The Basics of Nonverbal Communication (Part One)

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Peter F. Drucker once said that “The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said” and the phrase couldn’t have been truer. In essence, nonverbal communication represents the information a person delivers besides verbal communication. But how exactly do people communicate in a nonverbal matter? Let’s explore the possibilities:

  • Body language: The manner in which a person moves either his hands, arms, legs, sits, stands and other slight movements.
  • Facial expressions: The human face is tremendously expressive, especially the mouth, eyebrows and eyes. As the research done by Dan Hill and other worldwide researchers; emotions such as disgust, confusion, pain, anger and happiness can be easily depicted on a person’s facial expressions or “micro-expressions” as they are known as.
  • Posture: The manner in which you present yourself in public can be used by others to determine your state of mind. For example, if you’re sitting rigidly in your chair, people will, consciously or not, determine that you’re anxious or afraid. On the other hand, if you lean back in a relaxed manner people will assume you’re confident.
  • Eye contact: The majority of people believe that, when eye contact is being made, that person is trustworthy. This is not always the case. Even though eye contact can be used to transmit emotions and to create a bond between speakers, it can also be used to simulate interest and mislead people.
  • Gestures: In particular, hand gestures are obvious communication carriers. The movement of one’s hands can help emphasise an idea or an argument.

If used effectively, nonverbal communication can be a powerful complementary agent to the spoken word and can help people get their message across language and cultural barriers, due to the fact that it’s pretty much universal. In other words, nonverbal communication creates a special bond with verbal communication and adds profound meaning to it.

However, this form of communication must be dealt with great care. Due to its subconscious level, you may express something verbally, but non-verbally you may pass on a totally different idea and that confuses the receiver of the message.

When Nonverbal and Verbal Communication Don’t Match

There are numerous circumstances when this type of situation can occur. For instance, when a manager asks his employee if everything is alright, he might get a positive response, but everything related to that employee’s posture, lack of smile, facial expression and tone will give out the exact opposite response.

Nonverbal communication represents a powerful tool in day-to-day activities such as meetings, hallway interactions and even outside business hours when people are gathering together for a meal. It can also be tremendously helpful when dealing with stakeholders, customers, associates, partners due to the fact that it adds gravitas and trust to the spoken words.

Although it may seem unlikely, nonverbal communication can be taught if carefully practiced and managed. Clear improvements can be observed when delivering your messages across to people. If this skill is not well-trained you may look sloppy and ineffective damaging office relations, thus resulting into low job performances all across your department or company.

A strong business education can take you so far, but without the necessary people and communication skills, there is a chance for mishaps to occur, stammering your professional growth along the way.

Try out our assessment in order to measure the level of wellbeing in your organisation and find out the best approach to improve it.

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 Sources:

https://www.thebalance.com/nonverbal-communication-in-the-workplace-1918470

https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-use-nonverbal-communication-in-hiring-1919137

http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/nonverbal-communications-important-manager-17543.html

Workplace Harassment

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Workplace harassment is something people experience on a daily basis, but are too afraid to speak out about it… By law, harassment is described as any unwanted verbal or physical behaviour which are based on ideas such as colour, race, sex, religion, nationality, age, either physical or mental disabilities, and last but not least, gender identity. A harassing behaviour can take many forms which include: slurs, offensive jokes, intimidation, ridicule, insults, name calling, physical threats or assaults, offensive pictures and many more.

Many people encounter harassment even during interviews. It is important to know what rules apply to the employers and what they can and cannot ask you. Moreover, recruiters cannot ask you about your religion, race, marital status, disabilities, ethnic background, country of origin, age or sexual preferences. Next time you’re going into an interview, pay attention at what and how they ask about information regarding yourself.

Unfortunately, anyone can be in a situation where he or she is the harasser or the person being harassed. The harasser can range from being your boss, a co-worker, a supervisor from a different department, or even a non-employee, whilst the victim of the harassment doesn’t necessarily have to be the one directly harassed, but it can be any person in the office who feels affected by the harassing behaviour.

