Nonverbal Communication in Leadership | Father Dr. Dr. Justinus Pech | TEDxHHL

[Applause] what was the first language you learned in school and what was the first language you learned as a baby maybe you think first of english maybe german italian but how did you communicate before you were able to speak any of those languages maybe you can remember the moment when your mother was holding you in her arms looking at you and then she was was just smiling at you and how did you communicate back it's like today when i'm smiling at you intentively you're smiling back so the point is about communication before you even can

communicate in one of your mother tongues and this is the interesting thing how many days hours weeks did you invest in learning a language when you were at school maybe you went abroad and now you are perfect in different languages and on the other side what amount of time did you invest in learning this other language which is body language so maybe today is a time to reflect a bit about this and i think you can take out of this little talk three things first what is body language second how can you train yourself to

recognize the body language of another person and the third point how can you use this for your personal leadership style maybe you think right now what can someone who's working for the oldest global player to that topic so you should know one thing out of my personal history i lived for 15 years in the monastery it was a time the cistercian is a type like the benedictines so we try at least not to talk so much during the day lunch time and dinner time is always in silence so we are a bit made in silence

and the interesting thing is now nevertheless you like to communicate with the other ones in the monastery and so you learn to look at them and try to understand what do they feel when they are walking standing looking at you and this was my time where i learned a bit more about body language but why is it so important maybe you had already the possibility to prepare an important speech in front of your classmates other students in front of your employees and you were thinking hardly what should i talk about and you were reflecting about

the content of your message but if you want to be a successful speaker this is just seven percent much more important is voice and tonality how fast do you speak is it loud or do you try to reduce your voice a bit and much more 55 is about body language and this is posture gesture and the most important your eyes maybe you have seen that picture already it was 2007 when the german chancellor visited the russian president in zoji and he knew quite well that she has fear and she doesn't like dogs and in front

of the journalists of the world when they were still in the room by accident a huge dog was coming in and just look at her her body language look at her feet her knees the legs the hands the shoulder and the face years later she said to this situation as a brave chancellor you have to deal with that dog so it's up to you to evolve your own style how you can how you are able to understand your own body language this is such a typical situation someone is walking at the campus of the university

and she knows where to go to the next lecture and the other one he's just interested in talking with her he's opening his arms it's a bit like a peacock so to speak and but she's not interested in she just is walking and now it comes to yourself and your personal situation maybe in the office when you're sitting in your office and you hear someone in the morning coming or maybe maybe silently you already can recognize in what mood is this person maybe you have already an idea or something happened in the morning so maybe

it's a bit stressful right now and i should go to him later on so the style of walking helps you already to understand what's going on and then maybe he's just passing by your office looking in and standing there and then just look how he stands or she it doesn't matter maybe a bit like this or very self-confident or good morning maybe just i'm convinced but you can do the job i have my hands in my pocket or maybe it's an open good morning so the first thing is walking then standing and the next thing

is sitting maybe you're passing the office of your boss and he's sitting there like this it's very familiar but when you look at the leg you can realize no this is my area this red carpet is mine don't enter into my area whereas this is a bit more professional but there's a little uncertainty i don't know how to react to you a bit more difficult is this one oh yeah maybe i'm friendly but here's a clear barrier so you give already a clear signal to your employee to your employee or your colleague how do you

feel when he's coming into the office but you can change your position you can be open-minded you can try to give him the possibility to talk with you in an open-minded situation now that was walking standing sitting now it's all about arms and your face this is quite a sign oh this is a situation what should i do right now i'm not sure oh yes i have to think about but i can do it i think i can do it i have to give my brain a little massage that my little brain says can work

better i don't want to talk about this now let's think about it once again and always this oh what should i say next i lost my idea what i want to present to you right now or those who are wearing glasses and i have the glasses on and they are just making during the meeting something like this i have to look on the topic once again i'm unsecure i don't know what to do so it helps you already to read the thoughts before they are said to someone else and now we are coming to the

most important part of you of us all the face the eyes the mouth and if someone as you're asking a question and a to your students and someone looks at you like this you're not really sure did she understand my question does she believe me what i'm saying or look at her hand she tries to protect him under the table or take just laughing you have those two different possibilities to love to somebody with your muscles that's quite obvious is it really a love which comes from your heart or you can use your wrinkles when

you look in the laughing face and you see here the wrinkles i know many of us we don't like those wrinkles but then you know it's a real type of laughing for some of us we did something wrong and someone reveals it and we're looking a bit like this ooh now it becomes obvious why haven't i said it before to my colleague or my boss that i made a big mistake so this is now the important point for you we have seen all those different types of non-verbal communication of your body language and it's up

to you to bring you in a situation where you can look from above like a little helicopter and you can look at yourself and the other persons and this is the wonderful thing when you're coming in and into the lecture hall and you're looking at the faces of all your students you immediately can interpret what was happening the night uh before or in what mood are they right now and it's the same thing for you as a professional you're coming into the meeting room and you have the possibility to react directly on those non-verbal communication

sites it was erica from harvard university she said there are two questions we immediately try to answer when someone new is coming into the room do i trust the person and do i respect the person and those two questions will be answered immediately by you do i trust him do i respect him and therefore in the first seven seconds when you are meeting a new person you decide already whether you respect or you trust and maybe you trust a person and therefore in business is so important to learn about more about body language because it

helps you to guide your employees your colleagues and also your boss in a better way because it's like in a coaching situation when someone is coming in you can re try to read already the faces or the face of the person and so you are always a few seconds ahead of the verbal argument what will come next and so it gives you the possibility maybe through a certain openness which can be demonstrated also by your hands we're saying it's a peacock no it's oh we have to bargain a bit or we are willing to find

a good solution and the starting point to learn more about this is not tomorrow it's today just use the next break it's like learning a new language you have your language cards with the german and the danish word on the other side and then you learn it at least seven times that you can remember the word and this is the same with body language so when you are outside later on when you're looking to your person on your right to left try to understand how does he sit what does he maybe feel what does he

think and step by step you will be able when you are learning more about your own expression in body language also to interpret the body language of other persons and this is my wish for you start with this today good luck and thank you very much for your attention [Applause]