How Palms, Lips & Bellybuttons Can Make You A Better Interviewer [Part 4 of 4: Navarro]

Because of the generosity of Joe Navarro, a man who spent 25 years as a counterintelligence special agent, I’ve had the opportunity to share a lot of research and guidance about nonverbal and verbal communication with you over the last few weeks.  To recap:

• Part 1: Not even those who are considered “experts” in interrogation can detect deception.
• Part 2: Guilty Knowledge manifests itself in a couple of significant ways including neck-rubbing and dis-possession
• Part 3: Indicators of Stress through nonverbal communication are the result of the Limbic Brain (or the ‘honest brain’) orchestrating behavior that relates to emotions.  This is manifested most often through the feet and shoulders.

For the final installment in this Four Part Series my hope is that you’ll walk away with the most takeaway value of all.  I believe that even if you haven’t read Joe’s book What Every Body is Saying you’ll be a better Interviewer and Leader after reading what he had to say.

[JDavis] Let’s break it down to basics – What are the Top 2 or 3 Nonverbal Displays that I should look for to make me a better Interviewer?

In all of the ones I’m going to share, the common theme is a sudden a change in the countenance of the person.  Watch for signs that would indicate that they were comfortable and now they seem somewhat uncomfortable without any explanation.  That indicates that something is bothering them (maybe your question or maybe another factor like gas from their lunch).

1. I look for things like compressed lips, touching the neck, distancing behavior (pushing away) to indicate that there may be something wrong.  When it comes to stress, nothing is more universal than disappearing lips.  When someone presses their lips together it is as if the limbic brain is telling them to ‘shut down and don’t allow anything into the body’.
2. This one is subtler:  The person may “blade” their body away (called ventral denial).  If they’ve been facing you and then they turn to not have their front or “belly side” pointed at you.  Our ventral (front) side, where our eyes, mouth, chest, breasts, genitals, etc are located, is very sensitive to things that we like and dislike.  It’s also the most vulnerable side of the body so the limbic brain has an inherent need to protect it from the things that hurt or bother us.
3. They start to use objects (a woman could grab a purse and put it on her lap and use it as a barrier).  A man might pick up a laptop and put it on their legs to be a barrier to protect themselves.  When you witness people protecting their torsos in real time you can use it as an accurate indicator of discomfort on their part.

[JDavis] We’ve spent a lot of time talking about indicators of stress or guilt.  Is there anything that a Candidate might do to show that they’re confident in answer?

The simplest guide I’ve seen that stretches across all cultures globally is the HANDS.  Watch for whether they affirm statements PALM DOWN or PALM UP.  Palm down with the fingers spread is positive and affirmative. PALM UP with fingers together they lack confidence (over 99% of the world’s population behaves this way).

[JDavis] What if someone unexpectedly moves their hands off the table and places them on their lap or where I can’t see them?

If someone withdraws their hands from the table it’s not enough of an indicator.  That’s about as common as blinking their eyes.  To simply attach one simple behavior like that just isn’t enough without looking at other body queues.

[JDavis] You’ve emphasize repeatedly in your books, your speeches and even this conversation that trying to read nonverbal behaviors can be more dangerous than it is beneficial to someone without formal training.  Why is that?

When people first start looking into nonverbal communication it’s very similar to a young child learning how to read.  It’s linear: left to right (i.e. Nose, Lips, Shoulders, Hands).  The risk here is that many times the isolated behaviors aren’t significant enough without understanding what the whole body is doing.

At the start of my career I spent so much time looking at the face because we learned that even newborns are expressing themselves nonverbally through their facial expressions at only 3 days old.  Today, I can see the whole body at once.  That’s my parting shot to anyone who is going to use what they’ve learned from these posts: Relax, try to look at the whole body and don’t beat yourself up trying to look for every little queue.

For twenty-five years, Joe Navarro was an FBI counterintelligence special agent and supervisor specializing in nonverbal communications.  A frequent lecturer, he serves on the adjunct faculty at Saint Leo University and the FBI.  You can learn more about Joe through his website or by following him on Twitter.

Tags: Body Language, hire better, hiring manager, Interview, interview training, Joe Navarro, talent acquisition