5. Leaning In Part 2
Voice
In addition to the immediate visual impact of leaning in, the second reason it’s important is that your posture has a considerable impact on your voice. As I will explore in a later chapter, other people are subconsciously reading huge amounts about your status and belief in, and commitment to, your opinions from your voice. To support a voice that has weight and authority, you need a free flow of oxygen and sitting back in your chair inhibits this. Try it right now. Move your bottom forward until you are slumped backwards. Now try to take a deep breath and you'll find that you can't.
Your rib cage is collapsed and you can only fill your lungs to half or, at best, three quarter capacity. However strong or weak your voice, from this position you rob it of its full potential.
Now move your bottom to the back of the chair and sit up, leaning slightly forward. You will find that in this position you can freely breathe in and out and your voice is fully supported. You may even notice a difference between sitting upright but with your back against the backrest of the chair and upright leaning forward, with the latter affording your rib cage more freedom of movement. Whether it feels different or not, it will change the quality and tone of your voice. The change will pass unnoticed by System 2 of those listening to you. But System 1 will pick it up and their perception of your status will rise.
Energy
The third reason for leaning in is that it contributes energy.
This might seem a curious thing to attribute to the simple act of tilting one's torso forward. But when human beings are engaged in what they are doing, this engagement manifests itself in the whole body: face, eyes, hands, posture, legs, breathing, vocal energy and so on. Even the most cerebral academic has a direct connection between his or her feelings and their expression in his or her body. Admittedly in some particularly intellectually-focused individuals this connection is subdued, but anyone who knows the person well can still distinguish between energy and ennui.
Energy is a curious thing. It is the fuel of good meetings, sparking creativity, involvement, challenge, healthy debate, humour and many other wonderful things. But, as you have almost certainly experienced, meetings that lack energy are deathly.
Take a moment to think about people you know who are influential at meetings. And I mean people you admire, respect and are pleased to see because they make meetings more fun and productive rather than those drones one occasionally encounters who are influential in a negative way by stifling others and sucking the life out of discussion with their pedantry and mastery of procedure.
As someone who has chaired many meetings in his time, I can tell you that you love the people who feed the energy and can easily feel resentful towards those who do not. No chair or facilitator will feel inclined to go out of his or her way to encourage contributions from those who deplete the energy.
And the same goes for those attending the meeting, who are subconsciously picking up your level of engagement, via System 1, and continually making decisions about whether they are willing to hear what you have to say. When you lean forward, you contribute energy to the discussion. Because we are social creatures and influenced by those around us, we are energised by your energy. And we are readier to entertain contributions from those who energise us.
So if you are to raise your status and influence discussion at meetings where you currently feel unheard, you're not going to do it by mimicking the drones. Rather you should aim to emulate those who influence through positive energy. This does not mean you have to agree with everything or glibly endorse every suggestion. But it does mean you need to put in rather than take out.
This leads to what may be an uncomfortable question: do others experience you as someone who routinely feeds the energy at meetings? Or as someone who depletes it? Since you have chosen to read this book it’s unlikely that you are deliberately destructive. But is it possible that you are inadvertently adding to meeting malaise by, for example, leaning back? I've worked with many clients who were oblivious to the impact of their own energy–sapping behaviour. If you are serious about getting your voice heard at meetings, sometimes a good place to start is a long, hard look in the mirror.
A word of warning: if you should decide to follow the advice in these blogs and vlogs, lean forward, make eye contact and generally be more actively engaged than you are accustomed to, you will probably find it tiring. Being energised requires… well… energy and is one of the costs of getting your voice heard. But it is well worth it for the increase in influence it brings.
If you’d like to discuss how I can help you sharpen your impact at meetings and get your voice heard, I’d love to hear from you on +44 7973 890578 or at bill@billbritten.co.uk