How to Deal with Harassment at the Workplace

Usually, people who are dealing with workplace harassment have the intention of solving the incident internally. The first option would be to approach the offender personally and explain how his behaviour and language have offended you. If you feel uncomfortable with the direct approach, the other option would be to contact your manager or supervisor and ask him to handle the situation before it develops into something more problematic.

Of course, there are cases in which the offender is your manager or supervisor and your only course of action is to contact the HR department or your manager’s boss and request an analysis of the situation.

Types of Harassment

There are numerous ways in which harassment takes place in the workplace. Unfortunately, sexual harassment continues to be one of the primary courses of harassment, although that does not mean that non-sexual harassment must be treated lightly. It is essential that people understand that harassment at the office can affect them, whether they are victims or not. One way or another it could impact people’s state of mind and even their careers.

As mentioned above, harassment can take many forms at the office. It could vary from being both physical and sexual and ending up with it being based on religion or race.

In the United States, the definition of harassment ranges from state to state. For example, in Florida a court decided that ‘fat jokes’ are offensive, while in Wisconsin and New York harassing people based on their criminal record is against the law. It is obvious that this issue represents a tricky subject everywhere around the world.

Sexual Harassment

This type of harassment does not limit itself to just physical contact or words and just between co-workers of the opposite sex. All of the following examples classify as sexual harassment:

  • Staring in a provocative manner, or whistling.
  • Emails, letters or notes with provocative messages.
  • Obscene videos and images shared with colleagues during a break or at lunch.
  • Expose posters of inappropriate sexual imagery.
  • Sharing sexual anecdotes or lewd jokes with the co-workers.
  • Making offensive remarks about a person’s gender identity.

Non-Sexual Harassment

This type of harassment includes remarks ranging from a person’s physical appearance to his mental disabilities or cultural values. A co-worker can create a hostile work environment by continuously commenting that a person is too old, too stupid or too fat.

If you someone in the workplace is making either racist or negative comments regarding another person in the office is definitely harassment. In this category can also fall drawings, clothing or gestures that hurt or transform someone in a victim at the office. The following examples fall into the category of non-sexual harassment:

  • Making jokes and negative remarks about a co-worker’s religious beliefs, or enforcing one’s own religious views on a person.
  • Racist nicknames, slangs and phrases are all prohibited.
  • ‘Distinguishing’ people at the office by the colour of their skin or ethnic characteristics.
  • Talking about cultural or religious stereotypes in an offensive manner.

So, having read all this, next time you are a victim of sexual harassment or notice a colleague in this situation, you will know how to recognise it and take action.

The Great People Inside employee assessment solutions and technology can be tailored to your company’s specific needs and organisational culture and can help you to boost the levels of job-fit and skill-use in your employees, generating job satisfaction, improved motivation, health and happiness, and boost employee retention.

Try out our assessment in order to measure the level of wellbeing in your organisation and find out the best approach to improve it.

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Sources:
https://www.thebalance.com/types-of-harassment-in-the-workplace-2060886
https://www.thebalance.com/how-to-handle-harassment-at-work-2060887

 

Great People Inside Conference: HR (R)Evolution – 11,12 October Brasov, Romania

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Registration for the Great People Inside Conference: “The New World of Work” – the only international event held in Romania for 14 consecutive years –  has started!

We are currently at the beginning of the 4th industrial revolution.
Professional transformations are set in motion by globalisation and technological revolutions, especially a digital revolution – going from mechanical technology towards digital technology. The speed at which these changes are occurring is not going to slow down – in the next 20 years we will witness a continuous revolution of the workplace and workforce, marked by volatility, uncertainty and complexity.

The Great People Inside Conference: HR (R)Evolution, which will take place on 11&12 Octomber 2017 at Kronwell Hotel, Brasov, Romania,  will launch into interesting and challenging discussions regarding the pace of technological changes being made, the effects it has on jobs and the implications it has on HR, organisations, and employees.

A unique concept bringing together business representatives, entrepreneurs, managers, specialists and researchers in the field of human resources from all industries; psychologists, representatives of central and local authorities, large consulting companies, as well as internationally renowned experts from the United States of America, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, Spain and Germany.

