Linda Talley, Ph.D., CSP is a behavioral theorist who studies leaders’ hand gestures for immediacy or non-immediacy. She is an international speaker, scientist and leading expert on leaders and their nonverbal behavior that influence and persuade followers. This aspect of leader development is critically important as social skills are one of five components of emotional intelligence, which predicts effective leadership, and nonverbal behavior is a social skill.
Over the past decade, her research has uncovered surprising results which show leaders what hand gestures attract followers to them and what hand gestures distance followers. In today’s fast paced business world, leaders have less than 3 seconds to influence and persuade followers, and must use every advantage to create the attraction necessary to move followers and the organization forward. Dr. Talley teaches people what gestures attract or distance someone from you. When you use hand gestures that attract, followers are far more likely to move closer to you both physically and emotionally.
In her research, Dr. Talley has studied leaders and specific hand gestures for influence and persuasion. A few findings from her research:
- Certain hand gestures attract followers to a leader.
- Certain hand gestures distance followers from a leader.
- Perceptions about a leader’s nonverbal behavior are made in less than 3 seconds.
In order to be an effective leader, you must be aware of how you see the world/your followers, but more importantly, how your followers see you and how this makes them respond.