Great Performance !

Wringing hands is a stepped-up version of clenched hands (Figure 37). This is observed when someone is on the hot seat, such as when being required to answer serious charges against him. After a recent local election in California the sophisticated polling equipment broke down and the registrar of voters was photographed while attempting to answer charges concerning the breakdown. As he explained his conduct, he went through the hands-wringing gesture.

Persons who have their hands tightly clenched are tense and very difficult to relate to. They should be made to relax. A technique we have sometimes used effectively is to lean toward them while talking. For example, in a superior/subordinate situation the subordinate is very suspicious of his superior’s attitude. As long as his boss sits behind his desk and “looks down his nose at him,” the subordinate’s hands stay in a clenched position. However, when the superior gets up from behind his desk, comes around to where the subordinate is seated, and leans toward him in a gesture of confidence the hands at once come apart.