Do you think about how you enter a room?
Too few people do and yet, if done right, it is a brilliant way to set the tone for a meeting, communicate confidence, or put people at ease.
Some seem to have a natural aura about them that means that when they enter a room heads turn; conversations are hushed and energy levels soar.
Others, including some senior leaders I have seen up close, do the opposite.
When they enter a room the energy levels plummet, body language becomes defensive, the team dynamic is undermined.
Yet the ‘naturals’ in my first example are likely to have practiced their entrance many times. These are energy igniters.
They will know that they have the capacity to positively impact a situation merely by walking through a door, onto a stage or into a meeting.
So, they make sure they do.
The second example either will not be aware or purposely ignores the impact they have on a group or situation. They are energy extinguishers.
How then can you make sure you are an energy igniter not an energy extinguisher?
1. Be focussed on the situation you are entering
Don’t walk in while glued to your phone or thinking about the meeting you just came from. The igniters are 100 per cent present – no matter how important or busy they are.
2. Enter with a purpose that is appropriate to the situation
Why are you there? What is your role? What do you want to achieve with the other people in the room?
3. Use your body language to influence others
Even when entering a difficult situation having an open and upright posture, head held high can have a positive impact on those around you.
4. Make early eye contact
Take in the room and begin to build connections with as many people as you can in the crucial first few seconds. Hold someone’s gaze, acknowledge someone else with a friendly nod or smile. Positive interactions like these will have a ripple effect through the room.
5. Choose your words
Bustling in and exclaiming how busy you are with a sigh and a grimace is all about you (as well as being full of negativity). Instead, use words that fit the occasion, the situation you are entering and communicate your purpose. That is what an igniter will do.
Give it a go. Think about how you enter a room.
Stop being an energy extinguisher and instead become an energy igniter.
Then see how people’s perception of you, how your impact on others, and how successful you are in achieving your aims changes for the better.