Walking the Walk (literally) at GoGirl Academy

By Catherine Lenox –  a communications specialist who’s a student in our Career Acceleration class. As she blogs about her experiences during our course, you’ll always get her raw and honest opinion.

This week I learned to walk. As certain as I’ve been all my life that I could walk just fine, much to my surprise, in the second session of GoGirl I discovered quite the contrary. I learned that first impressions are directly attached to body language. From my carriage alone, I may have been unintentionally conveying a lack of confidence as I walk into a room.

GoGirl taught me how to walk and shake hands so that my body language displays confidence. Since I have an important job interview coming up, the timing could not have been any more perfect. My walk will be stronger and my handshake firmer. My body language will say, “I’m ready for anything.”

In a first impression, coach Jennifer Avila pointed out, strangers see only a very tiny percentage of others. Snap decisions are made based solely on ones’ appearance and how we enter a room, shake hands, make eye contact, smile, and sit. I was stunned to learn that research claims this non-verbal conversation accounts for nearly 100 percent of how we are perceived by strangers even before a word is spoken! And, since this sample is all they have to work with, strangers will unconsciously assume the sample is an accurate reading of what we’re like all the time. This was sobering news.

Was I inadvertently underselling myself in the marketplace based solely on the way I enter a room and shake hands? I could hear my father’s voice resounding in my ears, “hold your head up, Cath, and for goodness sake, put your shoulders back!” Could he have been right?

A skeptic by nature who likes evidence born of experimentation before accepting anything as fact, I decided to put “the walk” to the test.  I am happy to report that it passed my litmus test with flying colors and wonderful results.

First, I asked a friend to watch me as I walked across a room on Saturday night. I had told him about the GoGirl walk and wanted his impression. After walking across the room, one foot placed soundly in front of the other, I looked back over my shoulder inquisitively. He gave me an enthusiastic high five. I felt empowered.

And, when I launched my “walk” outside my circle of friends the next day, a young man opened the door for me at a department store. When I asked him, teasing, “Was that because I am female or because I’m old?” he smiled and said “why, no ma’am, it’s because I’m from the South and we know how to treat a beautiful woman like a lady.” Now, there’s something worth wearing!

I believe that I was treated differently because walking the GoGirl walk made me feel and act more confident. Ah-hah! The shift was subtle, but it was a shift.

Also at GoGirl last week, I learned how to recover from social gaffes. However, I’d like to reserve use of this skill until after my employer knows more than a first impression of me.

Posted by Margo Myers, GGA Executive Director

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