The 2-day programme combines thematic presentations, bold conversations and group discussions in an interesting manner, with the purpose of discovering techniques and strategies that will determine success in the near future, eliminating the uncertainty of this transitional moment and preparing for the rapid changes that occur in the workforce.

An event dedicated to sharing ideas, inspiration and information regarding the future of work.

For more information, please visit the conference’s dedicated website.

 

Laura Dragne is a dedicated PR enthusiast deeply committed to championing CSR initiatives and advocating for impactful social involvement. Her PR journey has instilled in her a profound belief that every interaction holds the potential to broaden one’s understanding of both oneself and the world. A proud graduate of Social Communication and Public Relations from the University of Bucharest, Romania, Laura seamlessly merges her academic knowledge with a heartfelt dedication to effecting positive change through purposeful communication strategies and community engagement.

How to Take Advantage of the The 4th Industrial Revolution

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The 4th Industrial Revolution

The technical advancements of the last 3 or 4 decades have brought society an explosion of gadgets and different types of software and hardware that continuously shape the way people live their lives. The business world hasn’t escaped these changes. Nowadays, in a hyper-connected social environment, robots and people share the same workplace and HR has a lot of things to reassess. Machines depend upon regular updates and maintenance services, people still need to be paid and attracting the best possible talent to the company is still a priority.

The 4th Industrial Revolution is still in full swing with emerging technologies such as: autonomous cars, virtual reality (VR), 3D printing and the most intriguing of all, artificial intelligence (AI). Professor Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, has stated that technology is still an industry that is going through continuous changes and developments and has the unique potential of connecting people from all around the world and, at the same time, enhance the efficiency of organisations worldwide. The developments we are all experiencing are not occurring within one industry or discipline, but actually all of them, changing and challenging us as humans to better understand ourselves.

Due to the Industrial Revolution 4.0, the work environment has become faster than ever before. With the introduction of robots in the workplace, employees are facing more frequent training and retraining programmes in order to be brought up to speed with the technology that revolves around the robots.

As mentioned above, HR will have to change and update their processes in order to handle all the challenges that occur with all the developments that are taking place at the moment.

Agile organisational structure

The structure of the company must reflect the way in which the organisation is willing to do business. Structure should represent the foundation from which managers build their teams and offering them all the necessary data and resources in achieving their goals. Traditional models of structure are becoming obsolete and change is incremental to positive outcomes. These old structures do not offer any kind of flexibility or clearance desired to make fast decisions thus inhibiting change altogether.

The Flexible Workforce

Companies nowadays wish to have employees on their roster that have numerous abilities and can easily manage change. Managers are recommended to break the usual stigma and stop thinking in terms such as positions or jobs, but more towards capabilities. The entire recruitment process should be focused on discovering adaptability and eagerness to change in their candidates.

Continuous Learning and Assessment

Companies cannot expect transformations to just happen within their organisations. Training programmes are becoming increasingly popular and for a good reason. Employees have the chance to further develop their skills and also learn new ones. Furthermore, thanks to technology, tracking improvements can be easily done in order to confirm individual development.

The World Economic Forum has stated that “By 2020, more than one-third of workers will need skills they don’t now have. While necessary talents can vary, 36% of business jobs will require “complex problem solving” as a core skill”. To put things into perspective, young adults nowadays cannot recall a time when they did not have internet or a smartphone. Growing up in a society where communication and interaction is basically instant, they are well informed in regards to emerging technologies and how it can make their lives easier than previous generations.

This young generation is fully aware of the necessity of proper education in order to have a strong foundation from which they can build strong professional careers and succeed in the continuously evolving workforce. They do not shy away from emerging technologies; they embrace everything that is new in a very positive and optimistic way. A survey conducted by Infosys on 1,000 16 to 25 year-olds from industrialised and developing countries, has uncovered the fact that 70% of those surveyed are more than willing of learning a whole new set of skills in order to land a job if mandatory.

Young people do not get flustered by rapid change. They welcome any challenge that comes their way and are more than happy to acquire skills that they may be of good use in their personal lives as well. Also, over 50% of young adults have stated their preference for working within medium-sized companies where they believe they could experience proper training.

