When I write about a disconnects between what a presidential candidate says and what he or she does, even to be helpful, it elicits a lot of negativity about how nonverbal behavior doesn’t matter in an election. There are a lot of people who think this is superficial stuff. But communication is what we use to determine who we vote for — how well they convey their ideas and whether we sense that they are being authentic. What good is a president who has good ideas but who can’t communicate them or whose actions contradict them?

As Lois wrote about with regard to smiling, people sense when something isn’t quite right in communication even if they can’t articulate why. They sense disconnects between what is being said and how it is being said. And they don’t believe the person. Persuasion fails.

The good thing about disconnects is seeing them in another person’s communication allows us to pause and reflect. People sensitive to them experience a kind of “red-flag alert” — a signal to think before continuing to talk. When you sense a disconnect between verbal and nonverbal communication at work, you should ask yourself: Is something awry with this relationship? Are things changing around here? Have I misspoken or gone too far somehow? Count to five. That’s how political intuition begins to develop.

If people as polished as politicians reveal disconnects imagine how many the rest of us are sending out there!

Kathleen

TAGS: communication, disconnects, nonverbal, politics at work