Communication is an important factor of any relationship, whether it’s personal or professional. But communication is not just about verbalizing things, communication is also understanding and interpreting nonverbal signals. The ability to understand and use nonverbal signals will be a powerful tool to help develop strong relationships.

Any nonverbal behaviors that were made, carried meaning with them, so YOU need to make your own logic and judgment based on how much you know the communicator in order to communicate with that person.

Some of the important nonverbal signals are:

Eye contact: Is eye contact being made? Is it just right or too intense?
The eyes are the messengers of the soul, therefore, they reveal a lot about the person that you are talking to. Numerous studies have shown that people who make higher-levels of eye contact are perceived as more warm, attractive, and trustworthy.

Posture and Gesture: Are their bodies too stiff or too relaxed? Are their shoulders tense?
Different posture and gesture can reveal different attitude and emotion of a person. Some examples are: Shaking someone’s hand to congratulate, waving your hand to say goodbye, nodding your head to indicate approval and shrugging your shoulders to indicate that you don’t know.

Facial Expression: Are their faces fill with interests? Are they zoned out? Human facial expressions can express countless emotions without saying a word. Most facial expressions are universal, such as expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust are the same across cultures.

VS.

Tone of Voice: Do they sound confident or blamed? Are they too quiet or too loud?
It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. Tone of voice can indicate anger, confidence, or sarcasm. However, pay attention to the language you’re speaking because in different languages, change of tone can also change the meaning of the word.

Touch: Is there any physical contact? Are they appropriate?
Touch has very crucial importance to express feelings for another person – from formal to intimate. Touch can be of different type – caring, friendly, supportive, encouraging, suggestive, provocative, grabbing, offensive or dominant. Also, pay close attention to the country and culture that you’re interacting with because in some area, touching is a very sensitive behavior.

Time and place: Are they on time? Did they respond too slowly or too quickly?
Time and place can reveals about how much people actually care a
bout the conversation that they are in.

Thanks for reading! Until next time -Madeline