Writing paper
beyond words
Nonverbal communica-
tion includes day-to-day
choices, habits, hunches,
expectations and biases.
Actions speak loudly
Leaders may talk about corporate values and goals, but it's often their nonverbal communication—their everyday attitudes, behaviors and decisions—that gets heard by Thomas J. Lee
F'rom our first days oflife, we use nonverbalcom m iinication todemand change. Wecry. We waii. We flaii our arms and legs. Eventualiy, we get our way. Someone comes along with a fresh diaper.
Dry and comfortable once again, we learn an important lesson long before we ever talk: We can speak just fine without words.
The lesson sticks with us. Through adolescence and into adulthood, we communicate many of our needs and wants nonverbaJly. From smiling at the cute classmate in algebra to driving a flashy red sports car, we implicitly proclaim our
interests, values and identity. That's equally true for man-
agers in the workplace. And it is especially true in management cultures that hoard information, or tiptoe around the iruth, or rely on euphemisms to blunt accountability, or nurture a cul- ture of extreme deference and politeness. The more employees must read between the lines for real me.ssages and their true intent, the more nonverbal communication will establish or clarify strategic priorities and cultural norms.
But here's the rub: Most people have only a superficial appreciation of nonverbal com- munication. They rypically think of it merely as body Ian-
2 4 Communication World • July-August 2008
guage, facial expression and vocal intonation. They cite examples such as poor posrure, idle fidgeting or shifting eyes. Translated, that is evidence of laziness, anxiety or dishonesty.
"Just look at your president," a European friend remarked to me, an American, in 2007. "The way he walks, with his arms wide at his side. It always looks as if he is spoiling for a fight."
Like beauty, such judgments are in rhe eye of the beholder. Still, those kinds of clues are the least of nonverbal commu- nication. Body language, facial expression and vocal intonation can send plain messages, true. But they pale in the workplace against larger actions that speak
www.idbc com/cw
Unless you back up
your statements with
genuine action, don't
be surprised if your
employees can see
through the mask
of propriety.
100 decibels louder than any words possibly can.
Over the course of 15 years, my colleagues and I have con- ducted dozens of focus groups with hundreds of empioyees, both managerial and non- managerial alike, hi all these sessions, participants rarely referred to body language, facial expression or vocal intonation (though we have heard more than a few complaints of tem- peramental managers and care- less workers).
In contnist, m;iny have cited larger attitudes, behaviors and decisions that they interpret as signals of inclusion or exclusion, engagement or disengagement, appreciation or scorn, an open
w w w. i a b c. c o m/c w Communication World • July-August 2008 2 5
beyond words
about the author Thomas J. Lee is an independent
consultant in leadership commu- nication. He is president and
owner of Arceil Leadership in Vernon Hills, Illinois.
mind or a closed mind, strategic or nonstrategic priorities, arro- gance or humility, and personal or business focus.
So Its clear that attitudes, behaviors and decisions are pow- erful communication. On fur- ther analysis, it is also clear that they are usually unintended and unmanaged. Neither corporate leaders nor their communication advisers typically plan for non- verbal communication. That's a huge missed opportunity.
What exactly do these atti- tudes, behaviors and decisions consist of? For better or worse, they are day-to-day choices, habits, hunches, expectations and biases, especially on the part of managers—^things like setting a tight new deadline or tougher quality threshold, leaving early after draping a sweater on the chair, neglecting to return a voice mail message, taking a summer intern to lunch, approving a substandard piece of work, flying coach instead of first class, firing a supervisor who is abtisive to women—or, all too common, retreating from an important question
Spoiling for a fight? That's what George W. Bush's stance commu- nicated t o one European.
about the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the room.
Reinforcing the vision Implicit, nonverbal communiai- tion is especially powerful, and especially unfortunate when it
Powerful presence: Management by wandering around in a business world that seems to have an acronym or abbreviation for everything, the initials MBWA— Management by Wandering Around—are familiar shorthand for a manager's physical presence and accessibility, a powerful form of nonverbal communication.
Of course, the conversations that ensue are verbal. But a manager's presence and accessibility alone count a great deal as nonverbal communication.
The point of MBWA is to close the gap between management and employees. Instead of merely claiming to have an open-door policy, managers get out of their offices and into the company's sphere of operations—the factory floor, an accounting office,
a retail store or what have you. There, they hope to see for themselves what's going on.
Most people and even some textbooks err in defining MBWA as Management by Walking Around. Actually, the term is Management by Wandering Around. The difference is crucial.
Managers who briskly walk through on their way to a meeting—instead of leisurely wandering around—never realize the potential value of MBWA. The idea is to linger in hope of spur-of-the-moment observations and conversations. When managers speed-walk through, they defeat the purpose. Their presence is what counts-
— T.J.L
conflicts with written norms such as a values statement, a pro- duction quota or standard, a job description, a corporate vision, or an ethics code. In the fece of such conflict, the impact of implicit, nonverbal communica- tion and explicit, verbal cotnmu- nication (that is, the written norm) is never equal. The two are nevet even dose to equal. One of them—^the same one— will always trump the other
The more visible and stark the image, the better the com- munication. For a conceptual benchmark, imagine a Fortune 500 chief executive choosing to lunch spontaneously in the cafe- teria with employees he has never met. In your minds eye, notice him asking for their per- spective on street-level obstacles to strategic execution, and then watch as he begins taking notes on the back of an old envelope. (Of course, the conversation is verbal communiaition. But it is the nonverbal decision to lunch with ground-level employees that reiiily packs the- wallop.) 1 hats powerful stuff, indeed.
