9

THE NONVERBAL FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP

New Generations and New Technology

Kendra is majoring in corporate strategic planning in the Business Finance Department of one of the top U.S. universities. With one semester of schooling to complete, Kendra spent the summer as an intern in one of the leading high-tech companies in Silicon Valley. That company just made her an offer for full-time employment after graduation, which Kendra will accept—unless she gets the counteroffer she's hoping for, from one of the world's most prestigious management consulting firms.

Kendra is an example of top talent—one of the best and the brightest of a new generation of workers who are the future of your organization. Your ability to attract, retain, and engage the Kendras (and Kenneths) of this generation will, in a large part, determine whether your organization will continue to thrive or must struggle to stay competitive in the years ahead.

Your organization will change this group of workers—building their capabilities, molding their talents, guiding them from the theoretical base of their educations to the practical realities of your business. In turn, your new workforce will change the structure and spirit of your organization with its creativity, energy, adaptability, and enthusiasm.

In previous chapters, we've looked at the increasingly global and multicultural makeup of the workforce, seen how leading-edge communication technologies are changing business practices, and noted the fact that, in the United States, women are now the majority of employees. In this chapter, you will learn the ways that each generation of workers brings change to the organization, the values and expectations of the newest workers, the amazing potential of technological innovation, and how all these factors point the way toward a more collaborative and inclusive leadership style. Then we'll close by summarizing the future of nonverbal communication and why body language acumen will be an increasingly crucial aspect of leadership effectiveness.

ALL GENERATIONS BRING CHANGE

My father worked thirty-five years for the San Francisco Examiner newspaper. He loved to talk about his work, but never once did he mention his company's vision, mission statement, or corporate values. That's because the command-and-control, military model of leadership he served under didn't see the need for that kind of “soft stuff.” And for my father's generation of workers, who had been raised during the Great Depression of the early 1930s and felt lucky to have any job, this was a perfectly acceptable arrangement.

Of course, the Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) changed that. Seventy-eight million strong, they came into the workforce looking for meaning, empowerment, and engagement—and before we knew it, every organization looking to attract and retain the top talent of this generation was busy creating mission, vision, and values statements. The “flower power” generation, many of whom had marched, rallied, and lobbied for women's and minority rights, pushed that agenda into corporate boardrooms and organizational policies. And because Boomers wanted more face-to-face interaction and were less responsive to directives, management began to evolve into “servant leadership” and “transformational leadership” models.

The increased birth control and career options offered to Boomer women resulted in the much smaller generation that followed. Born between 1965 and 1983, Generation X didn't have the clout of large numbers, but they did have a unique and advantageous skill set: they were technologically savvy at a time when technology (most especially the Internet) was beginning to change business practices in substantial ways. Their economic timing was good too. They entered the job market during the dot-com boom, so their demands for cappuccino machines, pets at work, and free massages were met—and exceeded—by organizations eager to compete in the “war for talent.”

They brought other changes as well. Where Boomers wanted face-to-face interaction with their managers, Gen Xers preferred e-mail and intranet communication. Where Boomers thought they had signed up with their employers for the long term, Gen Xers knew differently. In response to the demise of the organizational retention agreement, this generation redefined commitment in shorter terms—and turned job hopping into the new career path.

Now, another generation is entering the workforce. Pierced, tattooed, digital, networked, and mobile—Generation Y is like nothing your organization has seen before. And, as did their predecessors, they will bring their own unique set of capabilities, challenges, and changes.

THE NEW GENERATION OF WORKERS

Generation Y comprises those individuals born between 1984 and 2002. In some circles they're called Millennials, and in numbers they rival the Baby Boomer generation. Today's Gen Yers come to the workplace with a markedly different perspective than those of past generations. Having grown up under the guidance of parents positioning them for success, they recognize the potential to make a significant impact in the business world. At the same time, as eyewitnesses to the corporate and institutional scandals of recent years, they are highly skeptical of authority. And, as a generation that marketers have targeted their entire lives, they are also highly resistant to the pumped-up “happy talk” of corporate leaders.

They have in common many other shared experiences that will create bonds among them—and distinguish them from your current workers. Consider, for example, that television was the defining technology for Baby Boomers and drove a culture of homogeneity. For this new generation, the defining technology has been the Internet, which drives diversity.

They have a high tolerance for change and innovation and aren't afraid of being fired; they're more afraid of being bored. The college graduates among them don't expect to stay with their first employer for more than two years. They have been told they will have many jobs in a variety of organizations over the course of several different careers.

They represent the most racially and ethnically diverse generation in history. They come, as well, from a different social and cultural environment than past generations: one in three Millennials is non-Caucasian, one in four is from a single-parent home, and three in four have working mothers. They are hitting the workplace just as the Baby Boom generation reaches retirement. They are super ready for employment in your organization. But are you ready for them?

