Body Language At Work: Read the signs and make the right moves
Peter Clayton
Publisher: Hamlyn
ISBN: 0600608026
Price: £12
Body language skills are essential if you want to avoid offence while travelling. In Islamic countries, you should use only your right hand while eating and presenting gifts; the left hand is used solely for hygiene purposes. Meanwhile, in Hungary, men should not offer to shake hands with women unless invited.
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However, as Peter Clayton demonstrates, body language can be just important between people of the same culture, especially if one gets it badly wrong. His comprehensive, well-illustrated guide covers foreign faux pas and the less obvious, but equally damaging, mistakes we make in everyday business situations in the UK.
Clayton explains that you can ruin a deal by standing too close to someone and can blow your credibility as a manager by using the wrong body language with your staff. He includes sections on how individuals can pitch successfully to small groups and how seating plans can make a difference to sales. And everyone should be familiar with his advice in the section entitled “How to lie well”.
