Eye Contact in the Workplace
Harnessing the power of eye contact is important for everyone. Whether you are a brand new employee or are established at your workplace, making consistent eye contact with your coworkers and boss is always important. Humans are such social animals, we can tell a lot about what another person is thinking and feeling from eye contact alone. People who are able to make proper eye contact come across as confident and capable to others, while those who constantly break their gaze seem timid and shy. Projecting this type of authority is vital in many aspects of professional life..
Think about how annoyed and disrespected you feel when you’re talking to someone who is constantly glancing away or checking their phone. That type of behavior signals that the listener is not really engaged in the conversation and doesn’t respect the speaker’s time.
Written by Heidi Thiel Heidi is a writer and content creator for Rory. Her areas of expertise include leadership, HR and the workplace, and wellness. When she’s not writing, you can find Heidi at the beach or hanging out with her bearded dragon.
You want to avoid that type of behavior at all costs in order to show that you are tuned in to what’s going on at the workplace and care about doing a good job. Next time you have to sit through a boring presentation at work, make an effort to consistently make eye contact with the speaker and nod your head to show you’re listening. They’ll appreciate your engagement and you’ll likely get more out of it by making yourself pay attention!
To feel recognized, understood and validated, eye contact is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to make a person speaking to you or that you’re speaking to truly appreciate a discussion. In addition, maintaining appropriate eye contact can make you appear more confident, likeable, trustworthy, attentive, and memorable. It also makes the recipient of your discussion content feel recognized and understood.
Eye Contact in an Interview
Like we discussed earlier, making strong eye contact allows you to come across as confident and self-assured. These qualities are especially important in an interview setting, as you have only a limited time to make a good first impression. During your interview, make sure you are looking into each of your interviewers’ eyes for a few seconds while talking instead of looking away or down at your hands.
See Job Interview – 7 Key Things Not to Say and See Have a Job Interview But Afraid to Give a Presentation?
This will allow you to seem knowledgeable and trustworthy, these are qualities that interviewers always look for. However, make sure you aren’t taking this too far and staring them down! It’s important to break your gaze naturally every few seconds. Staring unblinkingly at your interviewer will come off as a little creepy. You want to project confidence but not intimidation.
See How to Impress at Different Job Interviews
Eye Contact in a Speech
Making the right amount of eye contact can be even more difficult when we’re nervous, and most of us find public speaking to be a nerve-wracking experience. However, there’s an easy rule you can follow that will allow you to connect with your audience through eye contact.
Instead of staring at your notes or at the back wall, slowly sweep your gaze across the audience while speaking, stopping every few seconds to make eye contact with a random person in the crowd. This type of eye contact will allow you to seem confident and approachable, and also help the audience feel that you are speaking directly to them.
For more tips and tricks on harnessing the power of eye contact, take a look at the guide from Rory below.
The Power of Eye Contact
Now that you have explored why harnessing the power of eye contact is important, what can you add to the points discussed above? Let us know. Leave your comment below.
