The first situation that comes to mind where I interpreted someone’s nonverbal message the wrong way was a work a few months back. I work at a small office in Saratoga that has about 10 employees. Fortunately, we all like each other very much, except for every now and then when we hire someone that just does not fit into our “family”. One lady that works there is in her 40s with a husband and two children. She is an amazing women who works hard at work and even harder at home. Often times she comes into work very tired. Although she is tired, she almost always tries to put on a happy face. Our office is always busy with clients coming in and out, so I am not always aware of what type of mood she might be in that day. One day, I walked past her office and saw her with her head down working on a file. I really did not think anything of it, only that she was busy. After an hour or so past, I realized that I had not seen her all day. When I went into her office to see how she was doing, she was on the phone. I stood there for about 2 seconds before I turned around and started to leave. As I was turning around, she looked at me and put her hand up in the air and gave me, what I thought was an annoyed look. I figure she was in a bad mood that day and decided not to bother her anymore. Well as the morning passed she finally came into my office to ask if I wanted to get some lunch. I kind of looked at her with a puzzled face and said, “Is everything ok today?.” Unfortunately, I might have said it in a not so nice manner. She looked at me and said “Yeah. Why?” also in a not so nice manner. I assumed by her reaction to me when I walked in her office that she was in a bad mood and did not want to be bothered. Well it turned out that she was in a great mood and that the client she was speaking to could not hear her very well on the other end of the phone and she did not want me to make any noise on our end.
I think that people can increase the accuracy with which they interpret nonverbal messages by being patient, understanding, and not jumping to any conclusions. You can do this by fully evaluating the situation and then after some time has past, you can verbally discuss how you are feeling about the situation with out jumping to conclusions.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Lee, I enjoyed reading your nonverbal situation. I'm sure the situation was rather uncomfortable at the time for you.
However, you are absolutely right. We need to learn how to slow down and evaluate the situation better.
One major task factor that affects nonverbal receiving accuracy is our moods. Our moods can influence how we perceive others' behavior. (Knapp and Hall 81)
Sometimes we have to step back and evaluate ourselves first, before we draw a conclusion.
Furthermore, it is important that we also be aware of the nonverbal cues we send.
In my company we have about 13,000 employees. Of the 13,000 about 70 percent work from home in a virtual office environment. I have found that messages often get misinterpreted because we have to interpret messages by reading through the lines. It's funny because emails still have some form of non-verbal communication. This may be why people often use smiley faces after a sarcastic message so that they are not interpreted as degrading or anything other than a joke. Because we are now using technology to communicate more we must learn how to read between the lines. I enjoyed reading your story.
Lee...yes the workplace is often an area where nonverbal communication is misinterpreted with disastrous results. Glad to hear that this one worked out for you. I found that most misunderstandings in the work place are often exactly that: misunderstandings. One thing though that I feel does contribute to this problem, however, is the practice of chunking. Chunking is when a person, people, or entity sections out a small slot of time within the work day to dedicate toward solving problems. While team problem solving is a great tool toward success...dedicating 15 minutes toward the practice is a waste.
Lee- Your post was really enjoyable and I felt as though I could relate to your mishap with nonverbal communication at work. It happens all the time when we don't know what mood someone will be in day in and day out. I have also had times where I thought someone was in a bad mood or they were mad at me walking by and when I asked them about it later they didn't even know what I was talking about and said they sometimes get an "angry look" on their face when they're thinking about something or concentrating and it didn't have anything to do with me or them being mad at all. I also agree about slowing down and taking time to really read a persons nonverbal cues.
Post a Comment