Improving Non Verbal Communication

Improving our nonverbal communication can help further improve our intercultural proficiency. Nonverbal communication can be very difficult to understand when being used by someone who is of a different culture. Our body language can convey many different meanings. Although some gestures are helpful to convey basic messages, when dealing with other cultures we must be careful when using them. To become successful in the workplace we must be aware of our nonverbal communication techniques and be sensitive to differences in other cultures. By doing this we can improve our intercultural competence which is a large component of intercultural proficiency.

Intercultural competence is hard to attain through nonverbal communication. Three attitudes that are effective for improving our intercultural competence are descriptiveness, nonjudgmentalism, and supportiveness. Descriptiveness refers to using specific feedback. Nonjudgmentalism refers to not passing judgement on someone, and supportiveness refers to supporting a person in a positive manner whether it is eye contact, head nods, etc. A general rule for interacting with other cultures in business is to follow their lead. This means that going into a meeting with someone from another culture and giving the thumbs up as you walk in the door is most likely a bad idea.

It is never a bad idea to do some research when you know in advance that you will be dealing with a different culture. Find out what different types of non verbal communications mean to them so you dont end up offending someone by accident.

Here is an interesting video of some gestures across different cultures.