The Art of the Handshake

     This is the very first post of a soon to be weekly blog on non-verbal communication and how both entrepreneurs and animators can use it to their advantage. Today I will be talking a little bit about how one of the most simplest of formal greetings, the handshake, could affect a persons first impression of you.

     In the picture above, we see Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Gordon Brown and Us President Barack Obama shaking hands at a joint press conference. What we also see is Brown getting the left-side advantage on Obama. Now what does that mean? By placing himself on the right side of Obama or the left side from our perspective, Brown has placed himself as the stronger of the two.

    Why is this? If you look carefully, Obama's palm is facing up, opposite to Browns face down palm. Essentially, by taking the "left-side advantage", Brown has taken the "upper hand" in the handshake. By getting the "upper hand" Brown seems the stronger of the two in the picture.

     This kind of handshake is not uncommon in the business world. If you use such a dominant handshake you could potentially send a subconscious message to whomever you are shaking hands with.  If you use the dominant handshake they could be thinking in the back of their mind, "He's trying to be dominant. I had best be careful of him." You may be thinking, "Why would being the "dominant" one be a bad thing?"

    Well if they do feel this way and they are being cautious of your motives, they may not trust you completely.

     Conversely allowing yourself to be on the down side of a dominant handshake could be detrimental to the image the other hand shaker has of you. They could get a message that you are weak or submissive. I am sure that you could imagine multiple scenarios of how being seen as weak or submissive in the workplace could hurt you.

     So, how are you supposed to do a handshake? I am sure you could guess, but if not, then here it is. You shake their hand in a way where both of your palms a faced to the side. What if they try to do a dominant handshake? It's pretty simple. If you find yourself in a dominant handshake, take your other free hand gently grab the back of the persons hand that you are shaking, and equalize it.

Palm vertical (let's work together).

The most generous way to offer a handshake is palm vertical. It sends the signal of cooperation. "I want to work with you."

 http://www.canadaone.com/ezine/oct03/hands.html

     How can animators use this? If you are an animator you could simply exaggerate this fact. Bringing the big CEO in from the left of the frame and shaking a nervous entrepreneurs hand in a dominant manner, pushing the feeling of dominance.

    In the future I will explain other types of handshakes to avoid. I hope you got something out of this post and I will be back next week.

                 Reference
Downing Street. (2009). PM and US president Barack Obama [photograph]. Retrieved September 9th, 2010 from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/downingstreet/3403580377/