GEN Y AND THE FUTURE OF VISUAL TECHNOLOGY

According to a study by Cisco Systems, more than 50 percent of Gen Y own a webcam, and 20 percent visit YouTube multiple times a day.¹ They are more likely to have their own social networking profiles and to post videos of themselves online than are older generations. This preference for visual media has already changed employee interactions and knowledge sharing in many organizations. In the past, information was primarily shared via text documents, e-mail, and PowerPoint slides, but now employees are increasingly filming short videos to share best practices with colleagues and to brief peers about projects and initiatives. (One current example is Microsoft, which offers free podcasting equipment to all employees who agree to create three knowledge-sharing videos a year. The entries are then posted on Academy Mobile, on Microsoft's intranet.)

But when it comes to unleashing the full power of visual technology, we haven't seen anything yet! Here are three examples that could change the way your entire business operates: a new product, a research project, and a technology demonstration—IVN's Silhouette, Project LifeLike, and Cisco's holographic version of TelePresence.

Silhouette

You show up for work at company headquarters. You attend a meeting in one of the conference rooms, but find that the topic under discussion doesn't concern you, so you exit that room and visit a colleague's office to collaborate on a project you've both been assigned to. Before you leave for the day, you check with the head of human resources about a personnel issue.

Oh—did I mention that you do all of this (from anywhere in the world) on your personal computer?

Blending a 3-D online environment (in this case, a virtual building with offices and meeting rooms) with live streaming video with synchronized audio, IVN's Silhouette offers a new and unique option for a distributed workforce to meet “face-to-face” in a virtual world. Silhouette is the first technology that allows users to be totally immersed in a 3-D world each via his or her actual image.

Silhouette takes her from home office to virtual boardroom.

Silhouette represents a significant advance, as it allows participants to be “placed” in a virtual environment and yet see each other as live video images (instead of computer-generated “cartoon” avatars). And this is all done over the Web at real-time frame rates with fully synchronized audio. So no special equipment is necessary. Silhouette uses a standard-issue webcam to extract the user's image, which is then “transported” to the virtual company location to attend meetings, collaborate, or otherwise interact with other participants.

Silhouette is a new product, but already it has attracted the attention of organizations like IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Google, and Disney, as well as the U.S. Government.

Project LifeLike

Project LifeLike is a collaboration between the Intelligent Systems Laboratory at the University of Central Florida and the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The project aims to create avatars that are … well, lifelike.

Beyond trying to create characters that actually look like real people (instead of some cartoon-like representations), researchers are also finding ways to incorporate body language cues in the interchanges. With sensors connected to individuals, researchers track and replicate facial expressions, eye movements, and gestures in order to give avatars the ability to express emotional signals, to read those same nuances in people, and to adjust their communication accordingly.

Businesswoman and her more life-like avatar

Although the current results are far from perfect replications of specific individuals, this work has greatly advanced the field and opened up a host of possible new refinements for application in the not-too-distant future. If you've ever wanted to create a copy of yourself that could stand in for you at a meeting, freeing you up to work on more pressing matters, you may be closer than you think to getting your wish.

Soon it may be possible for global employees sitting at their computers to meet online for a conversation with avatars of corporate leaders, or for job seekers to hone their interview skills by practicing with an avatar. In fact, in the coming decades, many of the “people” you interact with may not actually be people at all. But you can bet that they will be masters of nonverbal communication!

Holographic TelePresence

It was only a demonstration, but the Cisco TelePresence On-Stage Experience (a collaboration between Cisco and Musion Systems) took place during the opening of Cisco's Globalization Centre East and created the world's first live holographic video feed from San Jose, California, to Bangalor, India. It wowed the audience—and gave the rest of us a glimpse into the future of visual technology.

Cisco CEO John Chambers, who was live on the Bangalore stage, “beamed up” Marthin De Beer, the senior vice president of emerging technologies, and Chuck Stucki, the general manager of TelePresence, live from San Jose. Chambers was then able to have a face-to-face discussion with the holographic De Beer and Stucki on the future of Cisco TelePresence, demonstrating the potential capabilities of the system in front of the watching audience.

One of these men is a hologram.

This demonstration showed the audience how Cisco's TelePresence plans to move from a 2-D immersive solution into a 3-D immersive solution mimicking Star Trek–like situations with holograms. It is Cisco's prediction that holographic meetings will be replacing videoconferencing in the near future.

If all goes as planned, 3-D holographic conferencing will first be used at large expositions and conferences and will then trickle down to corporate use. At that time, a sales manager would be able to virtually walk into a client's office and have a detailed conversation—with his or her holographic image traveling overseas to the remotest countries via an Internet connection. A CEO could address an entire employee population and announce a new strategy—and the audience could see the executive's full range of nonverbal communication, as if he or she were there in person.

