Understanding body language

Posted by Penny Maher

Women in Climate teamed up with Women in Physics to host an interactive one-day training session on understanding body language, led by Sadie Sharp.

The focus of the training event was improving confidence by understanding ourselves better and thinking about how we may be seen by others.

We considered our:

1. inner self,
2. outer self,
3. exposure, and
4. boundaries.

During this discussion there were a few things that jumped out to me.

• Did you know that imposter syndrome is more common in high performing women, especially in academic or technical environments? The dice is already weighted towards us feeling like an imposter.
• Learn to listen to your inner critic. You can listen into your inner critic and use it as an opportunity to grow. The goal is to not let it dominate, and try to ignore some of the anxious baggage!
• What you think on the inside will shape how you look from the outside. Control your thoughts and you can control your body language. Try to project confidence even when you don’t feel it.
• Part of our outer self is about managing our reputation and our ‘personal brand’. How do you want your colleagues to see you? What can you do to change this?
• We are not being fair to ourselves when we put other people’s needs indiscriminately ahead of our own.

We covered a lot of practical techniques for being in uncomfortable situations, how to approach difficult conversations, ways to be assertive, and influence how people perceive us in the workplace. We talked about how to be confident at conferences to help us build and develop our networks, and how to self-promote without sounding like we are bragging.

This session was possible thanks to funding from the Researcher-Led Initiate awards from the University of Exeter’s Doctoral College.

This training was featured on the University of Exeter’s news page. Sadie also creates regular content for her Linkedin profile.