What every body is saying

                                                                           

Interpersonal communication is one of the most important aspects in human resource (HR) study for a very obvious reason, because HR practitioners need to communicate with vast amounts of people from different backgrounds, interests andambitions. Thus, possessing a set of effective interpersonal communication skills is an invaluable asset to any HR practitioners.    

As most people know, interpersonal communication consists of verbal and nonverbal components. Verbal communication basically means talking in words. On the other hand, nonverbal communication involves  facial expressions, gestures, touching, physical movement, posture, body adornment and even the tone, timbre, and volume of an individual’s voice.  Nonverbal communication comprises of approximately 60- 65% percent of all interpersonal communication.  Sadly, not even one subject in my 5 years of study in HR management teaches nonverbal communication. All the subjects are focused on written and verbal communication training. Therefore, I am often fascinated by TV shows about body languages like “The Mentalist” and “Lie To Me”. I always wonder how true these shows really are. Can a person read everything about other people’s thought barely based on body language? Can they really detect liars based on this science?

In a book titled “What Every Body Is Saying”, written by Joe Navarro, who was an FBI counterintelligence special agent and supervisor specializing in nonverbal communications. He is  also a senior professor of management at the University of South Florida. This book provides extensive details about nonverbal communication. Details are provided at the end of this post.

The book also reveals the reality about nonverbal communication reading. He states that “ most of us – including judges, attorneys, clinicians, police offices, FBI agents, politicians, teachers, mothers, fathers, and spouses -  are no better than chance (50-50) when it comes to detecting deception… Even those who are truly gifted at detecting deception (probably less than 1 percent of the general population) seldom are right more than 60 percent of the time.”  Thanks for ruining my favorite shows for me!

This does not mean that we should abandon our efforts to study nonverbal communication, because lying is not the only thing worth to detect.  Mastering nonverbal communication can help us understand other people’s thinking, feeling and intentions. Through my experiences, it is particularly accurate in detecting what people are thinking and feeling. Therefore, I highly recommend this book to people who want to improve their interpersonal skills.

Click Here To Download The Book Summary
(Please ignore the error message on the download page, because the page can not displace such a big mindmap. You just need to click on download image button to download the book summary)