Emotional Intelligence

After taking the body language quiz, I learned that body language plays an important role in both your personal and professional life. Nonverbal communication is a type of body language that we use daily. The result of the quiz showed that I am good at reading expressions. Eye contact and voice tone are two styles of body language that I will discuss in this summary to become a more effective manager.

According to Kurien (2010), body language and its various interpretations can help an organization build on its major assets of camaraderie and goodwill among employees. Having the ability to use body language and to understand can help you to communicate and build better relationships with others. By me having a good knowledge of recognizing expressions, this will help me to become a more effective manager by observing, being natural, and being able to determine and identify my employees/co-workers body language patterns. Eye contact is a very important body language. Eye contact is the way we look at people. For example, when speaking to my employees/co-workers, I will look them directly into the eyes to establish rapport and to acknowledge them. Also, having eye contact will help to maintain the flow of the conversation, our response and trustworthiness with each other.

It is well-known that variations in human voices convey different meanings and that the voice has five features (Rane 2010). The five features are loudness, pitch, rate, quality, and regularity. Voice tone is an important body language and it is another way to become a more effective manager. As the old saying goes, "it's not what you say; it's how you say it". For example, when speaking to my employees/co-workers, I must not talk to loud because if I talk too loud, that might insult and scare them. Also, I must not speak at a slow rate of speed because that can cause them to get frustrated and not want to listen. Talking at a fast rate of speed may seem as though I am nervous and it can be hard for them to understand what I am saying.

In conclusion, body language is very important in our daily personal and professional lives. Organizations are formed with individuals, and the effective body language of the employees/co-workers will lead to both the individual and the organization's success. In the workplace, body language is considered the silent communicator.

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