THE FUTURE OF LEADERSHIP

The twenty-first century is seeing the bringing together of new employees, new technologies, and new global business realities that adds up to one word: collaboration. New workers will demand it, advances in technology will enable it, and, in addition, the “borderless organization” of the future will dictate that future productivity gains can only be achieved by creating collaborative teams that are networked to span corporate and national boundaries.

With new business realities comes a new leadership model—one that replaces command and control with transparency and inclusion. The leader's new role will be to encourage employees to see themselves as empowered and valued contributors—and to help them build their knowledge base and expand their personal networks. To fulfill this role, leaders can no longer permit themselves the luxury of issuing orders from ivory towers. They must descend to the front line, become coaches and team players willing to get in the trenches and work side by side with other team members. They must demonstrate a greater degree of emotional intelligence—and be able to show they understand, support, and care about the people in their charge. The success of this collaborative approach to leadership will rely far more heavily on what leaders do than on what they say.

Which brings us to the importance of body language as an essential skill set for future leadership success.

PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF BODY LANGUAGE

Leaders who really do feel more comfortable in an ivory tower may soon have to make the following decision about their futures: either agree to step down from their comfort zones—or simply step down. Why? Here's why:

Prediction One: The visual technology revolution will make body language skills even more crucial than they are today.

There is no doubt that videoconferencing that allows participants to see one another can help build stronger bonds and improve rapport. But video communication can also heighten a participant's anxiety and self-consciousness because there is no hiding behind a text message or computer screen.

Leaders have always been under scrutiny, but with the future developments in multimedia technology, a leader's body language is even more exposed to evaluation. Leaders will need to develop the verbal and nonverbal skills to make the most of these new tools.

Prediction Two: A young generation of “leaders-in-training” may need additional training in nonverbal communication.

You know that technology is changing our lives. But did you know that it is also changing our brains? According to Gary Small, director of UCLA's Memory and Aging Research Center, this is true for everyone, but it is most relevant for the “digital natives”—those younger employees who were born into a world of laptops and cell phones, text messaging and twittering, and who have been accused of spending too much time (over eight hours a day) using technology and too little time engaging in direct social contact.³

Some of the resultant brain changes will have positive implications for future employers: the rewiring of neural circuitry is heightening such skills as the ability to pick out details amid clutter—which in turn enhances complex reasoning and decision making. But while the brain is developing circuitry for online social networking, it is also producing shortened attention spans and diminished social skills, including nonverbal communication skills and important emotional aptitudes like empathy.

All human beings are hardwired to understand body language, and the new workforce generation has the same innate ability, even if they may be missing some of the lessons that they could have picked up had they received more practice in handling face-to-face encounters. To build (or reinforce) their collaboration skills, many people in this generation will need coaching in the basics of nonverbal communication.

Prediction Three: The body language of effective leaders will become increasingly “warm.”

I've talked previously about the two sets of body language cues that followers look for in leaders. One set projects warmth and empathy, and the other signals power and authority. Both are necessary for leaders today, and both will be critical to the success of leaders in the future. But if your organization is headed toward a collaborative structure and philosophy, then effective leadership becomes less about projecting power and more about building relationships. And relationship building, in turn, is all about the body language of trust, inclusion, and rapport. So the “soft side” of nonverbal communication (which has been undervalued and underutilized by leaders more concerned with projecting strength, status, and authority) will become central to achieving your business goals.

Prediction Four: Body language research will focus more on business and leadership applications.

I receive updates every day as people in the fields of neuroscience, social science, psychology, and information technology continue to research and validate nonverbal communication in business and leadership. To keep you up-to-date with what I'm continuing to learn, and to reinforce the skills you've already acquired, I've designed my Web site www.SilentLanguageOfLeaders.com with videos, articles, and links to other resources, and I invite you to contact me at [email protected] with any question, comment, or request.

Prediction Five: Authenticity will be increasingly revealed through body language.

One of the most prominent authorities on organization development and leadership was speaking at a conference I attended. An audience member asked the leadership guru if he had ever made the following statement: “Leadership is 85 percent character.” The speaker paused and answered, “Probably. But I'd change that now. Leadership is 100 percent character.”

Body language reveals character. Regardless of how skilled a nonverbal communicator he or she is, no leader can fool the people who work with him or her over an extended period of time. Sooner or later, your body will give you away. Like good manners and good grammar, body language is a tool for expressing your “best” self in a certain situation. And it is a highly valuable tool. It just can't hide your character.

You can become aware of and change ineffective body language habits; you can develop a deeper understanding of the impact that certain nonverbal behaviors have on your audiences; and you can add more effective gestures, postures, and expressions to your leadership repertoire. But the most charismatic, influential, and powerful body language will always be that which is totally congruent with who you are, what you stand for, and what you truly believe.