The Power of Nonverbal Communication As little as 7% of a message may be communicated by the words we use. "Actions speak louder than words." I am sure you have heard this phrase many times. Perhaps someone said it to you when you had a misunderstanding over the meaning of a message. Perhaps you used this phrase yourself to question the intent of a friend, family member, or coworker. What does it suggest? How do our actions and other nonverbal communication add to or detract from our goal of a meeting of the minds? In the introduction to this course, we said that communication is power--the power to inform, the power to influence others, the power to entertain, and the power to manage interpersonal exchanges. How much of that power is in the words we choose? How much of that power is harnessed in the nonverbal? In fact, the most widely accepted research on this topic breaks it down like this: Transcript Wow! These numbers certainly suggest that listening with our eyes is even more important that listening with our ears. This sure puts a new spin on last week's discussions. If you don't believe what you are reading, if you think these numbers are off base, look at the images below and take a minute to jot down what you think is going on in each of them. Did you say any of the following? 1. The doctor has just received some really great news about a patient's condition. 2. The stressed out student realizes that he has no idea how to apply macroeconomic concepts. 3. The woman in the grey pantsuit and her coworker are in disbelief when the vendor tells them that he cannot meet their deadline. 4. The pregnant woman is excited to feel her baby kick. You may not have perceived these images precisely as they are described here, but I bet your conclusions were similar. A picture is worth a thousand words; isn't it amazing what these pictures can say? The nonverbal communication in these still images pretty effectively communicates the thoughts and feelings of these total strangers. Imagine the added power nonverbal cues possess when we are dealing with real people, particularly those with whom we have a history. Nonverbal communication is powerful, far more powerful than the words we say. The fact that we did not all interpret those pictures in precisely the same way suggests too that nonverbal communication and verbal communication have something in common: Both can be ambiguous. Recognizing that nonverbal communication has great power, the power to add to or detract from our message, is an important idea to take away from this course.Nonverbal Messages Body language is made up of several things, including facial expression, gestures, eye contact, and posture. The charades game you played as a kid that required you to use body language alone to get your teammates to guess the name of a movie or a well-known phrase, the era of the silent movie, and the talent of a mime all teach us that body language is powerful. I am sure you can recall a time w ...

1. The Power of Nonverbal Communication
As little as 7% of a message may be communicated by the words
we use.
"Actions speak louder than words." I am sure you have heard
this phrase many times. Perhaps someone said it to you when
you had a misunderstanding over the meaning of a message.
Perhaps you used this phrase yourself to question the intent of a
friend, family member, or coworker. What does it suggest? How
do our actions and other nonverbal communication add to or
detract from our goal of a meeting of the minds?
In the introduction to this course, we said that communication is
power--the power to inform, the power to influence others, the
power to entertain, and the power to manage interpersonal
exchanges. How much of that power is in the words we choose?
How much of that power is harnessed in the nonverbal?
In fact, the most widely accepted research on this topic breaks it
down like this:
Transcript
Wow! These numbers certainly suggest that listening with our
eyes is even more important that listening with our ears. This
sure puts a new spin on last week's discussions.
If you don't believe what you are reading, if you think these
numbers are off base, look at the images below and take a
minute to jot down what you think is going on in each of them.
Did you say any of the following?
1. The doctor has just received some really great news about a
patient's condition.
2. The stressed out student realizes that he has no idea how to
apply macroeconomic concepts.
3. The woman in the grey pantsuit and her coworker are in