Now let's take a look at real- world examples of implicit, nonverbal communication that go way beyond body language, facial expression and vocal intonation.
Leadership behaviors. Several years ago, I accompanied the site leader of a vast jet-fighter manufacturing plant on a tour of the faciliry in Marietta, Georgia. 1 he newest jet fighters in the Western arsenal, the F/A-22 Raptor, were just rolling off the assembly line. For more than an hour, we drove around the base. Twice we drove onto a tarmac where new Raptors were
26 Lommunication l/Vor/d» July-August 2008 www.iabc.com/cw
parked. Their jet engines are so incredibly powerRil, they can suck in small debris from a distance. Because of that, it's important to keep the tarmac push-broom clean. Otherwise, gravel and debris can wreck tlif engines.
Ever since the Raptors went into production, the company had campaigned hard against debris. As we stopped at the guard post before driving onco the tarmac, tbe site leader got out of the air, bent down by eacb wheel, and carefully inspected each tire's tread for gravel and debris. Iben he gor back behind the wbeel, rolled forward 18 inches, got out once more, and did it again.
Keep in mind his alternatives: 1 le could have directed an aide ill the backseat to inspect tbe lires. He could have walked around the car and given only a cursory glance at the tires. He could have neglected to do any- thing and just sped abead. Instead, he took time to inspect the tires very thoroughly. That was not by happenstance. He knew chat others were watching him, and he knew that this was an opportunity to send a power- Ril, implicit message reinforcing the verbal norm against debris.
Visibility. A worker in a South Carolina flictory told us she didnt even know what the former plant manager looked like. She had never seen him, for he stayed in his office al! day. But the new manager was a breatb of fresh air, she said, "l^st weekend be stopped in with his wife on their way home from dinner, He introduced her to all of us. It was re;il refreshing."
That requires an outgoing
personality and an affinity for people, of course. Unfortun- ately, many managers won their last promotion because of tech- nical competencies, not people skills.
Policy decisions. The greai economist Milton Friedman famously proclaimed that the only responsibiiity of business is to maximize its profits. Aaron Feuerstein disagreed. After a 1995 fire destroyed bis Massa chusetts textile mill, he speni his own money to keep 3,000 workers on the payroll while the factory was rebuilt. The decision cost him US$25 mil- lion but earned him a reputa- tion as a man who truly cared about people.
Many companies proclaim that employees are their great- est asset. In an era of ofFshoring and downsizing, few believe the spin. Feuerstein stunned everyone by demonstrating that he was serious. He had the courage of his convictions, and it showed.
Personnel choices. Wbo is hired and who is promoted send unmistakable signals through- out an organization. When a manager with a track record of safety violations or demeaning behavior takes a step up the ladder, everyone else can fairly conclude that .safety and diver- sity are actually not all that imjîortant—and that people are not, after all, the company's most important asset.
The venerable Jack Welch used to draw a two-by-two matrix to identify managers whose business results were or weren't satisfactory and whose behavior was or wasn't congru- ent with General Electric's val-
tt After a fire destroyed his Massachusetts textile mill in 1995, Aaron Feuerstein spent his own money to keep 3,ooo workers on the payroll.
ues. The winners who excelled at both were in line for promo- tion. I he losers who tailed at both were out rhe door. The real test for GE, Welch declared, lay in how it treated the other two categories. In the end, if values rTiatter, he said managers must behave congruently, regardless of their business results.
Use of time. O n my first visit to the headquarters of Chick-fil-A, a privately held and unabashedly Christian company, a well-dressed gentle- man approached me in the lobby. "Who do we have here?" he asked cheerily, and then he introduced himself as Dan Cathy, the company's president ;uid chief operating officer. After it became clear 1 was 40 minutes early for a 9 a.m. appointment, he invired me to the company's morning devotional down rhe hall. While some may quarrel
The impact
of implicit, nonverbal
communication and
explicit, verbal
communication (that
is, the written norm)
is never equal. One of
them—the same one-
will always trump
the other.
www.iabc.com/cw Communication World • July-August 2008 2 7
beyond words
We're all familiar
with managers who
pride themselves on
having an open door.
But how many pride
themselves on keeping
an open mind when
an employee offers a
process-improvement
suggestion?
with mixing business and reli- gion, Cathy viewed his role as deliberately spending time—his scarcest resource—to reinforce the Companys values.
Presence and accessibility. You can think of presence and accessibility in four ways: phys- ical, social, intellectual and emotional. Each has its diffi- culties. We're all familiar with managers who pride themselves on having an open door. But how many announce their availability for impromptu collaboration with hourly employees? More important, how many pride themselves on keeping an open mind when an employee offers a process- improvement suggestion?
More common, I fear, are managers like those I met at a factory in Tennessee, who made clear they resented the inter- ruption and viewed employee suggestions as meddling. Far from implementing any process improvements suggested by hourly workers, these managers ignored them all. Something tells me theyre still wondering why employees are so cynical.
None of this is to say that words do not matter. Far from it. Words matter greatly. Indeed, many of these atti- tudes, behaviors and decisions reveal themselves in the pres- ence of words. But the words count only to the extent that people regard them as true and real. For that, they look around them, and they take notice.
At days end, people may or may not hear what you say. But they will always see what you do, and seeing is believing. •
28 Lornmunication July-August 2008