![]() ![]() Professionals also need to be aware of how context, status, and power intersect with specific channels of nonverbal communication. For example, appropriate nonverbal cues can convey the seriousness of a customer or coworker complaint, help ease the delivery of constructive criticism, or reinforce positive feedback. As a supervisor who gives positive and negative feedback regularly and/or in periodic performance evaluations, it is important to be able to match nonverbal signals with the content of the message. Interpreting contradictory verbal and nonverbal messages is challenging in any context and can have negative effects on job satisfaction and productivity. Although important, there is rarely any training or instruction related to nonverbal communication, and a consistent issue that has been reported by employees has been difficulty with mixed messages coming from managers. Surveys of current professionals and managers have found that most report that nonverbal skills are important to their jobs (DePaulo, 1992). Nonverbal Communication in Professional Contexts Unfortunately, since people with less nonverbal skill are likely to have smaller social networks, they may end up targeting one or two people for their emotional communication, which could lead the other people to withdraw from the relationship. Since people with nonverbal communication competence are already more likely to have larger social support networks, it is likely that they will be able to spread around their emotional communication, specifically related to negative emotions, in ways that do not burden others. ![]() Occasionally, one relational partner may be going through an extended period of emotional distress, which can become very difficult for other people in his or her life. Ideally, each person in a relationship is able to express his or her emotions in a way that isn’t too taxing for the other person. ![]() Emotional imbalances occur when one relational partner expresses too much emotion in a way that becomes a burden for the other person. They also know how to adjust their emotional expressions to fit various contexts and individuals, which is useful in preventing emotional imbalances within a relationship. In terms of communicating emotions, competent communicators know when it is appropriate to express emotions and when more self-regulation is needed. Nonverbal communication helps maintain relationships once they have moved beyond the initial stages by helping us communicate emotions and seek and provide social and emotional support. ![]() As we’ve learned, nonverbal communication conveys much emotional meaning, so the ability to effectively encode and decode appropriate nonverbal messages sent through facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, and touch leads to high-quality interactions that are rewarding for the communicators involved. As relationships progress from basic information exchange and the establishment of early interpersonal bonds to more substantial emotional connections, nonverbal communication plays a more central role. Impressions formed at this stage of interaction help determine whether or not a relationship will progress. As the depth of self-disclosure increases, messages become more meaningful if they are accompanied by congruent nonverbal cues. Relationships then form as a result of some initial exchanges of verbal and nonverbal information through mutual self-disclosure. This increases our chances of initiating interpersonal relationships. Nonverbal communication increases our expressivity, and people generally find attractive and want to pay more attention to things that are expressive. Further, people who are skilled at encoding nonverbal messages have various interpersonal advantages, including being more popular, having larger social networks consisting of both acquaintances and close friends, and being less likely to be lonely or socially anxious (Riggio, 1992). Nonverbal Communication in Relational ContextsĪ central, if not primary, function of nonverbal communication is the establishment and maintenance of interpersonal relationships. ![]()
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