even if they put on a strong poker face. In fact, our non-verbal actions speak much louder than our words. Most people would be surprised to learn that 55% of communication is non-verbal, 38% of communication is voice inflection, and only 7% of communication comes from the words that we say.
To better understand what these non-verbal cues are and what they can tell us in a negotiation situation, we spoke to body language expert and Leadership Academy speaker, Jan Hargrave.