Picture yourself about to address a group of individuals. You have major plans to share with them. Big ideas and strategies to enlighten them with. And you have to ensure you deliver the message in a way that guarantees their allegiance to the goal and purpose. How do you deliver such a powerful message that inspires, charges up and drives people to exceed their potential? Certainly not with a body language that doesn’t display leadership and power.

Displaying power and status doesn’t require much verbal usage. The ability to project yourself as a leader and a person of authority and conviction simply relies on the strength of your body language. Sure you may not be the smartest or most intelligent person in the room – and as a leader you don’t have to be. However, you’re the person with the vision and a group of followers. If you can carry a body language that validates your status as a powerful person, you’ll have their attention, commitment and dedication to go wherever you lead them.

Here are five body language behaviors of leaders that you can practice and feel more confident and powerful.

1. Eye Contact

Before you say anything or make any non-verbal communication your eyes give away a lot. They’ll spill the beans whether you’re upset, angry, agitated, excited, scared, nervous and even when you’re not confident. So while your eyes are always conveying the message that you’re in control, make sure you’re making eye contact with everyone. A great leader should come off as sincere and trustworthy which you can convey with an honest, confident and comforting gaze into the other’s eyes. However, don’t make it an aggression stare or a prolonged gawk. By making eye contact you can alter the sound of your voice by lowering its pitch, enhancing your vocal energy and resonance. This will allow you to speak confidently and with authority.

2. Smile More

There are some who believe that smiling too much is a sign of submission or weakness. While you’re carrying off a persona of confidence, smiles can be the ice breakers that prevent you from coming off as a snob, egotistical and even unapproachable. That’s precisely what a great leader should avoid in their body language. Smiling helps you radiate positivity, inside and out. Smiling can also help you penetrate a tough audience and lower their guard to being more receptive to you. Leaders often use powerful smiles to convey confidence, good will and present an aura of trustworthiness that helps strengthen bonds.

3. Firm Handshake

Your first physical connection at the workplace usually calls for a handshake and they usually create the first impression. Handshakes are vital in conveying your confidence, extrovert personality and positivity. They particularly convey your leadership prominence. Powerful leaders will usually shake hands in a manner that says “I’m strong and in control”. The perfect handshake from a powerful person is firm (but not tight) brief (but not quickly retracted) and uses the whole hand (not just the fingertips).

4. Positive Gestures

When you’re speaking your gestures can say a lot. They can tell if you’re nervous or distracted (random or fidgety gestures) or if you’re confident about what you’re saying (speech-associated gestures). The latter are gestures which compliment what you’re saying by enhancing and elaborating the message you’re trying to convey. Great speakers and leaders use their best gestures to captive their audiences, which studies show makes their words easier to understand and remember.

5. Maintain Stature

Just like there’s no off switch to being a leader, there’s also no off switch for how you present yourself. And that means you’ll always have to appear powerful and in control, even when you’re not making a presentation or in a meeting. You have to be ready and prepared, always. Hence, you’ll always need to stand in stature. It’s not the same as standing up straight or at attention. When you’re in stature your body inhales, your core muscles pull up and your chest expands. And being in stature isn’t just a physical posture. It’s a state of mind. Stature is an overall embodiment of power. All this conveys a body language of confidence, authority and power.

People who tend to be aware of their body language and harness it appropriately often have the enhanced ability to convey their messages with much more confidence. However, more than that they’re able to also persuade, excite and win over their audience. That’s what powerful people in leadership roles are able to do, consistently.

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