How Can You Tell What Your Coworkers Think of You?
The workplace can be a little like high-school. There are the cliques and the cool kids, and of course the wall-flowers and the weirdoes. If you ever wonder what group you fall into, your co-workers are telling you in hundreds of non-verbal ways every day. So how can you key in to these physical clues? Here are the answer from Women’s Health magazine.
- First, here’s how to tell if you’re well-liked in the office: If colleagues chat with you in the hallways, it’s a good sign. Since most people communicate electronically these days, a hallway chat means someone is breaking routine and going out of their way to exchange a few words. On the flip side, body language expert, Patti Wood says to look for people averting their eyes or sneaking glances at their watch if you meet up with them in a hallway. This means they’re looking for a way out. Also, check out their speech patterns. If someone normally speaks slowly and they’re speaking very fast, this means they’re nervous and uncomfortable. If a person likes you, their speech patterns won’t change.
- Now, what if you want to know if your co-workers respect you? Psychologist Ann Demarais is the author of First Impressions. She says you can see how much someone respects you by how often they look at you for a reaction or a cue during a meeting. Also, when you sit down in the conference room, do people move their chairs to let you get by or straighten their papers to get them out of your way? That’s another sign of respect.
- Let’s say you want to know if a co-worker has a crush on you. Look for small things like, do they say your name a little too much? Using a person’s name is a way to get more personal with them. Does she go the extra mile for you, like picking up a latte for you or moving over so you have a seat in the conference room? These are clues that she’s into you. Also, men intrinsically want to appear bigger in front of women they like, so if the office crush stops slouching and puffs out his chest around you, he might want to be more than work mates.
