Personal Branding – How to communicate for more impact and influence
Date: April 8, 2017
Name: Personal Branding – How to communicate for more impact and influence
Presenter: Audrey Joy Kwan
The influence on first impression is valuable for successful entrepreneurs; moreover, they need to be aware of how communication can impact their emotional intelligence. The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) Richmond Chapter invites Audrey Joy Kwan, the Owner of Audrey Joy Kwan Communications, to discuss ways to improve communication for better leadership in any industry. Audrey Joy Kwan will reveal the strategy to leverage the power of body language. In this presentation, entrepreneurs will learn the framework of becoming an effective communicator. Moreover, they will take the advantage of their strengths to maximize their public marketing.
Audrey Joy Kwan is the Owner of Audrey Joy Kwan Communications. Many entrepreneurs refer her as “Communication Strategist”. Her ability of storytelling marketing help many companies to connect with their ideal customers. She was the Marketing Communications Manager for BC Centre for Ability and the Consultant of Indulge Living. Audrey Joy Kwan is currently volunteering as Vice President of Public Relations in Toastmaster International District 96. She helps many young entrepreneurs build successful branding. She is a role model for many young entrepreneurs.
Audrey Joy Kwan was not born with the gift of communication; in fact, she had the introvert personality. With training and hard work, she managed to jump out of that comfort zone. The main takeaway through her journey was that “communication is about giving, not getting”.
The key in communication is to engage with people and create meaningful conversation. Kwan states 2 kinds of communications: verbal and nonverbal. The best verbal communicator is usually the best listener. The top 7 barriers to good communication according to Kwan are listed as follows.
- Quick to judge
- Make assumptions
- Poor listener
- Low confidence
- Avoid conflict
- Poor body language
- Take things too personally
Kwan wants entrepreneurs to become a “ninja listener”. If there is an owner manual for understanding how to communicate with others, entrepreneurs will be stress free. Unfortunately, there is no such thing because communication is like an art, not linear.
Kwan discovers there are 4 types of communication personalities: blue, green, orange, and gold. Blue focuses on relationship and authenticity. Green focuses on knowledge and understanding. Orange focuses on freedom and skillfulness, and yellow focuses on duty and responsibility. The strength for blue includes empathetic, flexible and compassion, but blue shows stress if they meet someone who are unappreciated and cold. Green refers to analytical and problem solvers with high standard, but it stresses when people are in interruptions and emotion outburst. Orange is adventurous, impulsive, and love attention, but it shows stress on people who lack actions and deadlines. Lastly, gold is detailed oriented and practical, but it shows stress when people are lacked on routine, rules and instruction. Everyone has all types of communication; furthermore, everyone will dominate one over the other 3.
Typically, when orange meets with gold, it will have conflict. Green normally will show stiff face. To communicate with blue, Kwan suggests entrepreneurs to tilt their head and noddle. Many entrepreneurs are living in orange because they do not afraid of risks.
“Seek first to understand, then to be understood”
It is important to master the body language. Kwan believes body reacts on emotion. Based on research, different emotion leads blow flow to different location. Body language and emotions are related. The key is to bring awareness.
Kwan lists 5 major nonverbal communications.
- Posture
- Movement
- Gesture
- Voice
- Face
Entrepreneur react differently in all 5 nonverbal communications when they are in low or high confidence. However, everyone has his or her own baseline. The key is it all starts with awareness. It leads to actions, and turn to adoption. Every entrepreneur can learn it; however, it is up to entrepreneur to discover it.
Kwan believes first impression is important because it is impactful. A good first impression can override every impression afterwards. Whenever entrepreneurs look at somebody during communication, they are giving authority to others. Based on research, there are 800 signals send between 2 people every 30 minutes. 93% of those signals are nonverbal. The power of body language can help entrepreneurs build overall performance and speaker presence.
During first impression, hands are the first thing people notice. There is a reason behind this statement. Traditionally, people will look at their hands for weapon to judge whether or not they are friends or enemy. To build trust, Kwan emphasizes the key indicators are visible, expressive and gesture. This means hands need to show and do not hide them. Entrepreneurs need to use hands as a part of speech. Different hand gesture works with different scenario. Entrepreneurs can use chop (up and down motion) when they want to plan information. When they use show (congruent), it will increase trust. When they use open hand, it shows friendliness. If they use close hand, it shows aggressive. Open hands allow people to take actions during presentation.
Power posing can change physical state and feeling. Kwan shows power posing can reduce cortisol and increase testosterone. Based on statistic, power posing increase 33% on taking more risks, 20% on increase testosterone, and 18% on reduce cortisol. Entrepreneurs who are using low power pose will increase cortisol and decrease testosterone. Therefore, pre-power pose is important for meeting. The launch stance is considered the natural position. It is the tone down version of high power pose. Entrepreneurs can observe people in their launch stance for their personalities. Kwan wants entrepreneurs to remember not to cross hands because cross hands show defensive.
Eye patterns is essential in communication. It is the sub-conscious signals to brain. There are 3 types of eye patterns.
- Power gazing
- Social gazing
- Intimate gazing
Power gazing is when entrepreneurs look at other’s eyes, then forehead. It shows authority. Social gazing is when they look at other’s eyes, then nose. It shows social and calm. However, intimate gazing is when they look at other’s eyes, then chest. It shows flirting. It is important to know what others think because it puts them in control.
There are many micro expressions on face impression. For happiness, entrepreneurs can look for cheek raise and lips drain. For fear, they can look for brows raise and eyes had upper white showing. Anger shows brows lower, tip tense or chin forward. Contempt looks for one side of the mouth raises and eyes can be narrowed at target. Surprise looks for brows raised, white of the eyes above or open mouth. Disgust looks for nose crinkled, lips pull up or upper row of teeth visible. Sadness shows inner corners of eyebrow drain, eyes droopy or chin back. These are examples of different emotions with different micro expressions.
Kwan lists some example of procedures for each emotion. When people are in happiness state, entrepreneurs can celebrate together. However, they need to watch out for fake happiness. For fear, they can ask reassurance or explanation. When there is anger, entrepreneurs can avoid offensive, find the source, and then cooperate. When someone is in contempt mode, entrepreneurs can purse more information and build rapport. For surprise, entrepreneurs can ask explanation or review goals with them. When someone is in disgust mode, entrepreneurs can identify problem and provide solution. For sadness, they can offer help, empathy and space.
