The Advantages of Nonverbal Communication Training

Non-verbal communication consists of the messages and intentions relayed by one's facial expression, body language and tone of voice. These may or may not be in alignment with the words one speaks.

Nonverbal communication training teaches students how to read the unspoken meaning revealed by the human body. Nonverbal communication is frequently of secondary concern to the spoken word, but the words we say are reinforced or contradicted by our body language. Fortunately, it is possible to be trained to control your body and the signals it relays via non-verbal communication training.

• When you are working with the public, the ability to read nonverbal communication allows you to recognize truly interested customers long before they walk up to the counter. This allows you to approach them and guide them to the counter and thus increase your sales rate.
• We learn to read nonverbal communication at an early age. However, our immersion in technology and the written word can erode this ability. Nonverbal communication training permits practice in reading nonverbal communication in our spouses, our friends and our children. This improves our communication level with them.
• One of the benefits of nonverbal communication training is the improved ability to identify potential threats. Nonverbal communication can reveal a troublemaker about to spray graffiti, the innocent passerby from a likely mugger to the stranger offering help who intends harm.
• Cultural cues vary across cultures. The lift of a chin in the United States is a sign of arrogance while in Italy it simply means “yes”. In the West, failing to make eye contact is a sign of aversion or shame. In the East, making deliberate and continued eye contact is a sign of aggression. Immigrants from other nations should take nonverbal communication training to learn the unspoken language of their new home and reduce potential misunderstandings.
• Nonverbal communication training improves understanding of the message our own bodies convey. For job applicants, salespeople and public relations staff, awareness of how one’s current position impacts the message they conveys is a first step to improving presentation. Nonverbal communication training develops the ability to use one’s body to reinforce the message one wants to present, from confidence to sincere condolences.
• Nonverbal communication training is the first step to recognizing micro-expressions and other indicators that can reveal lying.
• Nonverbal communication training increases awareness of your own body, your gestures and your actions. All too often, we focus on our words to relay a particular message but neglect how our posture, tone and facial expressions contradict our intended message.
• Nonverbal communication training can help people distinguish between nervous ticks and indications of deception.