Non Verbal Queues

Nonverbal Queues and Its Affect on Communication

A friendly smile from an attractive stranger will almost always disarm the most stubborn individual. Often, we respond to messages nonverbally giving a more accurate accounting of our thoughts and our feelings rather than our verbal responses. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary (2008) defines communication as a “process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior.” Most of our communication is nonverbal and without thinking, we send messages to others subconciously in response to theirs.

Demonstrative Communication

Demonstrative communication includes nonverbal and unwritten communication involving such things as facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language. Military personnel, counterterrorism agents, law enforcement personnel and athletes use this type of communication effectively in the field. Hand and arm signals together with facial expressions can direct and move teams of personnel through a target site or the sports field without speaking a word to one another. This is accomplished by establishing a set of standard operating procedures that everyone must follow. Both senders and receivers often benefit by not allowing anyone that is not the intended receiver to decipher their intent keeping him or her guessing about what will be his or her next move. Practice makes perfect so frequent training with assigned teams helps develop cohesion; enabling the team to function as one.

One drawbacks to this type of communication is that participants must be within line of sight. This means that once a member of the team is no longer visible, the line of communication will be temporarily terminated and is therefore ineffective. This can be replaced by sound; however, if they are operating in stealth mode, this might give away their position. Also, the wrong set of nonverbal messages could be the difference between winning and losing a...