In any given era in history, young people have always proven that they embrace change. The current generation is no different and is more than willing to continuously learn and be flexible in their demands as long as the companies they work for keep their end of the bargain; coming up with innovative ways for their employees to apprehend knowledge, experience and skills that will drive them and the business forward.

Great People Inside provides easy-to-use tools and processes to attract, assess, match, select, onboard, manage, develop, benchmark and maintain workforces anywhere in the world.

Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation, can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

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 Sources:

https://www.asug.com/news/transform-hr-to-meet-the-needs-of-the-fourth-industrial-revolution

https://www.cornerstoneondemand.co.uk/blog/what-does-%25E2%2580%2598fourth-industrial-revolution%25E2%2580%2599-mean-hr#.WRHB0FWGPIU

http://www.hrzone.com/community/blogs/infosys/talent-in-the-fourth-industrial-revolution

How Transparent an Organisation Ought to Be?

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One of the most important aspects of any business nowadays revolves around customer service. It is still difficult to identify the exact moment a customer or a business decides to work with your company, but everyone can agree that in that moment the client has decided to trust your brand. In the age of social media and the added need for assurance; transparency and sincerity are critical to a good customer service. If this service is in tip-top shape, every company can expect long-term partnerships with their clients, and who doesn’t want that? In order to achieve such a good relationship with your customers, your company and employees must be adequately equipped to offer the best treatment to all clients. How can employees have this desire for great customer service? Here a few tips into how you can achieve this.

Transparency within the organisation

The culture that is within your company will greatly reflect on how your coworkers will interact with clients. It is very important managers and leaders instill transparency within teams in the organisation. In order for this to work, employees should find themselves in a work environment where part of the daily routine is to share information and knowledge valuable for the company’s activity. Doing so will create a good atmosphere and will lead to business growth, while also helping employees learn how to cooperate effectively in dealing with distributors, possible coworkers and most importantly, clients.

A great business is characterised by great customer service

Everyone enjoys a brand where they come back for the same top quality products or services over and over again. Loyalty can be easily won when the company manages to meet or even exceed clients’ expectations through an integrated system of customer service, with the option of personalisation. It makes the customer feel special and not just a number. An example of going the extra mile is remembering a client’s birthday and giving them a call, or sending them a small gesture of your appreciation for their business with you.

Customer feedback – best source for insight

Whether we are talking about a startup or a multinational company, direct customer feedback is quintessential for business development. It shows that the company listened to their suggestions and acted accordingly. Actively listening to the feedback you receive could represent the company’s competitive advantage, especially in an industry where the competition offers a product or service similar or slightly better than yours. The difference is in the little details; being the best just doesn’t cut it anymore. Companies that are able to listen to their customers are the ones that manage to expand on a global scale.

Although many companies claim transparency is part of their culture, in the majority of circumstances that is not the case. It is quite difficult to put this process into fruition straight away. People need to know that transparency represents the glue that keeps them together through good and bad times. Facilitating a transparent communication, not only with the clients, but also internally, leads to critical thinking in solving even the most difficult issues.

Clearly stated job functions and responsibilities

 Something that helps transparency in the beginning is having an established order in the workplace where everyone knows what their responsibilities are. Automatically, this will lead to a better and more direct communication process between workers. Awareness will also see a rise in numbers, due to the fact that employees know who to talk to in order to ensure tasks and deadlines are being completed on time. Just to be clear, transparency doesn’t mean every member of the staff requires information about everything the company does. Some examples in this area are: performance reviews, salaries, marital status and so on. Employees need information in order to perform to the best of their abilities, too much transparency and information may damage internal affairs.

Hiring the right people

Every manager and entrepreneur around the world knows that hiring people in accordance with the company’s culture is pretty much the Holy Grail. It is recommended that recruiters ask candidates early in the interview whether they resonate with open communication and transparency. If the candidate is right for the company he or she will become even more willing to join your ranks. A proper company mission and culture is imperative to attract talented candidates, besides the product or service the company offers to the general public.