2. disbelief when the vendor tells them that he cannot meet their
deadline.
4. The pregnant woman is excited to feel her baby kick.
You may not have perceived these images precisely as they are
described here, but I bet your conclusions were similar. A
picture is worth a thousand words; isn't it amazing what these
pictures can say? The nonverbal communication in these still
images pretty effectively communicates the thoughts and
feelings of these total strangers. Imagine the added power
nonverbal cues possess when we are dealing with real people,
particularly those with whom we have a history. Nonverbal
communication is powerful, far more powerful than the words
we say. The fact that we did not all interpret those pictures in
precisely the same way suggests too that nonverbal
communication and verbal communication have something in
common: Both can be ambiguous. Recognizing that nonverbal
communication has great power, the power to add to or detract
from our message, is an important idea to take away from this
course.Nonverbal Messages
Body language is made up of several things, including facial
expression, gestures, eye contact, and posture. The charades
game you played as a kid that required you to use body
language alone to get your teammates to guess the name of a
movie or a well-known phrase, the era of the silent movie, and
the talent of a mime all teach us that body language is powerful.
I am sure you can recall a time when you conveyed a message to
another using the power of your body language - a look you shot
your daughters when they got chatty in church, an ear-to-ear
smile and open arms for your spouse when he or she returned
from a business trip, the soft touch on the arm of a friend who
was mourning the loss of a loved one, a hug and a tender look
for your son who skinned his knee. These are all powerful
messages.
In addition, your voice, which can include volume, pitch, rate,
variation, tone, and more, can say a lot. Anyone who grew up
with a father who bellowed first, middle, and last names at the

3. sight of an undone chore or who has a friend with a laugh that
can light up a room knows the impact voice can have on
communicating a message, with or without words.
Furthermore, how we manipulate our environment tells a story
as well. Think for a minute about your workspace. Is your desk
clean, or does it look lived in? Have you personalized your
workspace, or is it rather stark? Does your workspace flaunt
your outstanding organizational skills, or does it scream that
you are a slob?
The way that we present ourselves, from how we wear our hair
to the time we keep, sends a message. You may know teenagers
who speak volumes with their wardrobe. Have you ever been
late for an important meeting? That, too, sends a message.
Employers tell us that they make a judgment about a candidate
in the first 30 seconds of an interview based on appearance
alone. If that does not convince you of the power of nonverbal
communication, nothing will.
Consider this:
· How do you use body language and your voice to add meaning
to the messages you send?
· What message do you send with how you present yourself?
Does it match your intent?
· Does the way you manage your environment contribute
positively to your communication goals?
· Does your nonverbal communication, in general, match your
verbal communication?
While it's true that nonverbal communication is powerful,
recognize that it can add to or detract from your messages as a
result of its ambiguity. Factor in gender and cultural differences
and the defined ambiguity is multiplied. In the global world we
live in, miscommunication is even more commonplace. Taking
the time to examine your nonverbal communication to determine
its effectiveness is an important goal of this course. Remember,
communication is power. Use it well.Listen up!
We really do not spend much time at all talking about listening.
Even in a college-level communications course, listening is just

4. one TCO. Embrace the rare opportunity that you are presented
with this week to learn about your listening habits and improve
your listening skills.
As little as 7% of a message may be communicated by the words
we use.How Well Do You Listen?
Let's get started by learning about your own listening skills.
Taking the following quiz that evaluates your listening habits
and see if you are an A, B, C, D, or F quality listener. Be as
honest with yourself as possible when answering the following
questions.
Listening exercise
Take a few minutes to participate in the Listening Exercise
Well, how did you score? Don't worry, if you scored lower than
you thought you would, you are not alone. Most of us do not
listen as well as we should. It is more important to recognize
that most of us don't listen as well as we could. This suggests
that listening is a learned process. Recognizing that listening is
a skill that can be improved is an important part of this week's
lesson.
We talked about communication noise during the first week of
the course when we discussed the basic model of
communication. Noise can come from three sources: the
environment, the sender, and the receiver. We often think of
communication interference as a speaker's problem, but--coming
back to the goal of all communication, coming to a meeting of
the minds--eliminating noise is the challenge of all involved in
the process. Are you ready to take on the challenge? You will
reap a reward much greater than an improved score on the
listening quiz. Are you ready to become a more effective
listener?
The first step in becoming a more effective listener is to look at
the process of listening and determine where in that process--
attending, understanding, remembering, evaluating, or
responding--you break down. Tack hearing at the start and
remembering at the end of the process, and somewhere in
between is your weak link.

