What Your Body Says (and how to master the message): Inspire, Influence, Build Trust, and Create Lasting Business Relationships

Chapter 6. Gestures of Expectation and Influence

Gestures of expectation and influence reflect your day-to-day beliefs about your own and others' abilities. They show you are self-confident even when you are not, and they demonstrate that you have confidence in others. They are used to demonstrate beliefs, gain compliance, and influence behavior. In contrast, gestures of relationship, location, and teaching are short-term movements that support specific words or phrases. All the gestures are important skills, and over time they will become integrated into your baseline behaviors.

The behaviors we exhibit everyday are called baseline behaviors. Some, which are learned, we use because they've successfully achieved the outcomes we want. Others are innate behaviors. Incorporating the gestures of expectation and influence that display self-confidence, including relaxed arms; low, steady breathing; erect posture; weight evenly distributed on both feet, if standing; a voice that drops at the end of each phrase for business; and a rolling voice that goes up at the end for relationships, will pay large dividends in how others perceive you.

How to Use Your Posture to Show Your Confidence

You always want to display self-confidence, no matter how you are feeling inside. Don't let them see you sweat. If you are not confident, your audience or team most likely won't be confident either. So fake it until you make it by maintaining positive gestures of expectation and comfortable, low breathing.