The Great People Inside employee assessment solutions and technology can be tailored to your company’s specific needs and organisational culture and can help you to boost the levels of job-fit and skill-use in your employees, generating job satisfaction, improved motivation, health and happiness, and boost employee retention.

Try out our assessment in order to measure the level of wellbeing in your organisation and find out the best approach to improve it.

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Sources:

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/246567

http://fortune.com/2016/05/21/trust-employees-corporate-culture/

https://wavelength.asana.com/workstyle-transparency/#close

How Will Technology Shape HR in the Future

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In our present times, there is an increasingly high interest for investment in HR technology. According to a study done by CB Insights, in 2016, there have been over $1.96 billion invested in start-ups that exclusively dealt with HR tech. Workplaces around the world are continuously changing due to technology. The tech revolving around HR is there to automate and streamline practices in order for the department and company to become the definition of efficiency, high performance and cost-effectiveness.

The biggest challenges for HR stem from recruiting and hiring, thus, applications have come to life in order to save the employer and employee’s lives.

Artificial Intelligence in Recruitment

In today’s competitive job market, around 75% of CV’s are being screened out. Furthermore, the HR department loses numerous hours on resumes from unqualified people. Losing so much precious time represents one of the biggest challenges for HR. This is one area where technology may solve the problem. Artificial intelligence (AI) is on the front foot in regards to developing specific HR tech. Recruiting and AI fit perfectly together due to the simple fact that AI demands huge amounts of data and multi-national companies have resumes by the millions in their databases. Going through such a large database is exhausting for a person, but with the help of AI the process of screening can be done rapidly and offer a compelling list of candidates based on job requirements by means of simply grading them from best to worst. By using AI for the screening process, you might save the company up to 75% of screening costs.

Schedule and outreach automation

The interest in automating the recruiting process is continuously rising. On average, it takes 41 days for a company to fill in an available role in their ranks. On LinkedIn, there is a reported 11% rise in the volume of hirings this year; however, only 26% of recruiters have a positive headcount. Discovering top talent in today’s world is hard enough and recruiters require automation to intelligently pick their candidates.

Automation can be helpful in many ways. Recruiters can automate their calendars and email to send requests to candidates that have been identified as good matches through the use of the AI screening tool, so recruiters don’t have to deal with B-list candidates.

Training and Testing through Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual reality simulates the environment surrounding us which can be controlled through our body movements. In a survey organised by Universum, employees working at various companies believe that in the next 10 years VR will become an integral part of their workplace. VR will be of tremendous help with testing and training. Recruiters can use this technology in order to assess a candidate’s skills and abilities.

In a survey conducted by Korn Ferry, it has been discovered that 39% of employers deal with high employee turnover rates in the first year due to mismatch. VR could be massive for the HR industry, because it could help reduce turnover by providing candidates with a realistic view of what the job actually consists of and get to understand the company culture as well. The medical industry could greatly benefit from VR. Onboarding and training could be completed by residents in the trauma and emergency sections of the hospital, where the stakes are always high.

Productivity and Engagement through Wearables

As mentioned in a previous article, one of the biggest HR trends from 2017 is employee engagement. In order to nurture it in employees, employers have started tracking their behaviours so that they can interact and communicate better at work. For example, at Microsoft, there are digital employee badges that monitor employees’ movements, who they spend their time with at and many more. This type of tech collects data which is processed and then given to employers in order to understand their coworkers and how they communicate, how to better optimise the office space and manage the dynamics of the team. This could potentially lead to a better organisation and collaboration within the company.

There are also rumours that in the not so distant future, wearable technology could lead to insights in emotions and personality during screening or interviewing.

Great People Inside provides easy-to-use tools and processes to attract, assess, match, select, onboard, manage, develop, benchmark and maintain workforces anywhere in the world.

Finding the right talent, the best fit for the job and your organisation, can be a very challenging task. It requires deep knowledge of your own organisation’s culture and keen understanding of the candidate’s personality, strengths, interests, work style and other characteristics. Our technology and solutions will do the work for you, helping you find employees who can flourish and reach the highest performance required to constantly bring your company forward.

Request a free demo:

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Sources:
https://blog.hrtechweekly.com/