As leaders, we all have to deal with a
certain amount of drama.
Sometimes that drama is big stuff and
sometimes it’s little stuff.
Like smack-roll-sigh.
What’s smack-roll-sigh, you ask?
Watch closely, I will demonstrate, this is
smack-roll-sigh:
Wanna see that again?
Ok, here we go.
Smack-roll-sigh is the physical manifestation
of someone’s displeasure with something
you said or did.
I do training retreats for healthcare leaders
all over the country, and I can tell you that
when I bring this up, the reaction is nuts.
Everybody experiences smack-roll-sigh and
everybody hates smack-roll-sigh.
But nobody seems to know how to fix it.
That’s why, in this episode of Your Practice
Ain’t Perfect I’m going to teach you how
to address bad body language in employees.
Stay tuned…
The only way to fix bad employee body language
– whether it’s smack-roll-sigh or something
else entirely – is to engage in focused
feedback conversations that get hyper-specific
about the problematic behavior.
I want to help you do that successfully by
giving you some language and some steps to
fix the faces of your frustrating offenders.
The first word to add to your vocabulary is
AFFECT.
Because most of the time this is what you
are trying to change.
A persons affect is what’s happening on
their face and in their voice that we use
to interpret their attitude.
In most cases, affect is what you are trying
to change.
Imagine you have an employee who is perceived
by others as negative and dismissive of other
people’s ideas at meetings.
Why do they think that?
What do the folks at the meetings see and
hear?
If you have to sit across from this person
and describe what’s physically happening,
what will you say?
It shouldn’t be, “you’re really negative
about people’s ideas at the staff meeting.”
That’s not clear.
It should be, “I notice that when new ideas
are presented you tend furrow your eyebrows,
tilt your head, and scoff and shrug.
It’s disruptive, and it stifles discussion.”
See how specific that feedback was?
So what’s the body language you want to
change?
Observe your employee and be prepared to present
it to him or her in micro-detail.
During that conversation, ask them if they’re
even aware of their affect.
Do they know they are doing these things?
Do they know what others infer from it?
Use this as a springboard to a richer feedback
discussion.
Now, if your employee agrees to try and improve
the body language you’ve discussed, be sure
to ask, “How should I let you know if I
see it again?”
However they answer this question, they are
inviting you to point it out to them if it
happens again.
If you encounter resistance to your feedback,
acknowledge that the employee may not agree,
but remind them that it’s still something
that needs to be fixed.
Tell them “look, there are big things and
there are little things.
This is a little thing.
If we don’t fix it, though, then it becomes
a big thing.”
What kind of bad body language are you struggling
to address?
Tell me about it in the comments box on this
page.
And please share this video if you liked it
or found it helpful.
Thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you on
the next episode of Your Practice Ain’t Perfect.
Take care.