5. Perhaps you have a couple of weak links that contribute to your
listening ineffectiveness. Maybe a few of them are rusty and
corroded like the ones in this image; maybe they are broken.
Whatever the case, identifying your listening shortcomings will
help you to improve them. Perhaps this unit will shed some
light on your communication change challenge (CCC) if you
plan to work on improving your listening skills. Listening well
should be a part of everyone's plans for communication
improvement!What Is Your Listening Style?
You might identify with some of the following types of
ineffective listening styles. Like any interpersonal shortcoming,
these styles become a habit that we fall into over time. Take a
look at this list and see if any of them look familiar.
· The pretender is the listener who seems to be listening but is
really focused on something else. As a result, the speaker may
have no idea that his or her message has not been received.
· The spotlighter is the listener who consistently manages the
conversation so the focus is on him or her rather than the
message being sent.
· The cherry picker is the listener who only responds to
messages he or she is interested in and spits out all the others.
· The avoider is the listener who will not respond to topics that
are uncomfortable.
· The defender is the listener who takes things personally and
perceives many messages as attacks.
· The covert attacker is the listener who listens carefully but for
the wrong reasons. He or she has an ulterior motive of
collecting ammunition for use at another time during a surprise
attack.
· The realist is the listener who perceives the message literally
and has difficulty reading between the lines for the intended
meaning.
We will talk about these in more detail in the threaded
discussions as we explore the reasons for why we do not listen
better.Becoming a Better Listener
We have referred to communication noise several times

6. throughout this course and have established that noise on the
part of the listener can have a great impact on communication
goals. One of our threaded discussions this week says that we
can listen at a rate that is at least three times faster than the rate
that the speaker can speak. Hmm. Doesn't this mean that we are
actually outstanding listeners? Great observation! Yes, it does.
We listen at a rate of approximately 500-600 words per minute.
We speak at a rate of only 100-150 words per minute, so it sure
seems that we should be able to come to a meeting of the minds
easily, if that is true. In fact, we are such good listeners that the
difference between these rates actually gives us more time than
we need, right? Unfortunately, we don't always use that extra
time well, and this is what contributes to the problem of
ineffective listening. How do you use that time? This week in
the threaded discussion, we will identify practical solutions that
you can implement today to help you to become a better
listener. Stay tuned!
Communication Improvement Strategy Table
Steps In Sequence
Purpose
Example
1. Problem (typically only one sentence)
This allows you to identify a challenge which begins your
improvement process.
· Whenever my spouse confronts me with something upsetting, I
constantly have a hard time not yelling.
· When working in a group of people who do not contribute to
the team as I would like, because I do not want to make anyone
feel bad.
· When providing someone criticism at work, I feel as though I
am not describing my impressions clearly enough for others to
understand.

7. 2. Goal (usually written as an infinitive beginning with the
word “to”)
This states what you want to change or improve; it begins to
offer some solution and how you envision turning this challenge
into a success
· To address confrontations with my spouse in a more respectful
tone
· To find ways that break through my inhibitions and address
my observations of not meeting expectations to group members
· To use clearer and more specific language when providing
feedback to my colleagues
3. Plan (often helpful to be written written as a numbered
listing of at minimum 4-5 steps)
This provides you with some direction about how you take
specific steps to address the problem and move toward the goal
in a structured sequence.
(In the interest of space, only the first problem is addressed in
this example)
· I will first focus on listening without jumping to reactions that
make me raise my voice with my spouse.
· I will then research and determine what are the most effective
options for me to respond in situations similar to what I have
experienced.
· Next, I will take what I have learned and begin to implement
the experts’ suggestions into practice conversations.
· I will then take what I have learned from rehearsals and that
procedure into place when I experience spousal confrontations.
4. Measurability Test
The test attaches accountability to your communication goals
and gives you a clear answer about whether or not you
accomplished your goal.
· I know I will have reached a more respectful level of
addressing spousal confrontations when we have at least 3
disagreements in a row where I am able to employ the options I
have found and not chosen to raise my voice inappropriately.
· I will have reached the next level of success when I am able to

8. address every under-performing member in a group individually
· I will have achieved my goal when I either:
· walk away from 80% of my feedback sessions with a strong
sense that my colleagues were able to understand the intentions
of my message OR
· receive overall positive, anonymous feedback on the group
post-mortem surveys on my next major project.