Watch for these signals to take action. By Stacy McConnell
Everyone—including your board members—has ways of expressing themselves without saying a word. Even without realizing it, people naturally reveal concealed thoughts or emotions with gestures, facial expressions, tone and inflection of voice, posture, and eye movement and contact. In other words, all of us unintentionally demonstrate what we are thinking and feeling through our body language. Knowing this, it stands to reason that credit union leaders could potentially salvage tough situations in the board room by reading other leaders’ body language and appropriately responding to it. Before I suggest things to look for among those in attendance at your next board meeting, it’s important to note that interpreting body language is not mind reading. It is simply an observation of another person’s behavior, and it may not always be what it seems. Here are a couple of warning signs to watch for. Pay attention if someone suddenly points their feet or belly button away from the board discussion, especially if it’s toward the exit. People naturally point their belly buttons and feet toward the direction of what pleases them – whether it’s things or other people. So turning away from the discussion could indicate the person is displeased with or disapproves of what they just heard. Or, it could mean they have to leave because of a pressing engagement. Either way, they’re signaling that they want to distance themselves from the situation. If you see this in more than one person, there’s a high probability that the conversation isn’t going well. Other indicators that your board or audience isn’t buying into the discussion at hand can include:
- putting a hand up to cover the mouth;
- resting the chin on the thumb with the index finger pointed vertically alongside the cheek; and
- raising one eyebrow.
It’s possible that you’ll see someone demonstrating a cluster of these indicators of skepticism, disagreement, or disengagement. However you see it happening, you can address (and maybe improve) the situation by saying, “Maybe I’m wrong here, but it seems to me that you have some concerns,” or “Is there any reason that while we’re discussing [enter your own words here], you appear to be concerned?” Be cautious of your tone and inflection as you do this. You don’t want anyone to feel you’re calling them out. Rather, you want to come across as supportive and genuinely interested in their opinion. While there’s a lot more to it, these are some of the easier signals to distinguish. When used properly, reading body language and responding well to it will help advance board communication dramatically. And, it just may enable you to salvage a potentially bad situation. Stacy McConnell is chief personal success strategist with Breakthrough Strategies, Denver. A graduate of CUES’ CEO Institute, she previously was executive vice president of $94 million Campco Federal Credit Union, Gillette, Wyo. Also read "Five Finger Consensus," about a simple boardroom test you can use to see how much agreement is in the room. And read "Six Ways to Develop Your Leader Voice" by Michael Hudson, Ph.D., founder and principal, Big Idea Guru, LLC; Rehoboth Beach, Del. Hudson will present Mastering Execution--How Critical Decisions Drive Your Strategic Success at Execu/Summit, March 6-11 in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
