I would like to share about a very familiar word “perceptive”. There are several words and phrases that could mean the same as perceptive. This include but not limited to; clever, observant, sensitive, responsive, insightful, or discerning.

Perceive means “to see”; so, perceptive is a word to describe someone who is good at seeing. Perceptive is derived from the Latin word percipere which means “to obtain or gather.” A perceptive person is good at gathering information and using her senses to take in the world.

If you are upset but trying to hide it, a perceptive person is the one who will notice. If you describe a person or their remarks or thoughts as perceptive, you think that they are good at noticing or realizing things, especially things that are not obvious.

While there are many competencies to develop strong social awareness, a great one to start with is perception.

A great deal of our existence involves managing relationships. Could be sibling relationships, work relationships, business relationships, manager employee’s relationship or Family relationships.  

Anyone who has experienced any kind of relationship can attest to the fact that not all relationships are easy to handle. Many of the failed relationships can be attributed to poor communication.

We all know the value of communication. In fact, when things go wrong, one of the first things we attribute our failures to is miscommunication. That means strong communication begets success.

Most of us think of verbal communication when we think of communicating with others. But research shows that as low as 7% of any given message is delivered through words, meaning 93% of a message’s meaning is delivered through nonverbal channels.

Consider this scenario: a manager walks into the office and greets the employees. “How are things?” they ask an employee. “Great,” the employee replies.

Interpreting only verbal communication, we get the sense that the employee is doing great.

But when we add nonverbal cues, maybe an eye roll, or an unenthused tone as the employee says “great,” we get the sense that things may not be so great.

Perceptive people understand the need to look for nonverbal cues when they communicate. They also pay attention to every aspect of how something is communicated, to recognize the true emotions that underlie questions and statements.