In order to appear confident, leaders have to believe in what they’re saying. “We have to work through those delivery issues,” she said.

They also have to take into account one-on-one time with employees. If a difficult message has to be delivered to an employee, such as needing to let them go, it’s OK for the leader to show his or her true feelings.

“If it’s painful for you to have this conversation, it’s fine to show it,” Pincus said. “Why do you need to hide that? It’ll make you appear more human, more empathetic.”

By showing that emotion, leaders won’t come across like they’re acting.

“We don’t want to act our way out of a bad situation,” she said. One way to avoid acting is by taking time to prepare and anticipate reactions and questions before delivering a message to employees.

“Executives often misunderstand how much communication is going on nonverbally,” Pincus said. This could include tone of voice, eye contact and other body language indicators.

We tend to trust what we see more than what we hear. If the two don’t match, communication becomes difficult.

Consider public speaking as a forum of conversations, said Matt Eventoff, partner with Princeton Public Speaking.

“You’re conversing whether people are responding to you verbally or not,” he said. “Individuals in an audience give you a reaction.”

Whether the audience members nod, shake their heads in agreement or disagreement — or even text – it’s all a part of the conversation.

When it comes to communication, there’s no good or bad, only what’s appropriate for the situation.

That said, there are things leaders can do to make sure they’re sending a positive message. Kinsey Goman offers the following body language tips for a successful collaboration:

Check Your Expectations. “Pygmalion in the Classroom” was a study where children were chosen at random and identified to their teacher as high-achievers. Because the teacher expected more of them, the students, who were never told of their high-achieving status, had sharp increases on their IQ test scores at the end of the year. The positive expectation was delivered nonverbally and Dov Eden, a Tel Aviv University professor, found that if supervisors or managers hold positive expectations about the performance of the people they lead, that performance will improve.