“If you pose as if you have power will your body and your mind change in a way that looks as if you have power?”.
Social psychologist Amy Cuddy asks the question ‘can you fake it until you make it?’. Power posing might sound odd but it may just be one of the most effective yet simplest ways of boosting your self confidence in a matter of minutes. We all know it well, the long awaited few minutes before a job interview as you wait nervously to go in, but just by changing the way in which you sit you could apparently change the way you feel.
According to research, those who sit or stand in a high power pose for just a few minutes before they go in for an interview are more likely to get the job than those who sit slouched in their chair. This may all sound like a load of nonsense but there is scientific evidence behind it all, if you hold a power pose for two minutes your testosterone levels, which are a dominance hormone, can rise up to 20% while your stress levels fall, allowing you to handle stressful situations more at ease.
So how could power poses help at work?
You may be surprised to hear that they could actually help in rather astounding ways, your body language could affect the way you do your work and the way in which you interact with your co-workers. Research has shown links between power poses and an increase in job performance, stating that it’s all about opening up and appearing bigger than you actually are. Much like how an ape would puff its chest out in the wild, yet much more subtle of course, that wouldn’t go down to well on your job performance.
So now you’ve heard about how amazing these power poses can be I’m sure you’re wondering what on earth they actually are. It could be as simple as standing up, by standing up you demand attention and respect and people will most likely take you much more seriously. When you are sitting at your desk you could try stretching your arms out as far as possible around you, providing you don’t sit in a tight cramped office! Making yourself appear bigger can often just lead to you feeling more powerful, it’s not about trying to make your body language communicate to others it’s about making it communicate to you. If you pretend you are confident and powerful then you will most probably fool everybody (including yourself) into believing you, it really could be as simple as that.