Lies can impact business deals, client relationships, productivity and much more. Protect your business by learning how to spot the liars. Here are five behaviors liars typically exhibit:
1. They don’t answer yes or no.
When a yes or no question does not result in a “yes” or “no” answer, it is a red flag that something is not right. Convoluted answers to simple questions usually mean the person is beating around the bush or doesn’t want to admit to something.
The likelihood of deception is especially high when someone answers a yes or no question with “well”. For example, if someone asks Bob “did you call the customer yesterday?” and Bob answers “Well, I…”, it means Bob is about to provide an answer that may be convoluted and deceptive, so keep an ear out.
Asking direct yes or no questions is a good way to test someone. If they are being truthful, the answer should be an easy yes or no answer.
2. They have nervous body language.
There are a few body language signs to look for when determining whether or not someone is being truthful.
The most obvious signal is too much or too little eye contact. It’s hard for liars to make eye contact, so they may look away when speaking. On the other hand, making eye contact intently could mean they are hard at work lying. Also, keep a look out for the “quick-check glance”. After a lie, people tend to look down and away, then quickly glance back to see if the other person bought it. Any sort of speech hesitations including pausing, throat clearing, swallowing in gulps, moistening lips or increased need to drink water may also indicate deception. A final indicator is when body movement is either unnaturally still or fidgety, which could include foot movements or nose rubbing.
Be careful not to rely on any one signal. Body language best detects liars when three to four of these indicators are present.
3. They give verbal cues.
Verbal cues can indicate someone may be lying. Certain phrases, for example, should send up a red flag. In addition to “well…” mentioned above, other warning phrases include “I could be wrong, but…” or “to the best of my knowledge”. By using these phrases, the person is trying to protect themselves from blame or accusation, which practically gives away the fact that what they are about to say is deceptive or flat out false.
Another verbal cue is not using personal pronouns such as “I”, “me”, and “mine”. This is an attempt for the liar to psychologically distance themselves from the lie. For example, instead of saying “I submitted the report yesterday”, they will avoid taking ownership of the action by saying “the report was submitted yesterday”. Also, to distance themselves even further, these lies are more likely to come through impersonal forms of communication such as email or text than through calls or face to face conversations.
Lastly, offering unnecessary elaboration to a story or changing the subject are other verbal cues to deception to listen for in conversation.
4. Their gestures don’t match their words.
Imagine an employee saying they are happy while frowning and looking at the ground or a co-worker saying “yeah, I’m listening” with a bored voice and gazing in the opposite direction of the speaker. These are examples of incongruence, which occurs when there is a contradiction between what the person is saying and what they are gesturing or expressing with their body language. Essentially it’s saying one thing and doing another, a sign that that what they’re saying is not the whole truth.
When a person believes what they are saying, their body language will be in alignment with their words. Be cautious of what the person is saying if there is a mismatch.
5. They aren’t acting normally.
An easy way to determine if bosses and coworkers are lying is to observe their current behavior and compare it to what is known about their normal behavior. Think about (or make a mental note to become familiar with) their “baseline” or ordinary ways they express themselves via the words they use and how they carry themselves. Any deviations in vocabulary, rate of speech, tone of voice, posture and hand gestures are worthy of attention.
Law enforcement often uses this baseline technique when questioning suspects. They’ll observe the person answering easy questions, such as “what is your name?” and “where do you live?”, to use as a baseline for judging how they are responding to more difficult questions, such as “where were you at 11 PM last night?” This questioning technique can work well for acquaintances rather than people seen on a regular basis.
It’s ultimately about figuring out what normal looks like for each person in various contexts (i.e. one-on-one conversations, meetings, emails, presentations) and then noticing when they deviate from that normal.
These methods do not detect lies with 100% certainty, but they do provide a strong indicator.
What techniques do you use to spot a liar?
