New studies show that an estimated 60% of your colleagues within your working environment are lying to you. These stunning results make you rethink your working relationships and reconsider the trust these relationships are built on.

Gruppo La Meridiana is a well-known corporate coach that gives advice on working relationships. Based on a broad expertise in business psychology, in this article Gruppo La Meridiana would like to draw your attention to 8 main signs of lying among your colleagues:

1- Liars cover their mouths

People often cover their mouths when lying. A hand on the mouth or even a touch of the lips shows you that they are lying because this unconscious body language represents a closing off of communication.

2- Liars repeat themselves and provide too much detail

Liars hate silence, so they often try to fill it up by talking more than they need to. They provide far more information than was needed or asked for.

3- Liars prepare themselves for an escape

In an unconscious attempt to find an escape route, people who are lying often angle their bodies toward the door if they’re sitting, and if they’re standing, they may even move closer to the door.

4- Liars’ words and body language don’t match

It’s easy to lie with words, but our bodies know (and show) the truth. A clear sign that someone is lying to you is when their words are saying one thing and their body language is saying something entirely different.

5- Liars’ breathing changes as they lie

People reflexively start breathing more heavily when they lie as lying causes changes to heart rate and blood flow.

6- Liar’s change their typical patterns of eye movement

As they lie liars change the direction of eye movement. Some people, for instance, look up and to the right when they’re remembering information, but down when they’re lying. People who are lying also often look toward the door, their unconscious escape route.

7- Liars get aggressive in a conversation

Liars will often get aggressive in a conversation for no apparent reason. Sometimes liars will become hostile and point aggressively in your direction, other times liars will maintain excessive eye contact without blinking, in an abrasive attempt to appear truthful.

8- Liars fidget

Fidgeting is a clear sign of nervous energy. Even practiced liars worry that you won’t believe them, so they release that nervous energy by playing with their hair, tapping their feet or fingers, pulling on their ears, and more.

Truthfulness is a building block of any relationship and so it is of a successful working relationships. Knowing the ‘tells’ of a liar can help you follow your instincts and distrust or even expose a manipulative and cunning behavior when you see one. With a long-term expertise in business psychology, Gruppo La Meridiana provides not only valuable advice on building trustful relationships within your organization, but also provides relevant workshops on establishing trust, the essence of teamwork and building successful collaborations at your workplace.