Most professionals preparing for a British-LatAm meeting think about what they are going to say. Very few think about what their body is already saying before they open their mouth.

The spatial dimension of the Slots v. Loops™ systems is the one that operates entirely below the level of language. You can prepare your words, your agenda, your talking points. You cannot easily prepare your instincts about distance, contact, and eye contact because those instincts were formed long before you ever sat across a table from someone from a different culture.

And when they misfire, nobody mentions it. The meeting just feels slightly off.

The situation

Consider two people having an argument. In the UK, escalation tends to zoom in: raised voices, closed distance, faces closer together. The invasion of personal space is itself a signal of aggression. Getting in someone’s face means you mean it.

In Latin America, escalation tends to zoom out: when someone is genuinely angry, they withdraw. They walk away. They turn their back. Proximity is not a sign of confrontation; it is a sign of engagement. Distance is what signals that something is wrong.

Same emotion. Opposite physical expression.

The friction

Now put those two instincts into a professional meeting.

A Latin American counterpart who stands close, maintains strong eye contact, and reaches briefly to touch your arm while making a point is doing none of these things to unsettle you. They are engaging. The proximity is warmth, the eye contact is acknowledgement, the touch is emphasis. In their spatial language, this is what interest and respect look like.

A British professional who backs away slightly, avoids sustained eye contact, and keeps a clear physical boundary is not being cold or disengaged. They are being professional. In their spatial language, this is what respect for the other person looks like.

Neither is wrong. Both are misreading each other in real time, and neither knows it, because nobody has said a word.

Slots v. Loops™ in action

The spatial dimension is not about changing who you are. It is about being able to read what the other person’s body is communicating, separately from what their words are saying, and adjusting your interpretation accordingly.

When a LatAm counterpart steps closer, the instinct in a British professional is often to step back. That instinct is not wrong, but the signal it sends (disengagement, discomfort, perhaps even distrust) can quietly undo what the meeting is trying to build. Knowing why it happens, and what it means on the other side, is the difference between a conversation that flows and one that stalls without either party understanding why.

Verbal expression accounts for less than half of what is communicated in any interaction. The spatial dimension is where the rest of it lives.

Over to you

Think of a British-LatAm meeting where something felt slightly off but you couldn’t name it. Was the friction in the words or in the space between you?

Until next Tuesday,

Cecilia